If you go back even further to the late ‘70s and early 80s, homes were selling then for $150,000 - $200,000 and interest rates were over 10%

Wow!  That second entry that Bubblegum posted with the page that says "The way Newport looked the first time it took your breath away" is a brilliant marketing phrase.  My gut seized up when I saw it because the first few times I went up to homes in Newport Coast I would always pull off to the side of the road and get out of the car and just stare out at the ocean and the lights of Newport Beach.  NB seemed so small and the development in Newport Coast was still minimal enough that you felt like you were standing up on a hill in the middle of nowhere.   Back then it certainly did take my breath away.  Now I’m not sure I can find a place to stop where I’m not staring into someones living room. 
Ahhh…remember the days when you could drive from Corona Del Mar down to Laguna Beach and for a few miles there feel like you really were in the middle of nowhere? 

I remember in the early 90s taking the canyon road over the ridge to get to Laguna beach and coming home from the bars late at night.  One lane road, dark with no lights, about as empty and rural as you got.  For five miles anyway…