Visitors to Newport Beach today might know the coastal Southern California city from The Real Housewives and Arrested Development, which were set amid its rolling green hills and on its picture-perfect beaches. But I had come to Newport Beach to commune with the stars of Old Hollywood, who began staking their claim to this idyllic spot just an hour south of Los Angeles during the silent film era.

In the Golden Age of Hollywood, Newport Beach’s lure was not so much its land, dotted as it was with big-band ballrooms and smoke-filled cocktail bars. It was its water, and specifically the sprawling recreational harbour where the stars docked their yachts and sailboats.