Steering a growing ship

It’s hard not to spot the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum while

driving down Coast Highway. It’s the riverboat in the harbor that’s

across the highway from the Back Bay.

But anyone who hasn’t been in it can’t imagine what they’re

missing. Models of ships that date back to the 1600s can be found --

models that took their builders years to complete. And, more

importantly, so can the history of Newport Harbor. In the

not-so-future, there may even be more to the 15-year-old museum.

New president and chief executive Glenn Allen Zagoren has large

plans for the outfit and, with his background, it definitely seems

possible. Though an architect by trade, Zagoren has done much more

than design in his professional career, including producing

television shows and commercials, serving as a trade advisor in the

Clinton and Bush administrations and working as an executive.

He’s also no stranger to special events, having produced elaborate

evenings for the South Street Seaport -- where 250,000 people showed

up -- and the Millennium at the Statue of Liberty, complete with tall

ships. On Friday, City Editor James Meier dropped by the museum to

discuss the new Southern California resident’s plans, background and

Sept. 11 rescue efforts at the World Trade Center.

You have quite the background, including work as an architect, a

television producer, an executive and a federal trade advisor. Tell

me more about all of that first of all.

From a very young age, I always thought that architecture was

something I would end up doing and did go all the way through college

and to designing some homes for George Nemeny and a couple of other

people and got to fulfill that chapter of my life. I found that

architecture was a little slower than I realized it was going to be.

I also wasn’t at the level of Frank Lloyd Wright. So, where Mr.

Wright could tell his clients where to go when he disagreed with

them, I found that if I tried doing that, I didn’t have the same

success ratio as he did. Also, it was during a very tough real estate

time in New York so the market was very tight, and I found myself

looking at alternatives.

One of the things about being trained as an architect, you’re

really trained that you can do anything. Architects demonstrate that

by designing furniture and designing flatware and they do art work.

So I started a design company. Luckily, in a very short period of

time, we grew to a fairly large firm. Did that for about 14 years,

and then the Internet starting coming into play.

Well, actually, let me back up. During that 14-year period as an

agency, we started getting into producing commercials. Commercials

got us into the opportunity of producing television shows. So I was

the executive producer on a number of network specials for Fox and

ABC.

Then the Internet came around. We were using digital in our

production facilities for many years, so the Internet was a natural

stepping point. I was approached by a gentleman who was a very large

international trader of commodities. He had an idea for a software

program on the Internet that would facilitate that trade. I developed

that system with him. We ended up taking the company public and

getting involved -- since it’s trade, you’re really working with the

governments.

So in reaching out to explain these processes to the government, I

ended up building strong relationships with the U.S. Department of

Commerce and the U.S. trade representative. Shortly thereafter, I was

invited to go as part of a presidential mission to the Middle East

and met with Yasser Arafat and met with Ehud Barak and met with King

Abdullah of Jordan. Try to talk about the economics of the peace

process -- you know that if this area, if this region would just

think about the strengths that they had economically, and began to

work together, they could become one of the most powerful regions in

the world.

From there, I was asked to become part of what they call the IFAC

-- the Industries Functional Advisory Committees on e-commerce and

trade. We basically advise the Department of Commerce and the USPR on

issues that they need from the business sector-- on trade agreements

and e-commerce agreements. When was that?

I was originally appointed in -- I think it was 2000, by the

Clinton Administration. And then I was reappointed in 2002, by the

Bush Administration. So I’m happy to have been able to cross

political lines and continue doing work with both administrations.

So with all that, what brings you here?

My wife is an actress, and she’s been in a number of feature films

and television shows. She’d always been doing that out of New York

while spending some time in Hollywood. She would come back for the

sake of our relationship. I think that was always more difficult for

her. I always respected the fact that she gave up that part of her

career in order for me to succeed in my career. Then, when Sept. 11

came around, that had a dramatic affect on anybody who was in

Manhattan, let alone anybody in the world. We had a 3-week-old

daughter at the time.

Following that, I met with her and said that this may not be the

most opportune place to raise a daughter. I was contacted by a

head-hunter, subsequently, who said “I may have something that may be

of interest to you.”

It still seems like quite the change for you.

It’s a huge change. It’s huge in terms of demographic changes --

coming from mid-town Manhattan where there is a 24-hour energy level.

But the difference is, everybody in Manhattan is there to work. Their

life revolves around working; the competitive level is incredible;

the ulcer rate is high; your day begins early and goes late at night.

You get caught up into that as just the competitive level demands

that. I think the fact that Manhattan is an island -- you’re still

surrounded by boats, you’re still surrounded by water, we were still

racing sailboats there -- that transition to this environment is very

comfortable. But what we gain here is the ability to have quality of

life along with a business mission. I don’t think that exists at the

level in New York? My daughter is very happy here.

Tell me about some of the museum’s goals, such as this expansion

project I’ve heard about.

The museum started in 1986, basically at the vision of Bettina

Bents, who was a young woman who subsequently passed away. She had

the vision that the history of Newport Harbor should be preserved and

has a great nautical background. They started in a one-room building

over on Balboa Boulevard and the mission has been to preserved the

history of Newport Harbor, Southern California and the Pacific

Region. And moving in a very short time from that building to this

private riverboat, we now have 13,000 square feet here.

Our program is designed around a number of different missions. The

first is to have fun and that’s a great mission. In doing so, we then

apply that to our educational mission, community mission and our

cultural mission. Today, for example, you see 160 kids coming in on

the tall ships and learning sailor songs and learning how to operate

a tall ship. The community side of the program is there’s a very

strong community involvement with our members. There are special

events here that take place, it’s a community gathering point. We’re

going to be working on new programs like water color painting, family

weekend projects like remote-control boat racing. So, what does the

community need from a nautical perspective. We approach it from that.

Then there’s the cultural side and historic side of wrapping the

educational and community events around the history of the harbor and

the yachting community here. So it really is a wonderful foundation

for many different outreach programs.

So what exactly would the expansion project entail?

As with any operation, you’re always looking to fulfill the needs

and our needs here are we’re out of space for the educational program

and we don’t have enough room for the existing programs that we

already have. The museum has had 15,000 students come through since

1997 as part of a program that we are in partnership with the

Newport-Mesa school system and, as a result, we can’t expand out into

the surrounding communities because we just don’t have the space.

We’d love to take the program to Irvine and Huntington Beach and

inland, but in order to do that, we need more classroom space.

Being able to expand into our computers -- we have computer-based

kiosks. One of the things you have to be competitive with kids today

is Nintendo. Kids are very computer-literate so you have to pace

where kids are going and keep their interests. We’re very attuned to

that. We’re going to be doing streaming video programs over the

Internet. We’ll expand our Web presence so that kids can come on and

do yacht-racing games that we already have. When you get into the

program here, it encompasses math, science, history, geography. All

of those functions are part of the nautical history of the programs

here. If you think from an educational level, you can design programs

that kids don’t even know they’re learning while they’re doing it.

And they’re having fun with it and that takes us back to our first

mission. We’ve having fun here.

We’re bringing back the Harbor 20 races and the Heritage Regatta,

which is a classic wooden boat race. We’re bringing all of these

events in here. I’m looking at different major events like a chowder

festival and a cookoff, different community events that we can have

in the parking lot.

Where would the actual expansion take place?

There are a number of places we’re investigating, but anytime you

do an expansion like this, there are many steps involved in it and it

takes many years to put together. We’re at least beginning the

process now of saying “The community really deserves to have a place

that is the history of this harbor preserved forever” and that’s what

we’re looking to build out here.

Any estimated cost at this point?

Way premature for that. Lots of money. But in terms of other

projects that have happened in the community, it’s not an expensive

project. The return on investment is greater than other things that

I’ve seen. The fact that you have the amount of students that come

through here, these are programs that these kids couldn’t get any

other place. You’re looking at developing after-school programs.

Ultimately, you give back to the community. Those kids will give back

in the future. Not only do we have a strong adult program, but we

have a really strong kids program.

Ideally, when would this project open?

Our mission is to have it begin in the next three to four years.

I know you responded to the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001,

and were there for two weeks. Where do you begin to talk about that

experience?

It’s a hard experience to talk about. On Sept. 11, the events

began very early, about 8:45, so my wife and I and a friend of mine

who had just come into New York from California and was on his way to

Argentina -- a musician, a drummer for Tom Petty -- were watching the

news and found out a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.

Now, my initial reaction as a pilot knowing the flight paths up and

down the Hudson River, said, “Well, some pilot really misjudged. The

FAR for the Hudson River is that you’re flying a VFR path, below

1,000 feet, which would put you right about where the plane hit, so

it was a natural assumption that somebody had really gone off course

and crashed into the tower.

We could see it from our balcony and pulled out the video camera

to document it and then all of a sudden the second plane hit. So at

that point, your brain switches into a different mode because it’s

not an accident any longer.

On the radio and TV, at this point, they were putting an

all-points call out for all firemen to respond to the World Trade

Center. And my wife looked at me and said “Be careful.” She didn’t

even blink. She knew I was going down there. She went up to her

friend’s house with the baby. Her friend had just heard from her

brother on the 105th floor, saying goodbye. So that’s how our morning

began.

I got there. And you can’t describe it. There’s no way to put it

into words. You’re unprepared that this can ever be the case in this

country that you would be dealing with a war site.

We began search and rescue and basically your brain just shuts off

and you go to work, not thinking about what you’re seeing and

experiencing. So I did that for quite a long period of time until the

rescue effort had ended and it became a recovery.

And at that point, there was no reason for me to be there any

longer. It was incredibly frustrating not to find anybody, incredibly

painful. It didn’t hit me until three months later when I finally

broke down and realized what I’d been through. I think that, along

with everything else, was the major reason why we decided to leave

New York to an environment where we knew we didn’t have to worry

about it. It was an incredibly traumatic experience for everybody,

especially those people down there and the families. I don’t know how

you ever get through that.

It really showed how all the petty things you think about --

culturally, no one cared whether you were black or white or Jewish or

Catholic. It didn’t matter. Everybody all of a sudden just became one

American ... Every night, when you left, you’d be coming up the West

Side Highway, and there would be 5,000 people out there cheering for

you as you came up the road. They did that for every fireman every

morning, every night. It still makes me cry.

On a lighter note, what do you sail?

Right now, I’m not sailing anything, so if anyone needs me on

crew, I’m available. I’m a hired gun. I’ve raced J-24s, J-30s, J-36,

J-41, all the way up to maxis, catamarans, we were in the Hoagie

Nationals on Hoagie-18s -- if it goes through the water and it’s

pushed by sails or pulled by sails, I can sail it.

Any final thoughts?

The board here had the opportunity to hire from within the

Southern California community, someone with a museum background, and

I give them credit for thinking out of the box and hiring someone

with a business background. I have a great curator here, great

special events team, great educational events coordinator. Those are

the people who really run the museum programs.

I think somebody with a business development background can take

the bigger picture and turn this into something that I think the

original founding members only dreamt of. That’s my mission. I want

to build something here that Newport Beach looks back and says

“That’s something we’re really proud of. We never knew it could be

that great.” I’m very excited to be here. I think it’s a diamond in

the rough and I invite everyone to come down.