Newport Beach boy Joseph McGinty Nichol,better known as Hollywood director/producer McG,triggered a global craze over his hometown’s lifestyle with “The O.C.” (shot in L.A. County). The final episode of the once-hot melodrama airs Feb. 22, but McG isn’t finished with Newport Beach,he plans to open a restaurant on the site of the The Arches on Coast Highway. That’s according to Arches proprietor Dan Marcheano, who said McG has signed a lease that takes effect in August. Marcheano, who has run the landmark eatery for the last 25 of its 85 years, says he expects to reopen at a nearby location under the name The Arches Grill and Barbeque. Marcheano says he has spoken with McG but doesn’t know much about his plans other than the place won’t be called Arches,and McG will need to get permits, retrofit the building and provide handicapped access before opening. No im-mediate comment from McG. He made his mark doing music videos, then directed the “Charlie’s Angels” flicks. His new film, “We Are Marshall,” deals with the aftermath of the 1970 plane crash that killed an entire college football team …
Broadcom cofounder Henry “Nick” Nicholas, divorcing and subject of speculation in an SEC options probe, has moved into Pelican Hill. He bought St. John Knits cofounder Bob Gray’s house for a rumored $20 million or so …
The Great Park board is expected to hear this week from backers of a plan to use part of the park for a Native American tourist attraction, similar to the Polynesian Cultural Center in Oahu …
Concordia U, unable to find a suitable Lutheran to head its B-school, has decided to put Adult Studies Dean Timothy Peters in charge of a merged School of Business and Professional Studies …
Some newspaper folks decry them, but Freedom Communications (OC Register) CEO Scott Flanders welcomes the influx of private equity investors. “When you’re privately backed, you have the flexibility to be nimble,” Flanders told the Washington Post’s Frank Ahrens. Nimble enough, Ahrens reported, that Flanders recently made preliminary asset bids of $60 million and $90 million without consulting his board. Private equity firms Providence Equity Partners and Blackstone Group own 40% of Freedom, having bought out disgruntled Hoiles family members. While saying he believes in editorial integrity, Flanders said media companies are being forced to rethink old ways: Eight years ago the L.A. Times was in an uproar over a magazine it published on Staples Center that was seen as breaching the editorial-advertising wall. But, “No one would bat an eye at that today.” The article also mentioned that the Register’s new tabloid OC Post has picked up 15,000 paid subscribers. That leaves the Register far short of its initial goal of 140,000 subs by late this year. Flanders told the Insider the timetable for reaching the goal has been extended.
