I have lived here in the Newport Beach area, off and on with ventures overseas, for the past 20 years. The scene here has definitely gotten a bit more boochy (sp?), but there are still some fun places to hit up.
The first round will be through Corona del Mar, a small beach town on the southern tip of Newport Beach. Corona del Mar is essentially in between Newport Beach and the famed Laguna Beach.

CDM's Crowd:
One of the landmarks (not the bar named Landmark) here is the Quiet Woman. This is off of Pacific Coast Highway (as mostly all of the bars are here in this town) and Marguerite Street. Walking in the patron is greeted with a small pub, traditional homey wood colored seats, tables and booths, and live music on the weekends. This place has been the same over the ages, and it could be 1970 in there with its decor - a very classic feel to it.
This is also the highlight of the cougar sightings. Many a young boy prey have been snatched up by a hungry cougar at this site. For those of you that don't know what a cougar signifies, I suggest doing a quick google search. Interesting phenomenom going on.

The Landmark. For a good people watching, "is this real?" experience, Landmark will not dissapoint. This is where the flashy of the young CDMers congregate. Every time I have been convinced to go to this joint, I found myself sat down on the outside bench enamored with watching the individuals around me do their things. Some cheesy, some overly flashy, some aggressive, some insecure, some nice, but all very entertaining.

CDM is not a big town, butt here are a few other restaurant bars to engage in. Bandera's, El Ranchito, Oyster's to name a few. A friend of mine has opened up a wine shop at MacArthur and PCH as well. On Thursday nights, I believe, they turn the place into a bar for tasting wines. Definitey worth a visit.