NEWPORT BEACH (AP) - Need a non-seaworthy Mississippi-style riverboat and have 190 feet of dock?
When the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum moves to dry land in December, the Reuben E. Lee riverboat that it now calls home will have to leave its Newport Bay dock, officials said this week.
The dock's owner, the Irvine Co., has plans for the area that don't involve the boat, officials said.
Local residents said they will miss the landmark faux paddle-wheeler that began life in 1964 as a floating restaurant and decades later was taken over by the museum.
''It's hard to imagine crossing the bridge and not seeing it there,'' said Keith Buy, 50, who tended bar on the boat when it was a restaurant.
Museum trustee David La Montagne said he's spoken to more than 50 people about buying the riverboat, but none seemed able to supply a place to park it.
''A hundred-ninety feet of dock space is not an easy thing to come by in California, so that's the biggest challenge, period,'' he said.