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Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in southern California. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the west, Seal Beach on the north, Costa Mesa on the south, Westminster on the northeast and Fountain Valley on the east.
Huntington Beach is known for its 14 8.5 miles of beach, great climate, and excellent surfing. The waves are a unique, caused by edge-diffraction of ocean swells by the island of Catalina, and waves from hurricanes hundreds of miles away. Since the cosatline has a curvature at Huntington Beach, the local beach faces southwest. In summer, hurricanes off the Mexican coast produce very strong surf.
History
Huntington Beach was incorporated in 1909 with its first mayor, Ed Manning. Huntington Beach Company was its original developer, a real-estate development firm owned by Henry Huntington (railroad magnate after whom the city is named). The Huntington Company is still a major land-owner in the city and owns most of the local mineral rights.
Huntington Beach High School was the city's first high school and it was built in 1906. The school's team, the Oilers, are named after the city's original natural resource.
Sports
The first world surfing championships were held at Huntington Beach and are now an annual event. Huntington Beach, often referred to as "Surf City" got the name from the Surfing Championships held here. Surfing is a way of life and a culture here.
Kite surfing is also very popular here in Huntington Beach and can be viewed on the beach north-west of the pier.
Tourism
Huntington Beach is home to largest public pier on the entire west coast.
The oldest Independence Day parade in the Western United States can be found right here in H.B. and is televised locally on the public access cable channel.
Downtown you will find an active art center, a great shopping district, youth hostel, as well as the International Surfing Museum. This district was also once the home of the famous restaurant and music club "The Golden Bear." In the late '60s and '70s it hosted many famous bands and acts.
- The beaches and surfing. Major surf competitions are held here every year.
- The pier that goes from Main Street into the Pacific Ocean. At the end of the pier is a restaurant called Ruby's.
- Local surf shops, cafes, restaurants and bars are located downtown.
- The Surfing Museum in downtown Huntington Beach as well
The Huntington Beach Public Library, located in Central Park, is in a notable building designed by Richard Neutra, Dion Neutra and Mario Pei. It houses almost a half-million volumes, as well as a theater, gift shop and fountains. The library was founded as a Carnegie library in 1914, and has been continuously supported by the city and local activists, with new buildings and active branches at Banning, Oak View, Main Street, and Graham. The library has significant local historical materials and has a special
genealogical reference collection. It is independent of the state and county library systems.
City parks and amenities
The park is also home of Huntington Central Park Equestrian Center, a top class boarding facility that also offers horse rentals to the public and guided trail rides through the park. A Frisbee disc golf course is available in the park, as well as two small dining areas. Shipley Nature Center, a Sports Complex for adult use, is also there .
Huntington Beach has the largest ratio of park area to person of any city in the United States because of its land-use policies.
Almost all schools have playing fields arranged for public access as parks, with park-like amenities near major streets, and schools near the centers of blocks. Since Huntington Beach contains a major power generating station, the high-voltage rights-of-way are numerous,
and have also been zoned as parks with walkways.
Natural resources
Bolsa Chica Wildlife Refuge
Construction of any kind on the beach is prohibited without a vote of the people, allowing Huntington Beach to retain its natural tie to the ocean rather than having the view obscured by residential and commercial improvements.
Between Downtown Huntington Beach and Huntington Harbour lies a large marshy wetland, much of which is protected within the Bolsa Chica State Ecological Reserve. A $110 million restoration of the wetlands was completed in 2006. [1] The Reserve is popular with birders and photographers.
South of Downtown, the Talbert and Magnolia Marshes lie on a strip of undeveloped land parallel to Huntington State Beach and are in the process of restoration, as well.
The northern and southern beaches (Bolsa Chica State Beach and Huntington State Beach, respectively) are state parks. Only the central beach (Huntington City Beach) is maintained by the city. Camping and RVs are permitted here, and popular; campsites for the 4th of July and the Surfing Championships must be reserved many months in advance. Bolsa Chica State Beach is actually a sand bar fronting the Bolsa Bay and Bolsa Chica State Ecological Reserve.
Huntington Harbour from the air
The Orange County run Sunset Marina Park next to Huntington Harbouris part of Anaheim Bay. It is suitable for light craft, and includes a marina, launching ramp, basic services, a picnic area and a few restaurants. The park is in Seal Beach, but is only reachable from Huntington Harbor. The Sunset/Huntington Harbour area is patrolled by the Orange County Sheriff's Harbor Patrol.
The harbor entrance for Anaheim Bay is sometimes restricted by the US Navy, which loads ships with munitions at the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station to the north of the main channel.
Education
Huntington Beach is also the home of Golden West College, which offers two-year associates of arts degrees, and transfer programs to state universities.
The public television station KOCE-TV operates from the Golden West College campus, in conjunction with the Golden West College Media Arts program.
Huntington Beach is in the Huntington Beach Union High School District. Which includes Edison High School, Huntington Beach High School, Marina High School, and Ocean View High School.
Climate
The climate is generally sunny, dry and cool, although evenings can be excessively damp. In the morning and evening, there are often strong breezes, 15 mph (25 km/h). Ocean water temperatures average 55 to 65 °F (10 to 15 °C). In the summer, temperatures rarely exceed 85 °F (25 °C). In the winter, temperatures rarely fall below 40 °F (4 °C), even on clear nights.[4] There are about 10 inches (250 mm) of rain, almost all in mid-winter. Frost occurs only rarely on the coldest winter nights.
The area is annually affected by "June Gloom", caused by the cool air of the pacific meeting the warm air over the land. This results in overcast and foggy conditions in May and June, pestering tourists and surfers alike.
Economy
Huntington Beach also sits above a large natural salt dome containing oil. Although the oil is mostly depleted, extraction continues at a slow rate, and still provides significant local income. There are only two off-shore extraction facilities left, however, and the day is not far off when oil production in the city will cease and tourism will replace it as the primary revenue source for resident industry. A great disadvantage of the oil industry is that the sand fleas and sand dollars have become rare on
the beach, which is stained with tar sands. The beach is no longer hunted by birds.
Huntington Beach has an off-shore oil terminus for the tankers that support the Alaska Pipeline. The terminus pipes run inland to a refinery in Santa Fe Springs. Huntington Beach also has the Gothard-Talbert terminus for the Orange County portion of the pipeline running from the Chevron El Segundo refinery.
Several hotels have been constructed on the inland side of Pacific Coast Highway (California Highway 1) within view of the beach, just southeast of the pier.
Huntington Beach contains a major installation of Boeing, formerly McDonnell-Douglas. A number of installations on the Boeing campus were originally constructed to service the Apollo Program, most notably the production of the S-IVB upper stage for the Saturn IB and Saturn V rockets, and some nearby telephone poles are still marked "Apollo Dedicated Mission Control Line."
Huntington Beach contains the administrative headquarters of Sea Launch, a commercial space vehicle launch enterprise whose largest stockholder is Boeing.
Huntington Beach contains a small industrial district in its northwest corner, near the borders with Westminster and Seal Beach.
Safety
The fourth incarnation of the Huntington Beach Pier
The city often ranks among the top 10 safest cities for its size in terms of crime by City Crime Rankings. Its life guards are recognized as some of the best in the world with a top notch safety record. It has an active Community Emergency Response Team training program, that trains citizens as FEMA-Certified Disaster Service Workers as a part of a free program run by the fire department's Office of Emergency Services.
Huntington Beach is also one of the most emergency-prone settled areas on the West Coast of the United States. This is a direct result of its attractive geographic features. The beach was naturally constructed by the Santa Ana River's delta. Some settled areas of Huntington Beach lie within the 100-year and 50-year flood zone.
Some parts of the delta require powered pumping to remove water during heavy rains. Some parts do not drain effectively at all, and in these areas, local flooding is common during heavy rain (although this threat is remote and poses no danger to human life).
In 1926, the Santa Ana River dam failed, and flash-flooded its entire delta. The southern oceanic terminus of this delta is now a settled area of Huntington Beach. The distant dam is still functional, but silting up, which is expected to reduce its storage volume, and therefore its effectiveness at flood-prevention. The flood and dam-endangered areas are protected by a levee, but lenders require expensive flood insurance in the delta. There have been serious discussions to eliminate the need for flood insurance
and this requirement has already been waived in some areas and may one day no longer be considered a credible threat.
Since it is a seaside city, Huntington Beach has had tsunami warnings, storm surge (its pier has been rebuilt three times), sewage spills, tornadoes and waterspouts. The cold offshore current prevents hurricanes. The Pier that was rebuilt in the 90s was engineered to withstand severe storms or earthquakes.
Large fractions of the settled delta are in earthquake liquefaction zones above known active faults. Most of the local faults are named after city streets.
Many residents (and even city hall) live within sight and sound of active oil extraction and drilling operations. These occasionally spew oil, causing expensive clean-ups. Large parts of the developed land have been contaminated by heavy metals from the water separated from oil.
The local oil has such extreme mercury contamination that metallic mercury is regularly drained from oil pipelines and equipment. Oil operations increase when the price of oil rises. Some oil fields have been approved for development. The worst-polluted areas have been reclaimed as parks. At least one Superfund site, too contaminated to be a park, is at the junction of Magnolia and Hamilton streets, near Edison High School.
The city's Emergency Operations Coordinator has said that, in a nuclear war, the city would probably be severely damaged in a first-strike against military targets. Because Huntington Beach adjoins Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach,
and the center stores munitions (widely believed to include nuclear weapons), the Center is likely to be first-strike target for ground-burst thermonuclear weapons. Huntington Beach also includes a very large Boeing installation, which is an attractive strategic target.
"Surf City USA" Trademarks
Huntington Beach filed four applications to register the Surf City USA moniker in November of 2004. A ruling by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office released on May 12, 2006 awarded three trademark registrations to Huntington Beach; two additional trademark registrations have been granted since this time and seven other Surf City USA trademarks are under consideration. Huntington Beach has already introduced the Surf City USA® Beach Cruiser by Felt Bicycles and five other licensed products. Several more trademark
registrations and products are anticipated in the future.
Although the trademarks have been REGISTERED, they have not been GRANTED. On October 12, 2006, Flotsam of California, a California corporation in Santa Cruz, CA filed suit against the Huntington Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau.
City government controversies
Former pro-development mayor, Pam Julien Houchen, was sentenced in September 2006 to a 37-month sentence and ordered to pay $140,000 in restitution for a scheme that illegally converted Huntington Beach apartments into condominiums. [11]
Former mayor Dave Garofalo pleaded guilty to a felony and 15 misdemeanors and was sentenced to community service and probation for violating conflict-of-interest laws in January 2002.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 81.7 km2 (31.6 mi2). 68.3 km2 (26.4 mi2) of it is land and 13.4 km2 (5.2 mi2) of it (16.38%) is water.
The entire city of Huntington Beach lies in the 714 Area Code, except for parts of Huntington Harbour, which are 562 Area Code.
Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 189,594 people, 73,657 households, and 47,729 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,773.9/km2 (7,183.6/mi2). There were 75,662 housing units at an average density of 1,107.0/km2 (2,866.8/mi2). The racial makeup of the city was 79.22% White, 0.81% Black or African American, 0.65% Native American, 9.34% Asian, 0.24% Pacific Islander, 5.81% from other races, and 3.94% from two
or more races. 14.66% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 73,657 households out of which 29.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.7% were married couples living together, 9.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.2% were non-families. 24.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.08.
In the city the population was spread out with 22.2% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 34.9% from 25 to 44, 24.0% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 100.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $64,824, and the median income for a family was $74,378. Males had a median income of $52,018 versus $38,046 for females. The per capita income for the city was $31,964. About 4.3% of families and 6.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.2% of those under age 18 and 4.4% of those age 65 or over.
Many families spend 40% or more of their incomes on housing. Single family dwellings within two miles of the beach normally sell for $600,000 or more. Two bedroom apartments usually rent for $2,000 per month or more.
Huntington Beach in the Media
- The city is mentioned in the Beach Boys song Surfin' Safari and in Surfer Joe by The Surfaris.
- Huntington Beach was the site of WCW Bash at the Beach 1995.
- Huntington Beach has been sued by Santa Cruz, over use of the term "Surf City USA".
Sister Cities
Huntington Beach has the following sister city relationships, according to The Huntington Beach Sister City Association:
 Anjo, Aichi, Japan Waitakere, New Zealand
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