It's no wonder Huntington Beach is known as Surf City USA®, surfing is part of the very fabric of this community. With 8.5 miles of clean, sandy beaches – as well as a dependable, varied surf break – it draws surfers from around the world to compete, practice or simply catch some waves.
Whether it's summer or winter, a typically sunny California day or an early morning blanketed with marine-layer fog, you'll see hundreds of surfers performing amazing acrobatic feats upon the consistent breakers. The best places to watch are from the Huntington Beach Pier – which takes you so far out over the water you couldn't get any closer without being on a surfboard yourself – or by walking or biking 1.5 miles north of downtown along the paved path for a bird's eye view atop the bluffs at Dog Beach.
In Huntington Beach's misty early-morning hours, surfers line up like sentries on the sand to case the waves and scope out the action. It's a way of life for many and, for some, a mind-and-body religion much like yoga. Perhaps that's why the surfer mystique carries on from the '60s decade of Jan and Dean's "Surf City" to today's more sophisticated surf business culture.
Surfing is a sport of intense excitement and athleticism. The chance to dance with waves, propelled by a force of nature in a mad rush of water, attracts legions to HB each year. The lure of surfing also explains why companies such as Quiksilver, with a worldwide clothing brand and a reputation for adrenaline-charged living, are located in Huntington Beach. Two of the city's most popular surf shops – Jack's Surfboards and Huntington Surf & Sport – are legends in the surfing world.
Huntington Beach is also the national headquarters for Surfing America, the newly appointed National Governing Body for amateur and professional surfers in the United States. HB is the only place you'll find the International Surfing Museum, the Surfing Walk of Fame and the Surfing Hall of Fame, and the city hosts more than 36 surfing competitions each year, including the biggest surfing event in the world, the US Open of Surfing. During competitions, massive bleachers are erected on the sand and the town buzzes with the latest scores of competitors. Surfline.com, founded by renowned surf forecaster Sean Collins, is also based in Surf City USA®. Surfline.com is the most heavily trafficked surf website in the world and has several "live" cameras pointed at Huntington Beach locations.For more information about surfing events and sites, visit www.surfcityusa.com.
Surfers are known for their love of fresh, uncomplicated and easy-on-the-wallet cuisine, so if you really want to live the surfing lifestyle, there are plenty of affordable eating options in Surf City USA®. One of the best coffee joints is Java Point. Located just inside Huntington Surf and Sport on the south side of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway. This is where surfers meet for a pre- or post-morning eye-opener.
Over at Java Jungle, two blocks north on Pacific Coast Highway at 6th Street, you can order up your latte, rent a board, buy some snacks and check your e-mail in one of the last true surfer shacks cum coffee shops. Almost a shrine in itself, surfers eat bacon, eggs and toast inside the homey Sugar Shack Café on Main Street, whose owner posts all the latest surf news in the window and organizes ceremonial "paddle outs" by the pier to memorialize surfers who pass away. Another favorite of surfers' is Pete's Mexican Café on 5th Street, prized for its economical huevos rancheros (eggs, tortillas, cheese, beans and salsa) and Dwight's concession stand right on the beach.
Surf City USA® History
H.E. Huntington, the city's founder, was also the man responsible for helping to introduce the sport of surfing to California in 1910 when he hired George Freeth, an experienced surfer from Hawaii, to come to the coast and give demonstrations of this ancient Polynesian sport.
A few short years later, legendary surfer, swimmer and actor Duke Kahanamoku would play an instrumental role in popularizing the sport in Huntington Beach and throughout Southern California, creating a local legacy that defines the city to this day. A bigger-than-life statue of the Duke, as well as a restaurant named in his honor, grace the city's Pier Plaza.
In the 1950s, surfing began to take off and more fully define Huntington Beach's image. The first U.S. Championship was staged in Huntington Beach in 1959 and was held in the city for the next 14 years. During that time, the event was televised to a nationwide audience, fueling the city's image as a sunny recreation Mecca. It was then transformed into the OP Pro from 1982 to 1994.
Today, the event now known as the US Open of Surfing is the largest and most prestigious professional surfing and lifestyle event in North America, attracting more than 600 of the world's top surfers and 500,000 spectators. Combined with several action sports associated with the beach lifestyle, including skateboarding, freestyle bicycle and inline skating events, along with outdoor concerts and exhibits, the event is broadcast nationwide.
Surf icon Corky Carroll played a major role in fueling the growth of the sport, capturing the U.S. title five times and the international title three times. Corky still operates a surfing school in Huntington Beach and writes a column for the local paper. Peter Townend, surfing's first professional world champion, has called Huntington Beach home since 1979, when he helped coach the professional U.S. team to prominence. He now serves as head coach of the nation's official youth surf team.
Gordie's Surf Boards was the first surf shop in Huntington Beach, opening in 1955, but it is Jack's Surfboards, which opened in 1957, that is still open and has become one of the best-known shops of its kind in the world. A close rival is Huntington Surf and Sport, right across Main Street, and both are closely watched by the surf fashion industry for new trends.
In the 1960s, Huntington Beach officially became linked to its present day nickname when the popular Jan and Dean song "Surf City" climbed the music charts, fueling the fantasy of a California beach lifestyle to the nation. Dean Torrence made his home in Huntington Beach and is still a prominent member of the community today.
Surf City USA® Lessons
To surf in Huntington Beach, you need a surfboard, leash and wetsuit when the water gets a little chilly. However, just owning or renting the equipment is only the beginning. Mastering the basic skills and successfully working with other surfers in the water takes practice. Having good balance, strength, stamina and perseverance are pluses. Surfing instruction by Huntington Beach's experts can help you get started or take your skills to the next level.
If you or your kids are anxious to try surfing for the first time, Huntington Beach might just be the best place in the nation to start. According to Stephen Leatherman (aka Dr. Beach), the author of the annual list of America's Top 10 Beaches, Huntington Beach is his all-time favorite surf beach over such hot spots as Florida and Hawaii.
"Huntington is safer. The waves are not as big," said "Dr. Beach" to The Los Angeles Times. "You don't have to be a top professional to surf there. You don't have to be fearless." Leatherman is a coastal scientist from Florida International University who claims to have been to every beach in the United States at least once, and rates them with scientific objectivity that has given his top-10 list clout.
Wannabe surfers and surfers who want to improve their skills can take lessons at one of several surf schools in Huntington Beach that offer everything from week-long camps to private instruction. Lessons are available from these local firms:
* Corky Carroll's Surf School 714-969-3959 or www.surfschool.net
* Huntington Surf & Sport 714-841-4000 or www.huntingtonsurfandsport.com
* HB Wahine 714-596-2696 or www.hbwahine.com
* Surf City Surfing Lessons 714-898-2088 or www.dangerwoman.com.
* Toes on the Nose 714-845-4638
* Zack's Pier Plaza 714-536-0215 or www.beachfoodfun.com
And don't think that surfing is just for the guys anymore. Recent statistics show that girls are actually taking up surfing at a faster pace than their male counterparts. The all-girl HB Wahine surf school, located at Bolsa Chica State Park in Huntington Beach, offers two-day and five-day programs from July through September for females ages 7 years and older (they also teach boys and men by appointment only). Boards and wetsuits are provided and the semi-private classes not only teach paddling, board management and pop-up techniques, but beach and ocean safety, surf etiquette and surf break awareness.
Surfing equipment is also available for rent from Huntington Surf & Sport, Jack's Surfboards, Zack's and Java Jungle.
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