Backgrounder

The Surf Culture - With the most consistent surf on the West Coast, Huntington Beach has lured legendary surfing icons such as Duke Kahanamoku, Corky Carroll, Pete Townend, Kelly Slater, Rob Machado and Layne Beachley. The city hosts more than 30 national and international surfing championships each year, including the big kahuna of North American surfing events, the US Open of Surfing® every July.

Several surfing industry leaders consider Huntington Beach their home. Quiksilver, a worldwide clothing brand with a reputation for adrenaline-charged living, is located in Huntington Beach as is Surfline.com, a website that monitors more than 100 global surfing locations daily. The Association of Surfing Professionals® (ASP), professional surfing's governing body since 1976, maintains its North American headquarters in Huntington Beach, and the USA Surf Team, sponsored by Surfing America, makes its official home in Huntington Beach.

Two of the city's most popular surf shops, Jack's Surfboards and Huntington Surf and Sport, are legends in the surfing world. Both the Surfing Walk of Fame and the Surfers' Hall of Fame line the sidewalks on either side of Main Street. The International Surfing Museum serves as a quirky repository for the industry's history.

The Beaches - Bolsa Chica State Beach, Huntington City Beach and Huntington State Beach stretch for eight and a half miles along the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) between Warner Avenue and the Santa Ana River. The three beaches are connected by an eight-and-a-half-mile-long paved trail for walking, jogging, rollerblading and cycling with a continuous view of the ocean. Surfboards, boogie boards and bicycles can be rented on a seasonal basis from the many beach concession stands that line the paved path or any time of year from the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa and the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort. Fire rings for beach bonfires are available on a first-come, first-served basis throughout the year.

The Pier and Downtown - A stroll down the famous Huntington Beach Pier, one of the longest recreational piers in the world at 1,853-feet-long, is mandatory for any visitor. A certified farmers' market and an art fair featuring more than 50 vendors selling handmade arts, gifts and crafts is generally held every Friday afternoon. The pier is located at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street. Downtown Main Street, beginning at the intersection of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway, is a compact hub for the diverse Surf City USA® lifestyle. Trendsetting boutiques and eclectic restaurants happily coexist alongside sidewalk diners and funky souvenir shops. With three parking garages and dozens of metered spaces, downtown is accessible and can easily be explored in a few hours.

Downtown Huntington Beach is home to one of the densest clusters of surf and swimwear shops in America. Within walking distance of each other, shoppers will find surf shops such as Huntington Surf and Sport and Jack's Surfboards, each with its own separate women's boutique, as well as HB Wahine, Sakal Surfboards, Cult Industries and Rockin' Fig Surf Headquarters. The latest fashion labels can be found downtown along or just off Main Street at Carmen Parks, Diamond Lane, Model Citizen and The Closet.

Shopping -The latest addition to Surf City USA® shopping, Bella Terra Shopping Center, is on 63 acres at Beach Boulevard and Edinger Avenue, adjacent to I-405. This open-air, Tuscan-themed village features shops and restaurants, an outdoor concert amphitheater with live entertainment on the weekends and a 20-screen cinema multiplex. Bella Terra shops include Huntington Surf and Sport, Barnes & Noble, Kohl's, Ulta, REI and more. Restaurants include the Cheesecake Factory, Islands, Daphne's Greek Café, Kabuki Japanese Restaurant and more. Bella Terra also offers live entertainment on the weekends.

In the center of town, Five Points Plaza at Ellis Street and Beach Boulevard, offers excellent family shopping with a selection of popular retailers including Gap, Old Navy, Loehmann's, Pier 1 Imports and Tilly's.

Central Park - Within Huntington Central Park's 354 acres, visitors will find a library, an equestrian center, a 45-acre sports complex, an outdoor concert venue, a nature center and miles of biking and walking trails. The Huntington Beach Central Library and Cultural Center has one of the largest children's libraries west of the Mississippi River, as well as one of the state's largest genealogy departments. It also houses the 319-seat Huntington Beach Playhouse, which has community theater performances year-round.

The Huntington Central Park Equestrian Center features stables and a 25-acre outdoor venue for competitions, weddings or special events, and is surrounded by miles of public trails. Neighboring the equestrian center is the Huntington Beach Disc Golf Course, one of two disc golf courses in the U.S., featuring 18 "holes" designed by Ed Headrick, the founder of disc or Frisbee golf. At the Shipley Nature Center, visitors can amble through 18 acres of natural habitat, representing seven different types of environments found throughout Orange County and California. The park is also home to the Huntington Beach Sports Complex, a 45-acre recreational area with softball and soccer fields, concessions stands, playgrounds and batting cages.

Huntington Harbour - North of downtown Huntington Beach and the Bolsa Chica Wetlands Ecological Reserve on the Pacific Coast Highway, is Huntington Harbour, which is popular with boaters, kayakers and yachtsmen. The harbor's placid canals are an ideal for place for beginning kayakers to learn, while the more experienced can take the outlet to the ocean for excellent surf kayaking. Electric Duffy boats, which seat 10-12 people and are easily operated, are available for rent. Sunset Gondolas offers gondola cruises through Huntington Harbour seven days a week, complete with authentic boats from Venice and singing gondoliers. At Peter's Landing Marina, near the entrance to Huntington Harbour, boat-slip rentals are available on a first-come, first-serve basis to boaters who'd like to tie up for the afternoon.

Huntington Beach and Pets - Canine tourists and their people flock to Huntington's Dog Beach, where they can play in the surf sans-leash. Dog Beach has two metered parking lots open from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. off Pacific Coast Highway between Seapoint Avenue and Golden West Street. Adjacent to Huntington Central Park on Edwards Street is Best Friend Dog Park, where big and small dogs can play together or in their own separate sections. Across the street from the dog park in Huntington Central Park is the Park Bench Café, where dogs and their people can dine together at the outdoor café. For entertainment, Old World Village, a shopping and dining center, hosts the annual Wiener Nationals Dachshund Races, in addition to monthly racing events for the short-legged competitors.

Huntington Beach and Cars - In a town where the Woodie is the official car, you can bet anyone with a car worth showing off, classic or otherwise, will cruise through Huntington Beach. The Donut Derelicts, one of the most well-known classic car clubs on the West Coast, meet every Saturday morning beginning at 7 a.m. at Adams Avenue Donuts on the corner of Magnolia and Adams streets to show off their hot rods, muscle cars and modifieds. The Beach Burger diner near the intersection of Beach and Garfield streets is also a popular Friday night meeting spot for local car clubs, and Huntington Central Park hosts the Huntington Beach Concours d'Elegance classic car event every summer.