Activities include enjoyment of the ocean, beach and Huntington Beach Pier.   Huntington Beach is an Orange County, California beach community located in sunny, Southern California just 125 miles or so from the Mexican border. Next to The OC (Newport Beach) and Long Beach with its convention services along the coast, Huntington is a bedroom community that's grown into a destination.  In fact, for several years the publisher of this site promoted the city of Huntington Beach through tourism efforts, first as a web publisher beginning in 1996, then recruited to the Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau from 2002 to through 2004. Our publisher answered just about every question you can imagine about the city. From grunion runs to fireworks displays, to camping and hotel complaints, all kinds of calls were fielded.    What would you like to know about Huntington Beach? Have you been to Surf City as some of the HB locals call it.  Old-timers who remember the Golden Bear, surfers' wetsuits drying in the second story windows of their budget apartments above Jack's Surfboards, and oil pumps lining Pacific Coast Highway next to the beach, are quite surprised at the transformation of the funky town. With 3 new hotels on the horizon (all at the beach), the city is sure to become one of the premier vacation getaways for local residents and world travelers. There are two small museums, a quaint Main Street shopping and dining region with youthful apparel and surfing items, lots of sandy beaches, a long pleasure pier to stroll on and watch surfers and sunsets from and several great resort hotels such as the 100% non-smoking Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort and Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa across the street from the beach.   Today Huntington Beach is one of the favorite beach destinations for visitors traveling to Anaheim's Disneyland. Though Newport Beach is slightly closer in travel time to Disneyland, any of the Orange County beach cities make for a great beach vacation getaway for added night stays to your Disneyland vacation.  HB's major attraction is its beaches, while places such as Newport Beach also offer boat trips to Catalina Island, a harbor filled with pleasure craft you can rent, Hornblower Dinner Cruises, plus a beautiful outdoor shopping center, Fashion Island with stores such as Bloomingdales. But something romantic and new is the Sunset Gondola Ride in Huntington Beach offered from expert gondoliers with a track record of marriage and proposal successes for their customers that makes this a romantic "sure bet."  In fact, we used to ride the gondolas Tyson and Tim artfully steered in the Alamitos Bay in the canals of Naples, and we followed them to Huntington Beach to ride their gondolas in new territory. That's just how good these guys are and how we'd like to see them make it in Huntington Harbour. Huntington Beach maintains a small town atmosphere as a friendly place where you get to know your neighbors. Another such business we frequent for that reason is Zack's Pier Plaza beach concessions.       Sitting on the land where Huntington Beach Inn (a hotel that was the shining glory of the city until it entered receivership in the late 1970's) is Hyatt Regency Resort. While the price for a room has more than quadrupled, the new hotel retains similar beach vibes that once attracted kindred souls to the previous hotel, once enjoyed by business travelers, tourists, surfers and local residents. Sharing  hot breakfast and swooping views of the same beach and waves that are there today, the O'Neill boys, Robert August and a cadre of successful surf pioneers once sat in green vinyl booths discussing wave conditions over scrambled eggs and Farmer Brothers coffee at a coffee shop that offered a hot, affordable meal and stunning views of the ocean.   BB King, Randy California & Spirit, John Mayall, Robin Williams and a "who's who" of the rock movement and comedy stayed in Huntington Beach, performing at the Golden Bear just down the street from the affordable beach hotels such as the Huntington Shores affordable with Grinder restaurant.   Those days are long gone. Today's attractions include shopping centers such as 5 Points Plaza, Bella Terra Huntington Beach Mall and traditional Downtown Huntington Beach that's changed in some respects, but retains its charm in buildings such as Perq's Nite Club. Once operating as a brothel and now as a nightclub featuring great rock & roll bands, the world's premier blues artist, Walter Trout, considers Perqs his home base on the rare instances when he's not on the road performing around the globe. Today you'll find new names such as Korn at Main Street's Tuna Town restaurant, owned by one band member who's hung copies of their platinum records on the walls...more >