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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
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