Photos above show the Seal Beach beaches, Seal Beach Main Street, Red Car Museum, Slick - The Seal Beach mascot on the Seal Beach Pier and a picture of the Seal Beach Pier.

Seal Beach, California - If you're looking for a family friendly beach to visit, vacation, to shop, enjoy a beach, dine, watch a classic movie, fish on the pier, kitesurf and just hang out, by all means go to Seal Beach. Of the Orange County beaches, it offers the best blend of shopping and beach-ing that you'll find.  Why? There's lots to do in Laguna Beach but the traffic can be daunting. Newport Beach doesn't offer enough shopping along Main Street near its beaches, unless you seek souvenir gifts. Huntington Beach Main Street shopping offers a few gems but lacks those great antique stores, garden shops and clothing for the over-25 crowd. San Clemente's shopping isn't at the beach, per se. So after checking them all out, we choose Seal Beach as our favorite beach experience with the premier beach shopping, free parking and shops offering something for everyone at affordable prices.

Named for the seals that once swam the waters of this quaint seaside community on the northern most border of Orange County, (see picture of "Slick" the Seal), seals don't seem to like it there anymore. They rarely come to visit this seaside city located on the border of Los Angeles County in the Southern California's playground, Orange County. Seal Beach wasn't always so "quaint" as it is today and with its penchant for growth and more revenue, who knows what the future will bring for cute, little Seal Beach.

But for today, Seal Beach residents enjoy the mostly quiet beach location where TV shows will sometimes come to do location shoots. Locals who remember or study Seal Beach history, however, say that it once overshadowed neighbors such as the now booming Huntington Beach with its tourism reach.  During the 1920's, Seal Beach was known as the pleasure place.

"Seal Beach had the buzz. You went there for fun in the sun," said the Red Car Museum president Laura Alioto.  Seal Beach featured bath palaces, a huge roller coaster, gaming rooms, gambling ships, rum runners and wicker boardwalk carts. Scintillating lights illuminated the water and night bathers from the second longest pier in the state. Bathing Pavilion with 1000 dressing rooms renting for 25 cents each, opened directly onto the beach. Their motto was: A beach without an undertow.

Though Long Beach, California's fifth largest city with the busiest port in the nation looms next door, Old Town Seal Beach features shady, tree-lined Main Street, a beautiful beach and pier reminiscent of small town America during the mid-1900's. 

An art faire, Christmas parade, summer concerts on the green and 4th of July celebrations are a few annual events of special interest.  Fishing is permitted from the pier and at the end, Ruby's diner offers sandwiches, salads and forever views. 

Visit the Red Car Museum on the old Pacific Electric Right of Way. Car No. 1734 is a rare Pacific Electric tower car built in 1925 which serves as the museum headquarters. It was once a roving machine shop sent out to troubleshoot problems along the 40-mile Pacific Electric LA-Newport Line. A center tower was used for repairs and maintenance on the overhead lines. It operated for almost 50 years until 1950. The museum  displays photographs of early Seal Beach, sea shells and Indian artifacts collected locally. It also has reference library of local history with detailed regional maps.  Open the second and fourth Saturdays from Noon to 3 p.m., the museum provides the most comprehensive look into the history of Seal Beach. Donations are accepted. Call: (562) 683-1874.
Location: Electric Avenue near Main St., next to Mary Wilson Library.

Seal Beach offers two strikingly different experiences. The quaint beach town to the west of Pacific Coast Highway is of greatest interest to tourists. East of PCH is tract housing, the gated Leisure World retirement community, shopping, freeways and high-tech space and defense facilities, such as Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station and Boeing. The space and defense  industries attract many visitors to the region who also love to play "tourist" when not working on assignment or contract. 

Back to the Beach -  Gerry Kirk travels the world building sand castles. In fact, his team is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for a 64-foot (19-meter) structure built on Fiesta Island  in San  Diego. 

Kirk's pick for best castle-building beach is Seal Beach. Outside the United States, his pick is Cabo Pulmo, on the tip of Baja California.  Kirk said, "You need something that will take compaction. You can pack it up and it'll hold its shape. That requires a good mix of grain size without getting too large a grain. Color also is important for contrast when you are carving windows in your sand castle. If it's a lighter colored sand, you get a nice contrast. Seal Beach is dark sand but when it dries out it's light enough to make really good contrast." 

 Located at the mouth of Alamitos Bay, Seal Beach provides access for boats and yachts entering the Pacific Ocean from Huntington Harbor. It is known as a great location for windsurfing and even has a kitesurfing launch area near the River's End Cafe.

When visiting Seal Beach, the two hotels with greatest availability are the Pacific Inn and Ayres Hotel Seal Beach