For over 100 years, Huntington Beach, a.k.a. Surf City, USA, has come to
represent the true beach culture of Southern California. Originally
called Pacific City, it was when railroad magnate Henry Huntington first
ran his train line down in 1904 from Los Angeles, approximately 40 miles
north, that the then-quaint beach town took on the name that made it
famous around the state and around the world. In 1914, the legendary
George Freeth put on a surfing exhibition the day the city's vaunted
concrete pier was opened, which christened Huntington Beach as a
soon-to-be surfing mecca. It became a boomtown after oil was discovered
in 1920 and, several decades later, morphed once again into a cradle of
aerospace engineering when companies such as Boeing arrived. Throughout
its tumultuous and dramatic history, Huntington Beach has always boasted
a cast of colorful and profound characters. From the first mayor, Ed
Manning, to Medal of Honor-recipient Chris Carr, from the Zamboni family
(who invented the ice-cleaning machine) to baseball star Jeff Kent: the
list is almost endless. But it is not just professional athletes,
actors, and rock stars; it is the teachers, crossing guards, merchants,
and activists that give Huntington Beach its well-earned reputation as
one of the most interesting and charismatic cities in the state.
