Huntington Beach, California
Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange
County, in southern California. As of the 2000 census, the city
population was 189,594. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the
southwest, by Seal Beach on the northwest, by Costa Mesa on the east, by
Newport Beach on the southeast, by Westminster on the north, and by
Fountain Valley on the northeast.
Huntington Beach is known for its long 14 km
(8.5 miles) beach, mild climate, and excellent surfing. The waves are a
unique natural effect caused by edge-diffraction of ocean swells by the
island of Catalina, and waves from distant hurricanes. Because of the
curve of the coastline at Huntington Beach, the local beach
actually faces southwest. In summer, the southwest-facing beach often
has very strong surf from hurricanes off the Mexican coast.
Huntington Beach incorporated in 1909 under
its first mayor, Ed Manning. Its original developer was the
Huntington Beach Company, a real-estate development firm owned by
Henry Huntington, a railroad magnate after whom the city is named. The
Huntington Company is still a major land-owner in the city, and still
owns most of the local mineral rights. The city's first high school,
Huntington Beach High School was built in 1906. The school's team,
the Oilers, is named after the city's original natural resource.
The Huntington Beach climate is generally
sunny, dry and cool, although evenings can be excessively damp. In the
morning and evening, there are often strong breezes, 15 mph (25 km/h).
Ocean water temperatures average 55 to 65 °F (10 to 15 °C). In the
summer Huntington Beach temperatures rarely exceed 85 °F (25 °C).
In the winter Huntington Beach temperatures rarely fall below 55
°F (10 °C), even on clear nights. There are about 10 inches (250 mm) of
rain, almost all in mid-winter. Frost occurs only rarely on the coldest
winter nights in Huntington Beach.
Huntington Harbor at Huntington Beach is
suitable for light craft, and includes a dock, launching ramp, basic
services and a few restaurants. The harbor entrance is sometimes
restricted by the US Navy, which loads ships with munitions at the Seal
Beach Naval Weapons Station to the north of the main channel.
Huntington Beach Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the
Huntington Beach has a total area of 81.7 km² (31.6 mi²). 68.3
km² (26.4 mi²) of it is land and 13.4 km² (5.2 mi²) of it (16.38%) is
water. The entire city of Huntington Beach lies in the 714 Area
Code.
Huntington Beach Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 189,594
people, 73,657 households, and 47,729 families residing in Huntington
Beach. The population density of Huntington Beach was
2,773.9/km² (7,183.6/mi²). There were 75,662 housing units at an average
density of 1,107.0/km² (2,866.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the
Huntington Beach was 79.22% White, 0.81% Black or African American,
0.65% Native American, 9.34% Asian, 0.24% Pacific Islander, 5.81% from
other races, and 3.94% from two or more races. 14.66% of the population
was Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 73,657 households in Huntington Beach
out of which 29.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them,
50.7% were married couples living together, 9.6% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 35.2% were non-families. 24.3%
of all households in Huntington Beach were made up of individuals
and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The
average household size in Huntington Beach was 2.56 and the
average family size was 3.08.
The population in Huntington Beach was
spread out with 22.2% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 34.9%
from 25 to 44, 24.0% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age
or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females in
Huntington Beach there were 100.4 males. For every 100 females age
18 and over, there were 98.6 males.
The median income for a household in Huntington
Beach was $64,824, and the median income for a family was $74,378.
Males had a median income of $52,018 versus $38,046 for females. The per
capita income for Huntington Beach was $31,964. About 4.3% of
families and 6.6% of the population were below the poverty line,
including 8.2% of those under age 18 and 4.4% of those age 65 or over.
In Huntington Beach many families spend 40%
or more of their incomes on housing. In Huntington Beach single
family dwellings within two miles of the beach normally sell for
$600,000 or more. Two bedroom apartments usually rent for $2,000 per
month or more in Huntington Beach.
Surfers abound near Huntington Beach City
Pier.
Huntington Beach is the site of the world
surfing championships, held in the summer every year. The city is often
referred to as "Surf City" because of this high profile event, its
history, and culture of surfing. In 1985, the event erupted into a riot
with police vehicles being overturned and burnt.
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Huntington Beach is also a popular
destination for kite surfing, and this sport can be viewed on the beach
north-west of the pier.
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Huntington Beach is mentioned in the Beach
Boys song "Surfin Safari."
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Huntington Beach has the largest public pier
on the west coast.
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Huntington Beach also has the oldest
Independence Day parade in the Western United States. This is televised
locally on the public access cable channel.
The Huntington Beach Central Library is
located in Central Park in a notable building designed by Richard Neutra,
Dion Neutra and Mario Pei. It houses almost a half-million volumes, as
well as a theater, gift shop and fountains. The Huntington Beach
library was founded as a Carnegie library in 1914, and has been
continuously supported by Huntington Beach and local activists,
with new buildings and active branches at Banning, Oak View, Main
Street, and Graham. The Huntington Beach library has significant
local historical materials and has a special genealogical reference
collection. It is independent of the state and county library systems.
The Huntington Beach downtown district
includes an active art center, a colorful shopping district, youth
hostel, and the International Surfing Museum. This district was also
once the home of the famous restaurant and music club "The Golden Bear."
In the late '60s and '70s it hosted many famous bands and acts.
Huntington Beach is also the home of Golden
West College, which offers two-year associates of arts degrees, and
transfer programs to state universities.
The public television station KOCE TV operates from
the Huntington Beach Golden West College campus, in conjunction
with the Golden West College Media Arts program.
The northern and southern beaches (Bolsa Chica
State Beach and Huntington State Beach, respectively) are state parks.
Only the central beach (Huntington City Beach) is maintained by the
city. Bolsa Chica is actually a sand bar fronting the Bolsa Bay and
Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve. Camping and RVs are permitted here, and
popular; campsites for the 4th of July and the Surfing Championships
must be reserved many months in advance.
Because of its land-use policies, Huntington
Beach has the largest ratio of park area to person of any city in
the United States. Almost all Huntington Beach schools have
playing fields arranged for public access as parks, with park-like
amenities near major streets, and schools near the centers of blocks.
Since Huntington Beach contains a major power generating station,
the high-voltage rights-of-way are numerous, and have also been zoned as
parks with walkways.
Huntington Beach also has a very large
Central Park, located between Gothard and Edwards Streets to the east
and west, and Slater and Ellis Avenues to the north and south. The
Huntington Beach park is vegetated with xeric (low water use)
plants, and inhabited by native wildlife. Thick forests encircling the
park are supplemented with Australian trees, particularly eucalyptus.
The actual beach of Huntington Beach itself
was the site of WCW Bash at the Beach 1995.
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There are several attractions and well-known
resorts in the city of Huntington Beach, CA.
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The beaches and surfing-Major surf competitions are
held here each year.
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The pier that goes from Main Street into the
Pacific Ocean. At the end of the pier is a restaurant called Ruby's.
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Downtown, including many local surf shops, cafés,
restaurants and bars.
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The Surfing Museum in downtown Huntington Beach
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The Hilton Resort in Huntington Beach (the
older of the two resorts)
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The Hyatt Resort and Spa, very new with several
swimming pools
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The Bella Terra Mall and Cinemas, located adjacent
to the intersection of Beach Boulevard and the 405 freeway.
Between Downtown Huntington Beach and
Huntington Harbor lies a vast marshy wetland, much of which is protected
within the Bolsa Chica Wildlife Refuge. Large parts of Bolsa Chica are
privately owned or, owned by the city and planned for development. As of
2001, there is an active political dispute between developers and local
conservationists, with active local organizations on both sides. South
of Downtown, the Talbert and Magnolia Marshes lie on a strip of
undeveloped land parallel to Huntington State Beach.
Huntington Beach also sits above a large
natural salt dome containing oil. Although the oil in Huntington
Beach is mostly depleted, extraction continues at a slow rate, and
still provides significant local income. There are several off-shore
extraction facilities off Huntington Beach.
Huntington Beach has an off-shore oil
terminals for the tankers that support the Alaska Pipeline. The
terminals pipes run under Goldenwest Street in Huntington Beach
to an inland oil storage facility at Gothard and Talbert Streets in
Huntington Beach. This is the second largest oil storage facility on
the West Coast of the U.S., exceeded only by the U.S. Navy's strategic
oil reserve in Vallejo, California.
Because of the proximity of oil, and nearby
refineries, the local gas prices tend to be lower than anywhere else in
Southern California. Several hotels have been constructed on the inland
side of Pacific Coast Highway (California Highway 1) within view of the
beach, just southeast of the pier.
Huntington Beach contains a major
installation of Boeing, formerly McDonnell-Douglas. A number of
installations on the Boeing campus were originally constructed to
service the Apollo Program, and some nearby telephone poles are still
marked "Apollo Dedicated Mission Control Line."
Huntington Beach contains the administrative
headquarters of Sea Launch, a commercial space vehicle launch enterprise
whose largest stockholder is Boeing.
Huntington Beach contains a small industrial
district in its northwest corner, near the borders with Westminster and
Seal Beach.
The fourth incarnation of the Huntington Beach
Pier.
The city often ranks among the top 10 safest cities
for its size in terms of crime. However, Huntington Beach is also
one of the most emergency-prone settled areas on the West Coast of the
United States. This is a direct result of its attractive geographic
features. It has an active Community Emergency Response Team training
program, that trains citizens as FEMA-Certified Disaster Service Workers
as a part of a free program run by the fire department's Office of
Emergency Services.
The beach was naturally constructed by the Santa
Ana River's delta. Some of the most attractive settled areas of
Huntington Beach lie beneath the 100-year and 50-year flood zone.
Some parts of the delta require powered pumping to remove water during
heavy rains. Some parts do not drain effectively at all, and in these
areas, local flooding is common during heavy rain.
In 1926, the Santa Ana River dam failed, and
flash-flooded its entire delta. The southern oceanic terminus of this
delta is now a settled area of Huntington Beach. The flood and
dam-endangered areas are protected by a levee, but lenders require
expensive flood insurance in the delta. The distant dam is still
functional, but silting up, which is expected to reduce its storage
volume, and therefore its effectiveness at flood-prevention.
Since it is a seaside city, Huntington Beach
has had tsunami warnings, storm surge (its pier has been rebuilt three
times), sewage spills, tornadoes and waterspouts. The cold offshore
current prevents hurricanes.
Large fractions of the settled delta are in
earthquake liquefaction zones above known active faults. Most of the
local faults are named after Huntington Beach city streets.
Many residents (and even Huntington Beach
city hall) live within sight and sound of active oil extraction and
drilling operations. These occasionally spew oil, causing expensive
clean-ups. Large parts of the developed land have been contaminated by
heavy metals from the water separated from oil. The local oil has such
extreme mercury contamination that metallic mercury is regularly drained
from oil pipelines and equipment. Oil operations increase when the price
of oil rises. Some oil fields have been approved for development. The
worst-polluted areas have been reclaimed as parks. At least one
Superfund site, too contaminated to be a park, is at the junction of
Magnolia and Hamilton streets, near Edison High School.
The Huntington Beach Emergency Operations
Coordinator has said that, in a nuclear war, the city would probably be
severely damaged in a first-strike against military targets. Because
Huntington Beach adjoins Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, and the
center stores munitions (widely believed to include nuclear weapons),
the Center is likely to be first-strike target for ground-burst
thermonuclear weapons. Huntington Beach also includes a very
large Boeing installation, which is an attractive strategic target.
Huntington Beach-"Surf City" controversy
Although Huntington Beach has a long and
widely recognized history of surfing firsts, there is recent controversy
with the northern California city of Santa Cruz over the moniker "Surf
City, USA", with both cities claiming it. A ruling by the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office released on May 12, 2006 awarded the trademark to
Huntington Beach.
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