More about Huntington Beach California

Huntington Beach is a sea-side city in Orange County and is home to an estimated 192,620 residents as of the 2008 census. The city is known for its 8.5 mile long beach and great surfing waves caused by edge-diffraction of swells by Catalina, and distant hurricanes. The main road running through the Huntington Beach, Beach Boulevard, originally was used as a cattle route, which was the main industry in the area. The city has gone through several re-incarnations since being a Spanish land grant; the city has had the names Shell Beach, Smeltzer, Gospel Swamp, named so for the revival meetings that were held in the marshlands which are now occupied by Golden West College, Fairview, Pacific City, and finally Huntington Beach. The city was named after Henry Huntington, a man who had enormous power in the railroad industry. The city was officially incorporated February 17, 1909 under the first mayor, Ed Manning. The original developer of the city was the Huntington Beach Company which still owns most of the local mineral rights in the city. When the city was first started, one of its richest natural resources was oil; although many of the rigs are gone or dried up today, some oil pumps can still be found in the city and the first high school built in the city, Huntington Beach High School built in 1906, has the team name of the Oilers to commemorate the oil industry. Today, the city’s most valuable resource is the ocean that borders it. Any construction of the beach area is strictly prohibited unless voted for by the people, which allows the city to retain its tie to the beach instead of having buildings obscure the view. Another resource of the city is the Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve, an area located between Downtown and Huntington Harbour; the area is a large marshy wetland which underwent a $110 million restoration that was completed in 2006. The area is very popular, especially among bird watchers and photographers. The city is also home to two state parks, Bolsa Chica State Beach and Huntington State Beach. The state beaches allow camping and RVs and they are very popular around the Fourth of July and for Surfing Championships.