Huntington Beach is a Pacific Ocean beachfront town in Southern California’s Orange County.  It has 8.5 miles of pristine beach and world-famous surfing, but that’s just a small piece of Huntington Beach’s history and one of the (big) reasons for its fame!

Early Inhabitants

The Tongva people were the original inhabitants of the area we know as Huntington Beach. In 1784, the Spanish granted Manuel Nieto 300,000 acres for his military service, and “Rancho Los Nietos,” the first of many names to come, was born. The ranch used (the modern-day) Beach Boulevard as a cattle route! 

In 1822, Mexico gained its independence from Spain, and the Rancho land was divided into Rancho Los Alamitos and Rancho Las Bolsas. (Modern-day Huntington Beach is in the Los Bolsas portion.)

Multiple land transfers and subdivisions of the Ranchos followed the United States’ acquisition of California. 

From Farming to Pacific City Dreams and a Railroad Tycoon

An important one was in 1894 when Colonel Robert J. Northam, the Stearns Ranchos Company manager, acquired seven parcels of bogs and shallow marshes. He drained and seeded them and began to farm barley. 

More settlers began to grow communities like Shell Beach, Smeltzer, and a Gospel tent city.

In 1901, Philip A. Stanton and Colonel H.S. Finley acquired beachfront property. They formed the West Coast Land and Water Company, hoping to build a “West Coast Atlantic City,” leading to Shell Beach becoming the infant “Pacific City.” 

How Huntington Beach Got it’s Name

In hopes of legitimizing the city, a railway tycoon, Henry Huntington, was convinced by local developers to extend the Long Beach railway line to Pacific City by agreeing to call the town Huntington Beach, ending once and for all the name changes. 

Huntington Beach and the Huntington Beach Company were born, and the company still owns significant land parcels in the city today!

In 1904 the Huntington Beach Pier was built. The first Pacific Red Car arrived on July 4th that year, but ultimately, the city never rivaled Atlantic City. In fact, it was so sparse that the following year, the Encyclopedia Americana company could grant free land grants to anyone who purchased a $126 encyclopedia set!  

The city was incorporated in 1909 with Mayor Ed Manning, and from 1910 to 1920, farming continued to be the leading business and source of population growth. 

Oil Drastically Changes the Landscape

However, in 1920 Col. Northam struck oil in the largest known California oil deposit when trying to dig an irrigation well, drastically shifting the economy and source of development. 

That year, Chevron bought 66% of the Huntington Beach Company. Oil wells sprouted throughout the town, and much of the food processing plants converted to oil refining.

A Piece of Huntington Beach in Space!

Donald Douglas later built Douglas Aircraft Systems Center in Huntington Beach. This facility would go on to make the 2nd and 3rd stage Saturn V rockets for the Apollo astronauts and later turn Saturn V into Skylab, America’s first space center. 

And then surfing came to Huntington Beach!

An undeniably HUGE part of Huntington Beach’s fame comes from its deep roots in surfing!

In 1907, Henry Huntington was in Hawaii and saw George Freeth surfing.  Freeth was a lifeguard and swimming instructor, but more importantly, the first ever to be recognized as an expert wave surfer, as surfing was known back then. Huntington was so impressed he Freeth to demonstrate this wonder in Huntington Beach! 

In 1914, at the new Huntington Beach Pier dedication, Freeth gave the first surfing demonstration to onlookers who were amazed at his ability to stand up and ride the waves!

In 1925, Duke Kahanamoku, known as the Father of Modern Surfing and a 1912 Olympic Gold Medalist, traveled the world giving surfing exhibitions and ended up living in Newport Beach, surfing at Huntington Beach Pier with the local lifeguards Bud Higgins and Gene Belshe.

Duke is credited with fully bringing surfing to life in Huntington Beach and the California coast and was inducted into the Surfing Walk of Fame in 1994 in front of a bronze statue of Duke.  

Huntington Beach held the U.S. Surfing Championships in 1931, and in 1932 the championships were televised, bringing worldwide notoriety. 

In 1955, 30 young surfers formed the HB Pier Club, further popularizing the sport with local youth. They became known as the Boys of ‘55.

A member of the HB Pier Club, Gordie Duane, opened Huntington Beach’s first surfboard shop right at the Huntington Beach Pier, and this became the place to be for local surfers.  

In 1957, Jack Hokanson opened Jack’s Surfboards across from the pier on the PCH. He offered everything a surfer would need, and later, he included skateboards.  Jack’s is still open in the original location and several other places throughout Southern California surfing towns.

At this point, surfing had taken hold of the West Coast, and Huntington Beach became the site of the West Coast Surfing Championships, which evolved into what is now the famous US Open of Surfing.

The first winner of the West Coast Surfing Championship was Jack Haley, the founder of Captain Jack’s restaurant down the road on Sunset Beach!

By 1970, surfing’s popularity created massive growth in boards and surf apparel manufacturing.  The now famous Quicksilver surfing company was founded by Bob McKnight and is, to this day, the second largest employer in Huntington Beach!

In 1976, the Association of Surfing Professionals relaced the International Surfing Professionals as professional surfing’s governing body and moved its headquarters to Huntington Beach. While the headquarters is now in Australia and the name has been changed to the World Surf League, the North American Association of Surfing Professionals office remains in Huntington Beach, and the US Open of Surfing (USOS) remains a huge and important venue for the association. 

If you’d like to know more about the US Open of Surfing, check it out here: https://huntingtonbeachfamilyfun.com/category/sporting-events/

In 2002 the USA Surf Team made Huntington Beach. 

In 2009, Huntington Beach’s own Brett Simpson and Courtney Conlogue, who grew up surfing at the pier, took first place in the USOS, Simpson repeating the feat in 2010.  Imagine the hometown pride! 

In 2015, 66 prior USOS winners, Surfing Walk of Fame and Hall of Fame inductees, and various celebrities rode a 42-foot-long Visit Huntington Beach (VHB) and Epic Big Board Ride surfboard to break the Guinness World Record for the longest surfboard and the most people riding a surfboard at one time!

With this remarkable surfing history, I am sure you can now see why Huntington Beach is known as Surf City USA!

In addition to Huntington Beach being the home of surfing’s major history, surfing royalty, majestic waves, striking oil, and sending rockets to the moon, I am also sure you can see there are many reasons Huntington Beach is famous! 

Which is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!