I think I was once quoted saying that Orange County is the cultural center of the surfing world and Huntington Beach is the “heart beat.”
That was awhile back though. There was a time when the two big voices in the media, SURFER magazine and SURFING magazine, where both published here. Many of the big surf brands were headquartered here. Even the major producer of the foam blanks that the boards are made from was here. The main guys that made the surf movies where from here, too. So, saying this was the cultural center of the surfing world was not a big leap.
Huntington Beach is not the best surf spot on the planet, not even close. Yet if you wanted to get a barometer on trends this was the spot.
At one time, there were more surf shops in this one town than fleas on a junkyard dog. Dean Torrance nailed it with the Jan and Dean hit song “Surf City.” In fact, he found it so appealing that the dude even moved there. Heck, just the “two girls for every boy” thing had me going. A concept that was certainly interesting and worth some deep research at the very least.
So, the deal was this place was THE place. It was all goin’ on. Is this still true today? The world is vastly different with cell phones and the internet, not to mention parking meters that only take credit cards.
No matter where we now stand on the surf cultural ladder, there are some other very cool things that I always found appealing about this county. At the top is quantity and variety.
Surf wise, this place is a treasure trove. The number of surf spots from Seal Beach at the north to San Clemente at the south is mind blowing. The variety of those spots even more so. You have classic “beach breaks,” such as Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and San Clemente. All strewn with a number of surf spots. You have your reef breaks, too. Gentle ones that are very user-friendly, such as Doheny and San Onofre. World class performance spots, too, such as…
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