As part of M&F's ongoing series 'Livin in LA - Vacation in LA'.
Huntington Beach is one of M&F's favorite cities in Southern California, and if we didn't love Hollywood, this might be where we would want to live.
According to Mapquest, the drive from Hollywood to Huntington Beach should take about an hour, but due to freeway traffic in LA, it took closer to 2 hours to drive there, and even longer to come back. The inland section of Huntington Beach is like a giant suburb, and Beach Blvd. is filled with auto dealers and chain restaurants. This is not the appealing part. But the closer one drives towards the beach, the more that the city seems to take on a personality of its own.
The Huntington Beach that is next to the beach is just about perfect. There are no costal homes or hotels along Huntington Beach because the PCH highway separates the community from the beach itself. This seems to give the area a more public feeling than other beaches. For visitors, you can pay for metered parking next to the beach or park a few blocks inland and hoof it like the locals, with an easy 5 minute walk to the sand.
Nearly everyone appeared young and good looking in HB. Guess this is in large part because the pretty people of Huntington Beach are living right and taking care of their bodies. There almost seems to be a dress code among the dudes living in Huntington Beach--and a dark t-shirt, skate shorts, and street wear hat constitues the required apparel. As for the girls . . . well, there are more pretty girls here than any other area M&F has visited in Los Angeles. The hottest girls look like models, and the 'average' girls are still pretty stunning. There must be an ordinance against ugly girls in HB because there were none.
The best part about Huntington Beach is the dog beach. Sponsered by
DogBeach.org (Support!--it runs on donations), the HB dog beach stretches out for more than 2 miles north of the city. Because there is enough space to walk and stretch out, it truly feels like a day at the beach, not at the dog park. The dogs
love the beach, and seem to respond to the off-leash freedom. We have never seen an over-agressive dog here. The dogs and their owners intermix peacefully with picnicking families and surfers all through the area. Seriously, if you have a dog the HB dog park is a
must visit and one of the best perks about living in LA~
The worst part about Huntington Beach is the constant presence of oil rigs. Oil drilling was happening everywhere--next to people's houses in the neighborhoods, next to the beach, and even at huge stations planted in the middle of the ocean a few hundred yards off the coast. It makes one wonder how healthy the environment is, even if the people who live here appear to be taking such good care of their bodies.
The street scene in Huntington Beach seems to draw a double line between stickers and graffiti. The graffiti gets buffed right away. Only scars of tags are left riding. Stickers, on the other hand, do not get buffed and there are many huge combos that can be found throughout the city. Perhaps this distinction is rooted in the fact that HB is a beach community, and therefore surf and skate stickers are inherent, which apparently makes it cool to tolerate street stickers, as well. Thanks to a tip from CR M&F did swing by the sticker heaven that is TK Burger. More pics of the street art from HB coming up.
The strangest thing about Huntington Beach on the day that we visited was a deep marine fog layer. It was a gorgeous and sunny day 2 miles inland, but situated along the coast was a thick foggy marine layer that would thin out and then re-intensify as it rolled in waves. It made for a strange day at the beach, but also led to some really great photos. Click the jump for a super pic-heavy pictorial of M&F's vacation in Huntington Beach!
.jpeg)
