California’s only federally trademarked Surf City has 9.5 miles of unbroken sand

It’s been Surf City since 1914

You can drive the full length of Huntington Beach and never lose sight of the Pacific. The shoreline stretches 9.5 miles along the Orange County coast, all sand, no rocky interruptions.

This is the only city in the country that holds the federal trademark for “Surf City USA,” won in 2006 after a drawn-out fight with Santa Cruz.

But the surf roots here go back more than a century, and the culture built around those waves touches every corner of town.

A Hawaiian waterman started it all in 1914

George Freeth, a Hawaiian waterman, gave the first surfing demonstration at Huntington Beach’s newly built concrete pier in 1914.

Eleven years later, Duke Kahanamoku, the Olympic gold medalist widely called the father of modern surfing, started riding waves here and helped spread the sport across Southern California.

Today a bronze statue of Kahanamoku stands at the Surfers’ Hall of Fame, right at the corner of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway. The city earned its reputation one wave at a time.

The pier has survived storms and a full rebuild

The first wooden pier went up around 1902 and reached 1,000 feet into the Pacific.

A storm tore through it in 1910, and the replacement opened in 1914 as a 1,350-foot concrete structure, the longest and highest concrete pleasure pier in the country at the time.

Decades of storms kept battering it, including major damage in 1988 that shut it down. The current pier opened on July 18, 1992, and now sits on the National Register of Historic Places.

Walk 1,850 feet over the Pacific without a ticket

The pier runs 1,850 feet into the ocean, making it one of the longest public piers on the West Coast.

Its design mirrors the look of the 1914 original, built with reinforced concrete and epoxy-coated steel to fight saltwater corrosion.

You can fish off it without a license and watch surfers work the consistent break below. The city runs a 24-hour live webcam up top with daily surf and beach condition reports.

It sits at the end of Main Street, and everything in town radiates out from it.

Hundreds of thousands pack the sand for the U.S. Open

Every summer, the south side of the pier turns into one of the largest surfing competitions on the planet. The U.S. Open of Surfing traces its roots to the first West Coast Surfing Championship held here in 1959.

The event now runs about nine days as part of the World Surf League tour, and hundreds of thousands of people show up. The 2026 event goes from July 25 through Aug. 2, and you don’t pay a dime to watch.

Live music, food vendors and athlete meet-and-greets fill the gaps between heats.

Granite plaques and handprints line Main Street

The Surfing Walk of Fame runs along the sidewalk in front of Jack’s Surfboards near the pier.

Since 1994, inductees in six categories, including Surf Pioneer, Surf Champion, Woman of the Year and Local Hero, have earned granite plaques embedded in the concrete. Think Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, but for surfers.

Across the street, the Surfers’ Hall of Fame holds handprints, footprints and signatures of legendary surfers in the sidewalk outside Huntington Surf and Sport.

Induction ceremonies happen every year during the U.S. Open.

Over 500 fire rings light up the beach at sunset

Five distinct beach areas stretch across the full coastline, from Bolsa Chica State Beach in the north to Huntington State Beach in the south.

Huntington City Beach alone spans about 3.5 miles and wraps around both sides of the pier. More than 500 concrete fire rings sit scattered across three of those beaches, free and first-come, first-served.

You can buy firewood from beachside concession stands and have a bonfire going by sunset. Fires run daily, generally from early morning to 10 p.m.

Skate or bike 8.5 miles with the ocean right there

A paved trail runs 8.5 miles along the coast, connecting Bolsa Chica State Beach to Huntington State Beach. You share it with joggers, cyclists, skaters and scooter riders, and the Pacific stays in view the whole way.

Roller skating the beachfront path is one of the most popular things people do here. If you didn’t bring your own wheels, shops along the route rent beach cruisers, electric bikes and more.

The trail threads through all three main beach areas without a single gap.

1,300 acres of wetlands sit right across the highway

The Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve protects roughly 1,300 acres of saltwater marsh directly across Pacific Coast Highway from Bolsa Chica State Beach.

Over 200 bird species use these wetlands year-round for nesting, feeding or as a stopover along the Pacific Flyway.

Five miles of trails wind through the reserve, including a boardwalk loop over the inner bay where you can spot herons, egrets, pelicans and shorebirds.

Endangered California least terns and western snowy plovers live here too. Admission is free, but leave your dog, bike and drone behind.

Orange County’s largest park hides a secret garden

Huntington Central Park covers more than 350 acres, the largest city-owned park in Orange County.

The west side holds a 25-acre equestrian center, Shipley Nature Center, a disc golf course, Lake Huntington and a dog park.

Cross over to the east side and you’ll find the Huntington Beach Central Library, an adventure playground, Talbert Lake, an amphitheater and a secret garden tucked into the grounds.

The park hosts events all year, including a Cherry Blossom Festival every spring.

A Canadian transplant built the surfing museum from love

Natalie Kotsch, a Canadian who fell for the city’s beach culture, opened the International Surfing Museum in 1985. It sits at 411 Olive Ave. in downtown Huntington Beach, about two blocks from the pier.

Inside, you’ll find vintage surfboards, photographs and memorabilia spanning more than 100 years, including what the museum bills as the world’s largest surfboard.

The collection rotates, so repeat visits turn up new pieces. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, and admission is free with donations accepted.

Dogs run free on their own mile of sand

Huntington Dog Beach stretches between Seapoint Street and 21st Street on the north end of Huntington City Beach.

It draws pet owners from across Southern California, and dogs can run loose on the sand right along the paved bike trail.

Just north of here sits the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, where dogs aren’t allowed, so this is the spot. If your dog prefers grass over sand, Huntington Central Park has a dedicated dog park inland.

Either way, this city takes its four-legged residents seriously.

Fighter jets scream over the surf every October

The Pacific Airshow has called Huntington Beach home since 2016 and ranks among the largest airshows in the country by attendance.

The three-day event sends military and civilian aviators over the ocean for aerobatic demonstrations, with past headliners including the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and U.S. Navy Blue Angels.

The 2026 show runs Oct. 2 through 4 and marks the event’s 10th anniversary. Live music, food vendors, a kids’ zone and signing sessions fill the beach below.

You can watch from multiple points along the shoreline.

Visit Huntington Beach, California

You can reach Huntington Beach from downtown Los Angeles in about 35 miles heading southeast. John Wayne Airport sits roughly 20 minutes away.

The Mediterranean climate keeps summer highs in the high 70s and winter temperatures in the mid-60s, so any month works. Downtown runs along Main Street with shops, dining and easy walking access to the pier and beaches.

Park once, and your feet or a rented bike can handle the rest.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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