Huntington Beach’s Untold History: The Story Behind Its Surprising Origins

I've lived here for over 30 yrs. Pretty comprehensive history.. Pretty exacting too!!

Quite an enjoyable video. Even though I live in Anaheim right now, I have to say that Huntington Beach is the one town that I really love. I've spent 23 years of my life there in various parts of town. My family moved there a year after I finished high school in 1969. Being an older cat now, I do rideshare to make a living and I find myself in Huntington most days of the week. My favorite area now is Central Park over by the dog park and around Edwards Hill.

I lived there for many years. Other than the beach it was a featureless expanse overrun with tract houses and shopping centers. It's basically suburbia in a sunny location. Going to the beach on bikes most every day is what made it a nice place to live. I was not aware which tribe lived there before the Spanish and Mexican conquest of the area. It's sad none of that history endured or was taught to us growing up there. The oil wells were always a stain on the area, and over the years we'd come out of the water with tar balls and trace oil deposits on our bodies and boards and sadly didn't think much of it. I always hated the oil industry for not transitioning to cleaner sources of energy much sooner. The air quality was horrible. Especially during Santa Ana conditions. We couldn't play outside without our lungs physically hurting with each breath. The only escape was sailing offshore and to Catalina. Although Catalina Island was overrun with too many boats and too many tourists. Community planning was just really poor in Southern California in general. So today there is not enough housing to support to the population, which makes the cost of living higher than it should be. And the dependance on freeways and cars is crappy. No good public transportation exists. The only positive transportation note are the acceptable bike lanes and sidewalks on most streets that make getting around on bicycles even today a very good way to stay in shape and make good time to and from different parts of town. Downtown HB was basically an overrun slum when I was young and was renovated over the years, so it got better, but was mostly a tourist trap. I'd say there are much better vacation destinations in So Cal so don't waste your time here. It was ruined when they stripped the land hundreds of years ago to turn it all into cattle ranches. Oh yeah, and Old Town always was weird and a cheaply built eye sore. I'm sure I might get some haters on my comments but in truth those people are likely just being nostalgic. Go a couple miles further South to Corona Del Mar, Laguna, Dana Point, San Juan and further down the coast and it's 100% nicer. Trust me.

Nice job explaining our city’s history, especially including the geology and the early native inhabitants.

THANK U FOR THIS VIDEO!! I JUST THOUGHT HB WAS FAMOUS FOR SANCHOS TACOS!!!!! JKJKJK

I’m from Newport Beach and as a kid I have fond memories of climbing the wooden oil Derricks along the coast north Newport Beach and Huntington Beach….🤷‍♂️🤔😎👍

My hometown!

Ive spent countless hours bodysurfing, boogie boarding, and fishing the pier... actually good fishing off the pier.
I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley couple blocks away from the 605 FWY. Ive read several anthropology books about the Native peoples of that area...what was found out by studying the skeletal remains was Southern Californias Native Population was the most war-like war prone population in the Americas!
Great video...
Eric Underwood Class of 81 Downey High School Downey California USA 👉 ♥️ 🇺🇲 🙏 🗽 🦅

It feels good to say I send many summers in the 60's and 70's at Huntington Beach. When ever I make it back down to Orange County, I always have to stop by. We hung out South of the pier near Joe's Hut which was close to lifeguard station 13. People from my high claimed that area. I can still see the air planes flying up and down the coast pulling the Coopertone Tan signs. I love the way the people there protect it, so happy to watch them run antifa out of there. They set a good example for the rest of us.

Went their last summer, complete Hispanic invasion,toilets aren't used, people zip their fly while lying on their side a urinate on the sand! Disgusting

Beach and Ellis since 1980! 💋

The oil derricks wede an eye sore!

You can't call yourself a surfer in Northern Huntington Beach if your bottom feets and your boards did not taint with oil residues.

Having grown up in the Southland I spent many a summer on the shores of Huntington, Seal and Bolsa Chica with forays to Laguna to fish off the rocks. I do remember in the early 60's after a trip to the beach my dad removing tar from the soles of his feet with gasoline. My dad was born in Hawthorne in 1928 so Im sure he did remember the oil derricks. My grandfather who came out here as early as 1903, though in Sacramento, worked for Southern Pacific. Moving to the Long Beach area in the early 20's worked for the Red Car, owned by SP. He Retired in 1941, moved back to the Sacramento area. This video struck home, thank you.
Class of 1976, Norwalk.

Thanks!

I know the guy on the Harley. Dave Boyer

I remember going to “The Pike” as a kid.

I met Mrs Slater

Didn’t Spanish bring Catholic religion? It said Christian 🤔

The Spanish destroyed the natives.

Great walk through HB history. I took my wife to the Long board for our first date. I manages restaurants in Huntington Beach and knew Bruce and David. That is the oldest remaining building in Huntington Beach. Built in 1904 or five I think. The water tower house you showed is actually not in Huntington Beach, it’s in seal Beach but if you cross the street, you are in Huntington Beach Sunset Beach. It’s called or if you cross specific coast Highway you’re in peters Landing, which is also part of Huntington Beach still a great videothough.

I live in HB and I think this video is pretty good. Some of this information I didn’t know especially all the info about the indigenous people.

The best places in Huntington Beach are the Huntington Beach Pier Old World Village the Huntington Central Park along with Shipley Nature Center and the Huntington Beach Library along with the state beaches like Huntington State Beach Bolsa Chica State Beach 🏖️⛱️🏞️📖📕📗📘📙🌊🐚🥟

Nice job!

I was born in Long Beach and raised in Lakewood, but have lived in Garden Grove & Fountain Valley since 1979. In the late 1950s I would sometimes go with my dad to San Diego via PCH. No I-5 at that time. When we got to the Bluffs of H.B., I remember the forest of oil derricks on the inland side of PCH. Very impressive. Mists of oil would sometimes coat the windshield of the car.
_ The 1933 Long Beach Earthquake was centered offshore of Huntington Beach. The shock waves traveled northwest along the Newport-Inglewood Fault into Long Beach & Compton where the most damage occurred.

Thank you! Informational and interesting presentation. 👍Subscribed😊

😲 Oh my goodness! What a fantastic documentary! So glad I found you! 💖

I got married on HB.... 42 years ago ❤❤

The Tongva have a cute little oasis nextdoor to University HS. It has a fresh water spring coming out of the ground that has the purest water which is believed to have healing properties.

Lived in H.B. from 1971-1982...fresh from Nam....loved it..

Make no mistake, as 7th generation Californian I know for a fact that HB has been & still is one of thee most racist cities west of the Mississippi river. Even here in Dec 2024 it is even more so. Ask about "tin can beach"? & who was forced to ONLY go to that beach for decades.

My family moved to Huntington Beach in 1966 when I was six years old. It was absolutely the best place to grow up at that time. There were fields everywhere. My friends and I scaled barbed wire fences to play in the wetlands and catch turtles, frogs and lizards. We rode our bikes at the lake at the bottom of Edwards hill. it was a deserted field with all kinds of hills and jumps. we built forts in the field behind Hope view school. It was a blast.

Excellent video

The Golden Bear was an iconic Huntington Beach nightclub back in the day. So many memories of my irresponsible youth were in Huntington Beach.

We wish the influence of White supremacists and Tito Ortiz was included

Great video

One of my earliest memories are days at this beach, circa 1964.

I remember spending alot of time as a boy in the early 60's. Swimming and bon fires in the fire pits was a great part of my childhood!

Grew up with the Brewster family...
Also grew up here.. cheers from Huntington Beach/Westminster CA 🇺🇸

In 1963 I was born in Pasadena California after that house we lived in an apartment in Inglewood then after that we moved to Redondo Beach and after that I spent my formative years in Garden Grove California learning this history is something that was hidden from us for sure thank you for everything you domuch love from Kennewick Washington, Washington state on the mighty Columbia river… Happy new year and our arms are forever wrapped around you.

I’m really enjoying your videos, my husband and I recently moved into San Diego and your channel bring to us so many places to visit. My husband loves golfing, maybe in the future would you make a video about the different flavors and variation of different areas and their golf courses.

Last time I visited Huntington Beach about 2019, I was shocked to see that the city council was allowing residential housing on the beach, I was utterly shocked.

and now it's local population includes a variety of tattooed skin head and tuff guys that come from everywhere else but claim it is their beach.... (still a great place to visit) great video thanks

Grew up here, this is a pretty solid video. I like how they started with the history of the land itself and incorporated some of the history of the indigenous tribes living there. They'd never say it in a video like this but beware, Huntington Beach is crawling with white supremacists and neo-nazis and has been since at least the 80s.