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People who haven't visited Huntington
Beach in a very long time are amazed
when they stay at the Hilton. You can
still body board and surf, much like the
visiting O'Neills used to do decades ago
back when Robert August and surfing gang
hung out at the predecessor hotels that
dotted this bit of shoreline.
The
modern day surfing surfari made by the
modern surfer fits the marketing plan of
these beach hotels recently
cozying up to surfing and surfers, once
the poor guys who survived for the surf.
Many of those poor guys got rich (or at
least they made a living) and much to
the ire of the HB locals, the waters
have opened up to surfers of all levels.
When
I worked at the Huntington Beach
Conference and Visitors Bureau, a lady
named Heidi came down from Napa to pitch
her product for our web rebuild.
She hadn't been in Huntington Beach for
a very long time and was really wowed.
"Do you guys know what you have going
here?" she asked with enthusiasm. Of
course we do (and did). That's why we
gave up the fast track. Huntington Beach
has long been a bedroom community and an
hour's commute from L.A. Huntington
Beach is not the epicenter of big city
life. It can be quite a drive to get to
places that employ and pay well in
specific industries. But to answer Heidi
of Freerun Technology's question,
Huntington Beach has become a beach
vacation a little more upscale than it
used to be. It has always been popular
for beach vacations. My aunt and uncle
from Indiana used to visit 15 years ago
and stay in hotels that no longer exist
in Huntington Beach.
For
the upscale surfer or family just
learning, you can stay at the Hilton or
Hyatt next door (both owned by the same
company), and surf to your heart's
content. So pack your classic woody,
mount your surfboard on the rack, and
head on down to see my HB, the one that
you may have missed if you've not been
here in a while. |
