Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach is a long sand-bottom shoreline in central Orange County, anchored by the Huntington Beach Pier at the foot of Main Street. The pier extends roughly 1,850 feet, one of the longest public concrete piers on the West Coast. The original pier dates to 1902; the current structure was rebuilt in 1992 after the 1988 winter storm destroyed the previous one. The International Surfing Museum sits two blocks east on Olive Avenue, and the Vans US Open of Surfing runs at the pier each year in late July. Pacific Coast Highway runs along the bluff above the sand. The named spot covers Huntington City Beach, which extends roughly 3.5 miles and includes the pier. Huntington State Beach south of Beach Boulevard and Bolsa Chica State Beach to the north are operated separately and are not part of this spot.

The bottom is sand from end to end, with breaking surf and no rocky reef or kelp offshore at the named beach. The sand and surf place the spot in the surf zone biome.

Surfing dominates the use here, because the long, exposed beach produces consistent surf and the pier focuses swell into named peaks on either side of the pilings. Hook-and-line fishing off the pier and from shore is common, as is swimming. Spearfishing along the named beach is legal under standard California regulations but uncommon, since there is no rocky structure or kelp to hold fish, and the same absence of structure keeps snorkeling and scuba rare.

Multiple paid municipal lots line Pacific Coast Highway near the pier at $1.50 to $2 per hour. Free street parking is available on the residential streets east of PCH, but the pier lot fills on weekends, especially during major surfing events. Huntington Beach Municipal Code section 13.08.160 requires any spear gun carried on the sand to have its point sheathed and bars keeping one cocked or loaded anywhere on the beach, and no city rule sets a spearfishing exclusion around Huntington Beach Pier. Fishing and spearfishing are legal under standard California regulations.