from the City of Newport Beach....with a border to
Costa Mesa a stone throw up that same SA River flood
control channel. When we moved here in 1952 that
border was a long way from any residential building.
Hey, we even had Oil Rigs by Newport Shores...in the
now Banning Ranch area. Huntington Beach was rough, it
had a reputation that said: "We are Barstow south!" "We
have Oil Rigs and we are the Huntington Beach Oilers!"
Their bars were rough and even the Golden Bear seemed
at times....dangerous!
Even the HB beach kids were different from Newport Beach
or Seal Beach or Sunset Beach. Huntington Beach had
Oil Wells....and they were dirty but rich. They even
had Tin Can Beach in those days. Bolsa Chica was a
mere blue sky dream right then. The homeless lived on
Tin Can Beach....right across the border from Newport
Beach. Then came the surf revolution!
Robert August was the handsome guy that co-starred in
"Endless Summer" famous Surf movie. Robert was a good
pal of Mr. Pipeline John Peck...who I met at the Makaha
Surf Championships in 1963. Robert was from Huntington
Beach...and a very refined version of what Huntington
Beach surfers were really like. Don't forget, shooting
the pier was first done in Huntington Beach...and there
were some memorable occasions of guys wearing those
mussels on the pilings of Huntington Beach...doing a left
from the right side of that pier.
But why do we bring this up? Well, soon Huntington Beach
had become "Surf City USA". The northern city of Santa
Cruz even fought in court but HB finally won to get that
legal name recognition. Huntington Beach is celebrating
2009 as its 100th Anniversary as a city. "Surf City"!
Well,recently Huntington Beach has determined that they
should study the possibility of adding up to 20 Video
Cameras for Red Light enforcement. Most of the initial
group would be located on Beach Blvd.....from Pacific
Coast Highway all the way to the 405 Freeway. Almost
every light is covered. In addition, a light on Brookhurst
and Adams would be added. The vote for the study was
5 to 2. Should we say the reality is that once the
study is done....so is the program.
Lockheed-Martin are rubbing their grumby pinkies together!
We can't stand the thought of Huntington Beach, joining
the ranks of Costa Mesa adding those invasive, contestable
and worrisome enforcement cameras. Will they put signage
up so that all can see? Will they shorten the yellow light
to catch even more evil doers? Will they ever remove them?
No, we don't think so. Will they save lives or just cause
more rear end collisions?
Come on Huntington Beach...No "Video City" please! You
don't need to prove you deserve the title....just file
for it now.. and maybe no one with contest it. In the
meantime, happy 100th Anniversary Huntington Beach. You
are doing a great job with downtown Main Street. You are
doing so well, in many areas - you've come a long way
baby....but don't mess that all up by adding those
stupid cameras!
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