O.C. PLATFORM : Development Wiping Out Surf City of Lore
I’m sure that in the eyes of the land developers and the city pundits the development of Huntington Beach represents a gold mine.
What with the planned businesses, increased rents and tourism dollars, the onetime surfing town is entering a new age.
But for the local surfers, young and old, the development of Huntington Beach means the loss of its surfing soul.
Even today, the city has been gradually changing. There are a lot more tourists. Bodyboarders and surfers fight for the next wave. And a general unfriendliness is permeating the once close-knit surfing community.
To use the surfing vernacular, it has become a zoo.
While Huntington Beach will always retain some of its charm, it will never be the same.
Instead, what I see in the city’s future is the creation of another Newport Beach. Yeah, there will be lots of trendy new shops, high rents and high-rises, but for me it’s the end of a way of life--a life that is gradually fading in Southern California.
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