Cruising Custom May Hit Bump

A two-block stretch of Huntington Beach’s busy Main Street shopping district would be closed to cars and transformed into a pedestrian mall under a proposal by the city.

Business leaders and some city officials see the potential to create a family-friendly open marketplace in the heart of downtown that would allow more space for sidewalk dining and shopping and eliminate the traffic jams and boisterous cruising that have long plagued the area.

“I want it to be a center point of downtown, a place for families to come to,” said Ron McLin, general manager of the Long Board restaurant and co-chairman of the Huntington Beach Restaurant Assn.

The City Council voted this week to develop a proposal for the mall, with a final vote to be taken when the study is completed.

Supporters envision converting the pavement to cobblestone paths with fountains, planters and benches similar to Santa Monica’s popular Third Street Promenade. But the track record for pedestrian street malls is mixed, with several projects in cities such as Burbank and Oxnard failing to live up to expectations.

Moreover, some merchants worry that banning cars from Main Street would rob the business district of vitality.

“It’s taken us 10 years to get all this traffic that we have, and we want to be very careful and not destroy something that’s good,” said Steve Daniel, president of the Downtown Merchants Assn., which is urging the city and other store owners to be cautious.

The mall could make its debut as early as 2003, but only if several key issues are worked out, including parking and the cost of improvements.

“Just closing the street is not likely to make it a success,” said David Biggs, the city’s economic development director.

Though the downtown area has several parking garages, closing part of Main Street would take away the spaces in front of businesses. The city generates about $200,000 a year in parking meter revenues and tickets from those spaces.

The city also must develop a plan for dealing with the traffic that is expected to flow onto nearby streets, including some residential areas.

The biggest question, however, is whether banning cars would boost business.

“What makes anybody think that the amount of business will improve?” said Councilman Ralph Bauer, the lone official to vote against the study. “It may get worse if you close it off.”

To supporters, the pedestrian mall would be the culmination of a decade-long revitalization along Main Street that took the downtown from a place best known for its Fourth of July rowdiness to one of Southern California’s top beach destinations.

Closing Main Street was discussed when revitalization began in the early 1990s, but officials said the timing is better now because downtown has become so popular.

“It’s a great idea,” said Semantha Butler, a bartender at Perqs bar near Pacific Coast Highway. “People will congregate down here, and it will be a more pleasant shopping experience. If anything, it will be good for business. I hope they do it.”

Fred Quiel, 55, an attorney eating a tuna sandwich on the sidewalk in front of the Sugar Shack, also expressed support. “This is a place where people come to relax, and I think it would promote that.”

But Jerry Cleland, manager of Sokal Surfboards, said the mall would be bad for business and change the city’s nature.

“I have a lot of drive-up customers,” he said, “but who wants to park a block away and run up to buy a stick of wax or surfboard leash?”

Councilwoman Shirley Detloff and others point out that a mall would be far more appealing, and safer for pedestrians, than the bumper-to-bumper traffic and cruising that visitors often find.

To others, cruising is as much a part of Surf City as the beach--especially the classic cars prowling Main Street on weekends.

“People come to watch the cars,” said Cleland. “This is the surf capital. The cars give Huntington Beach its style.”