H.B. International Surf Museum moves to new home inside Main Street library
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The Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum officially has new digs.
The museum opened Friday evening at its new home inside the Main Street Library with a reception that drew hundreds.
Surf museum executive director Peter “PT” Townend said the stars aligned to open a new exhibit, “The Birth of Pro Surfing: 50 Years of World Champions” in the new space.
Townend, now 73, was the first pro surfing champion in 1976.
The larger space inside the library allows for more touches like displaying old surfboards vertically, something that wasn’t possible in the old location on Olive Avenue, where the museum had been located since 1990.
Townend called the former location “the box.”
“The exhibition space increased dramatically, and that was part of the reason for the move, to have a better museum in time for the Olympics in two years,” he said. “Even though we didn’t get the Olympics, we want to attract the Olympic audience to Surf City.”
In March, the Huntington Beach City Council unanimously approved the surf museum’s move to the Main Street Library.
Townend said it all started in 2023 after a conversation with current state Sen. Tony Strickland, who who was then mayor of Huntington Beach. Strickland attended Friday’s festivities.
“Three years after having a cup of coffee with Tony Strickland, this idea has come to fruition,” Townend said. “There was a lot of politicking to make that all work. In the end, we got a unanimous 7-0 vote for this to happen earlier this year, and here we are. You can tell by the attendance today that it’s a bit of a success.”
The surf museum is taking up a sizable portion of the Main Street Library’s main reading room, to the right of the main entrance. A gift shop is to the left.
A surfboard art piece by El Segundo-based artist Damian Fulton, humorously named “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?,” highlights the space near the entrance to the main exhibit. It offers a picture into the 1986 Huntington Beach surf riots at the OP Pro, the precursor to today’s U.S. Open of Surfing.
“I love Huntington Beach, and I’m really, really thrilled to be part of this exhibit,” Fulton said. “I did the first poster for the OP Pro … A lot of these artists, we’ve known each other for years. I didn’t want to phone this one in, because I knew it was so special.”
Coexisting with the library
Some Huntington Beach residents are concerned that the surf museum is overstepping its footprint inside the library.
Elaine Keeley, the president of the nonprofit Friends of the Huntington Beach Public Library, said the organization’s used book sale was moved to a back room that it now shares with a computer lab.
“There was a suggestion that we might work together in the gift shop, but we didn’t see that as a possibility,” Keeley said. “I came here as a child and was always in the children’s wing. I always longed to come to this big, beautiful reading room with the big windows. It’s always been part of the historic library.
“While I love surfing … I just don’t think it’s fair to take the library space in as aggressive a way as they’ve done. The empty space doesn’t bother anybody at all. Even the Friends of the Library moving to a new space, that doesn’t bother me. But what bothers me is the access to the reading room, library closures, disturbance of noise … it just doesn’t feel compatible.”
Resident David Rynerson said the surf museum has taken more space than what was presented to the council, all while paying a rent of of $500 a month that’s a fraction of market value.
“They’ve basically taken the reading room away from the library patrons,” Rynerson said.
But Fred Wilson, the chairman of the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum, said that was a misunderstanding.
“I think it was pretty clear from the get-go what we and the city had agreed to, which is what you’re seeing in there,” Wilson said. “Some of those other folks, the library people, they took issue with that. They looked at a drawing that didn’t delineate those little stanchions that are out there, so they’re saying we took on more than we should have. But the understanding we had all along was that we would have 50% of the main area for the surf museum. I think it was just a misunderstanding on the part of the folks that are the library advocates.”
Wilson thanked sponsor Visit Huntington Beach for its financial assistance, adding that he thought the move was a win-win for both the library and museum.
“I think the concept is good,” Wilson said. “I think the library is a bit underutilized, and this will give them more activity as well.”
