Joe Surf: Story behind boxcars and trolleys

Took a stroll on the Huntington Beach Pier last week. Though it was during a lull between storms, the waves were 8 to 10 feet and the wind was strong. The tide was low.

I gazed south, and way out in the distance, straight out from the cliffs just south of Goldenwest Street, I saw what I thought were some waves breaking. Couldn’t be, I thought, that’s halfway to the oil rig out there.

I thought I must have been seeing things, or maybe they were simply whitecaps. But after doing a little research, I believe I might have seen the waves of a surf break called boxcars, or trolleys.

Turns out there is a surf break about a mile off the coast, straight out from the cliffs. It only breaks when waves are at least 8 feet and the tide is low. We had those conditions last week. It is said those waves break out there maybe once every five years.

There wasn’t anybody surfing them, but apparently it has been surfed before. I doubt if anybody has paddled out — the conditions would be too tough, paddling through the shore break and having to go almost a mile. You’d have to get out there on a boat to surf those waves.

The next question, naturally, is why there is a surf break so far off the coast. And why is it called boxcars or trolleys?

I found a website, historichuntingtonbeach.blogspot.com, that explains it.

Before Huntington Beach was called Huntington Beach, it was named Pacific City. Local leaders were looking for financial support at the turn of the 20th century and made a deal with business tycoon Henry Huntington.

In exchange for his financial support, Huntington was granted land deeds in the area, which would be called Huntington Beach. Huntington (the man) then helped establish the Pacific Electric Railway, which ran between Huntington Beach and the Los Angeles-area beaches.

It wasn’t that the train was all that profitable, but it was a way for Huntington to bring people down to entice them to buy his land. The trolleys were called Red Cars and had big windows for travelers to enjoy the coastal view.

The Red Cars helped Huntington achieve his goals. The trolleys remained popular for a couple of decades until the 1920s, when the development of the automobile affected the railway’s operations.

The Red Cars ran through the 1950s and then were left to die.

Most were turned to scrap metal, but there are a few at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris.

Some were dumped in the ocean in the hope of building an artificial reef. Some are off the coast of Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach.

Others are possibly straight off the coast of Huntington Beach, though no one seems to know for sure.

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Men’s Ericeira World Junior Championships

Huntington Beach’s Kanoa Igarashi was still in the hunt for a world junior championship as competition in Portugal continued early this week. As of Tuesday, Igarashi had reached the quarterfinals after heat victories in head-to-head matchups over Australia’s Harry Bryant and Hawaii’s Kalani David. Igarashi was set to face Brazil’s Lucas Silveira in the quarters.

San Clemente’s Griffin Colapinto and Santa Barbara’s Parker Coffin were eliminated in Round 2.