Not enough Beach
I surfed on the south side of the pier the other day.
Good waves
I pretty much spent my entire teenage years waiting for the waves to wedge up next to the pier
I've surfed there more times than I can count
but I don't surf there much anymore.
There are other places
Maybe less crowded, maybe not
But the whole thing, the circus if you will
is just a bit too much for me to make sometimes.
The streets are lined with skinny two story houses from Main street all the way to Goldenwest.
Huntington is of course the face of the surf industrial complex
The tee shirt sellers rule the industry,
the thousands of seemingly soul less machine shaped blanks
milled within a milligram of each other identical in every regard
(ever wonder why the kids spray paint a happy face on 'em?)
glassed too well
hardly anyone makes their own boards anymore,
The craft seem to be just an after thought
decorations for the surf clothing business which is the heart of the industry
boards take up too much floor space and tie up too much retail capital
their profit margin has never been good.
Not a mat in sight I might add...
Then there is the strictly tourist industry
In full swing in and around the Pier
the vendors of miscellaneous surf and non surf related crap.
On Oahu the North Shore was county and the South Shore was town
In California HB is defiantly town
Where is the country?
Good waves
I pretty much spent my entire teenage years waiting for the waves to wedge up next to the pier
I've surfed there more times than I can count
but I don't surf there much anymore.
There are other places
Maybe less crowded, maybe not
But the whole thing, the circus if you will
is just a bit too much for me to make sometimes.
The streets are lined with skinny two story houses from Main street all the way to Goldenwest.
Huntington is of course the face of the surf industrial complex
The tee shirt sellers rule the industry,
the thousands of seemingly soul less machine shaped blanks
milled within a milligram of each other identical in every regard
(ever wonder why the kids spray paint a happy face on 'em?)
glassed too well
hardly anyone makes their own boards anymore,
The craft seem to be just an after thought
decorations for the surf clothing business which is the heart of the industry
boards take up too much floor space and tie up too much retail capital
their profit margin has never been good.
Not a mat in sight I might add...
Then there is the strictly tourist industry
In full swing in and around the Pier
the vendors of miscellaneous surf and non surf related crap.
On Oahu the North Shore was county and the South Shore was town
In California HB is defiantly town
Where is the country?
As I have come to think of it
Too much Huntington and not enough beach
Comments
Driving past Main St. when the US Open was about to start this summer, and observing the whole circus, was kinda nauseating. EVERYTHING about The Surf Industry is designed to persuade the masses to Buy More Crap, but of course they never admit ANY responsibility for the overcrowding in the water that gets more and more frustrating.
On a happier note, I've been enjoying the mat at some less overhyped spots now that our real summer has finally arrived. :-)