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HB Pier


Putting together a little photo post this morning about HB

Wondering why it feels so strange when I go there

"You can never go home"

but then it occurred to me

it's all gone!

Jan of Jan's Health Bar.  This used to be in the back of Georges surf shop. Jan moved the deal down the street after Georges shop closed down

The Surf Cinema - torn down and replaced by a mini mall

Chuck Dent - There is still a CD shop and boards even but Mr. Dent passed away long ago. The mad rap that was the Chuck Dent experience died with him.


They even torn down the pier and replaced it with a new one!


The wave is the same even though everything else has changed


Comments

El Serracho! said…
Do you recall a little shop called "Things For Your Head?"
July 15, 2011 at 6:59 AM
Anonymous said…
It all started to go to hell when they tore down the Golden Bear. Nothing is the same. But remember, guys with tatoos, huge trucks, pit bulls, and stripper girlfriends have to live somewhere...
July 15, 2011 at 7:18 AM
pranaglider said…
El - I can neither confirm or deny the existence of a little shop called "Thing for your Head" in Huntington Beach. I assume that it is a rare book shop specializing in the works of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson who wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland under the nom de plume Lewis Carroll. (but if you are talking about the head shop they were run out of town but still exist. They are up PCH in Sunset Beach.

Anon - Yes the Bear. It's been years and I still too broken up to talk about it. Good observation about "guys with etc". It strikes me that HB is more like a theme park. "The 909 comes to the Beach" kind of thing. I hear the "meth lab in the apartment next door" ride is quite good!
July 15, 2011 at 8:56 AM
Val said…
I remember those days! Great sandwiches at Jan's (I still have the magazine with the article that picture came from.) I loved the Golden Bear and saw many wonderful films at the Surf theater (including my favorite, Many Classic Moments.)

You are SO right that Main Street nowadays is more like a theme park or "shoppertainment", alas.
July 15, 2011 at 9:53 AM
Surfing Grandma of OC said…
REMEMBER THE GOLDEN BEAR???? I miss that place!
July 15, 2011 at 2:58 PM
Growling Gecko said…
Damn! I don't remember the Golden Bear?
But I do remember The Stoned Crow!
July 15, 2011 at 8:09 PM
Anonymous said…
I'm kinda glad my family moved out of HB when we did (the summer of 1964), before the decline really set in.

Tom T
July 15, 2011 at 8:42 PM
pranaglider said…
The Golden Bear was a nice and small music venue that played host to many top names in the 60's and 70's. How far it's history goes back I'm not sure but judging from the architecture the building had been there quite a while. There was also a place next door called the Syndicate that was also a music venue for a short while.

Tom T. - There is decline and there is decline. HB was an old oil town on the Huntington railroad line for decades before the 60's. Most of the buildings on Main street have been torn down due to the earthquake liability of their all brick construction. You can still find the Saturday night drunk tank in an alley just off main. It's a storage shed for a local business. The city is a first glance in "better" condition today than it was in the 60-70's revival but much of the interesting texture has been lost forever.
July 16, 2011 at 6:34 AM
Lazy P said…
I feel like we need to start "keep the country country" movement in Southern California. Before you know it the whole coast will be a "promenade." I'm too young to remember the places you guys are talking about but every time I'm at TK I feel like corporate America is trying to swallow the place and anything else that gives HB any character.

You can keep moving south but eventually you'll be in Mexico.
July 29, 2011 at 12:17 AM
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