A Day Trip to Huntington Beach: The Surf City
Summary
I drove up to Huntington Beach for a day trip. The beach there is huge, way bigger than anything I’m used to in San Diego. I walked out on the pier, grabbed a burger at Ruby’s Diner, then made my way down the boardwalk and into downtown. Before heading home, I stopped at the Surfing Walk of Fame and the International Surfing Museum.
Table of Contents
Huntington Beach Pier and Ruby's Diner
I started at the Huntington Beach Pier, parked on the street, and walked around a bit before reaching it. Coming from San Diego, the size of the beach caught me off guard. It’s a massive stretch of sand, almost desert-sized, way bigger than what I’m used to. If you just want to jump in the ocean… you’d have to walk what feels like miles across sand to actually reach the water? Shut up! That’s crazy. Anyway…
Walking out on the pier was great, with a wide view back toward the city that made the whole walk worth it. At the end of the pier, I stopped at the only restaurant there, Ruby’s Diner, and treated myself to a burger. The decor was surf-themed and so cool, but I’ll be honest, the burger itself was just yeah cool.
A Walk Along the Huntington Beach Boardwalk
From the pier, I took a short walk along the boardwalk. There were hippies around with their weirdly decorated cars, along with older folks just sitting back and enjoying the sun. Honestly, that’s what I you should expect from a place that calls itself Surf City.
Downtown Huntington Beach and The Surfing Walk of Fame
I didn’t spend much time on Main Street, but it was lined with genuinely nice pubs and cafes, and the vibe was great. A little off the main strip, I came across a giant surfboard and had to stop for a photo. From there, I made my way to the Surfing Walk of Fame, which I really wanted to see, and it turned out to be much better than the one in LA.
My very first real surfboard was a Donald Takayama board, so I made a point of getting a photo of his plaque, along with Dick Dale’s. Peace!
The International Surfing Museum
The only woman working at the museum seemed a little off – you know the kind of feeling you get but don’t say anything about, you know the kind you know there will be something weird happening soon.
Turned out she’d just started the job, and if I’d let her, she would have told me her whole life story…
The museum itself was great, a bit smaller than expected. Toward the end of my visit, the owner, or someone who runs the place, showed up, and she rushed over to introduce me to him like I was some kind of philanthropist. At the end of my whole convo with this guy, the look on his face said it all, somewhere between confused and like he wanted to ask her why she was acting that way. It was genuinely funny to watch ha!
