Surf City

As if to show the political world isn't completely revolving around the Oct. 4 election to fill the 48th District congressional seat, state Sen. John Campbell has had his fingers in several other pies lately. He signed on as co-author of state Sen. Tom McClintock's constitutional amendment to blunt the effects of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on eminent domain. The ruling allows government entities to force the sale of private property for private development that officials believe will have public benefit.

You'd think Surf City invented surfing. No way. When Surf City consisted of a few miles of oil wells and a saltwater plunge, there was surfing in Newport Beach. One day in the early 1920s, Duke Kahanamoku, world-famous Hawaiian royalty, Olympic swimming champion and currently a movie star, was driving along the coast and saw a long sandbar that reached out from what is now the main beach at Corona del Mar. He made note of the beautiful surf that built up on that sandbar and when the Corona del Mar bath house was built in 1924, the Duke and some of his more muscular friends -- they had to be muscular to handle those 250-pound mahogany boards -- began surfing at Corona del Mar and leaving their boards at the bath house.

There's a rock formation northeast of Los Angeles that you know. You may not know you know it, but you do. Its most notable feature is the series of huge, triangular and jagged rocks that climb hundreds of feet into the air. And since the early 1900s it's been a frequent, popular film location. It's in a car commercial running on TV right now. It was shown on Bonanza and the movie "Austin Powers." And, perhaps most famously of all, the large rocks were used repeatedly in the original "Star Trek" TV show.

Most of the world's problems can be solved over a can of peaches and a warm campfire. Just ask Ike, the hero from "Tapping the Source" a great novel on 1970s surf culture by Kem Nunn. Although the book is set on the gritty streets of "old Huntington Beach," one scene in the novel has Turner sneak up to Santa Barbara with surfer-turned-biker Preston to trespass on to The Ranch, an outlaw surf-spot famous for its long waves and reliable point break.

A truce has been declared in the "Surf City" war. Democratic state Sen. Joe Simitian has dropped a resolution recognizing Santa Cruz as Surf City after lobbying by Huntington Beach Assemblyman Tom Harman. "I thought Tom [Harman] made a really good case," Simitian said. "I decided to hold off and give the two cities a chance to work this out, maybe find some common ground." The bill was believed to be just days away from a Senate floor vote.

A Santa Cruz senator has escalated the battle between the northern California town and Huntington Beach over which is the genuine Surf City. State Sen. Joe Simitian introduced a resolution Aug. 16 asking the California Senate to recognize Santa Cruz as the true Surf City, USA. The move escalated the uneasy rivalry between the two beach towns into a political battle with legislators on both sides of the state gearing up to protect their city's claim.

HAPPENINGS Hello, surf cat More wave action is on the horizon for the Huntington Beach Pier, and this time it's all for the wahines. B1 ALSO: Can a restaurant thrive after just a month? John Volo says yes. B1 A love story and a thriller provide good late summer movie-going. B2 CITYSCAPE Who's Surf City? The battle between Huntington Beach and Santa Cruz heats up, and this time a third city is involved: Sacramento.

It was quite the mixed bag this summer in Surf City. Hotels posted record numbers, including a July jump of 17% to $6.7 million. But that was in spite of an otherwise strange and even dreary summer. First off was the red tide. Rather than appearing and leaving within a few days, the red tide -- which is caused by phytoplankton blooms -- persisted nearly all summer long. A brownish, uninviting churn of sea was the result. And then there were the jellyfish, in an unprecedented number and of an unprecedented kind.

It is very obvious that Will Rogers has a love affair with Adam Schiff after reading his front page article today ("Wallowing, but not the way Roe thinks," June 22). Perhaps, then, he will answer my continued question as to how Adam Schiff voted on the tax cut. Despite having my e-mail address, street address and phone number, Schiff refuses to answer my request as to how he voted. Also, n in 1920. However this year, more than 250,000 are expected to turn out for the 97th annual parade, with people coming from all over Southern California including the Inland Empire and San Diego.

Hotels in Huntington Beach posted record sales this summer, but a lack of waves was a bummer for the city's surfing community. A massive swell is expected to rage along Orange County beaches this weekend. For most of the summer, however, Huntington Beach saw one- and two-foot waves. "This was a pretty bad summer for surfing," said surf forecaster Sean Collins, founder of Surfline.com. A lack of tropical hurricanes in the southern hemisphere has been responsible for the dud waves locally, Collins said, sending area pros to spots such as Indonesia and South Africa for bigger swells.

The beaches of Southern California are probably one of the reasons you live in the state. Maybe it was the Beach Boys that got you hooked or maybe the later generations got the bug from MTV when the network was televising beach parties that looked oh-so-much fun. The point is, California residents are blessed to be anywhere near these long stretches of perfect sand with endless sunny summer skies, an always fascinating beach crowd and at least...

The Quiksilver International Surfing Assn. World Junior Surfing Championships is going big time in Surf City this week on the south side of the Huntington Pier. Surfers from 27 countries are competing. They are from Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Equador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Tahiti, the United Kingdom, the U.S. and Venezuela.

You'd think Surf City invented surfing. No way. When Surf City consisted of a few miles of oil wells and a saltwater plunge, there was surfing in Newport Beach. One day in the early 1920s, Duke Kahanamoku, world-famous Hawaiian royalty, Olympic swimming champion and currently a movie star, was driving along the coast and saw a long sandbar that reached out from what is now the main beach at Corona del Mar. He made note of the beautiful surf that built up on that sandbar and when the Corona del Mar bath house was built in 1924, the Duke and some of his more muscular friends -- they had to be muscular to handle those 250-pound mahogany boards -- began surfing at Corona del Mar and leaving their boards at the bath house.

When Surfing America was considering becoming the national governing body of the sport last year, one of its main interests was in bringing the World Junior Championships to California. Granted governing body status by the International Surfing Assn. in March 2004, Huntington Beach-based Surfing America has made good on its goal of hosting the event in the Southland. Beginning Saturday, the World Junior Championships will take place here in Surf City.

In director Kevin Louis' contradictory world of film, graphic violence is a plea for humanity, heroism is easily transformed into brutality and the villain is strangely redeemable. This week, the Orange County resident is screening his work as part of the SoCal Independent Film Festival, Surf City's first dive in to the movie scene with a five-day cinematic celebration at the Huntington Beach Central Library. Louis said the brutality in "Dark Heart," his sixth film since graduating from USC, is an honest assessment of violence intended to make the viewer feel uncomfortable.

There's a rock formation northeast of Los Angeles that you know. You may not know you know it, but you do. Its most notable feature is the series of huge, triangular and jagged rocks that climb hundreds of feet into the air. And since the early 1900s it's been a frequent, popular film location. It's in a car commercial running on TV right now. It was shown on Bonanza and the movie "Austin Powers." And, perhaps most famously of all, the large rocks were used repeatedly in the original "Star Trek" TV show.

The autumnal equinox occured last Thursday, marking the official start of fall, a pretty good time for surfing along our coastline. In fact, the National Scholastic Surfing Assn.'s Explorer season kicked off right here in Surf City just a couple weekends ago at Ninth Street -- or as the locals refer to it, Taco Bell Reef. Some of our H.B. residents had some pretty good showings. In the hotly contested juniors division, Allan Kincade, a product of Huntington Beach High, took his first-ever win -- scoring an impressive 8.5 wave in the final -- with fellow teammate and shredder Logan Strook finishing fifth.

It was quite the mixed bag this summer in Surf City. Hotels posted record numbers, including a July jump of 17% to $6.7 million. But that was in spite of an otherwise strange and even dreary summer. First off was the red tide. Rather than appearing and leaving within a few days, the red tide -- which is caused by phytoplankton blooms -- persisted nearly all summer long. A brownish, uninviting churn of sea was the result. And then there were the jellyfish, in an unprecedented number and of an unprecedented kind.

Get ready, Surf City. This could be your big break. City officials, hoping to put Huntington Beach on the big screen, are launching a marketing campaign to lure in more Hollywood producers On Monday, the council approved a contract with the Huntington Beach Conference and Visitor's Bureau that includes a 60% funding increase from last year. The contract sets aside $25,000 for the creation of a film location database, intended to encourage film producers and location scouts to shoot more movies in Huntington Beach.