The Pacific Electric Railway, nicknamed the "Red Car", was the largest electric railway system in the world in the 1920s. It was first brought to Huntington Beach, then known as Pacific City, in 1904 by Henry Huntington. The railroad made the seaside town, previously reached overland on country roads, easily accessible. Pacific City was renamed Huntington Beach to recognize Henry Huntington.
The Golden Bear was a cafe and then a nightclub from 1923 to 1986. It started out as the Golden Lion Cafe on Main Street and was renamed The Golden Bear Cafe when it moved to its Ocean Avenue (now Pacific Coast Highway) location. The Golden Bear hosted comedians Steve Martin, Lenny Bruce and Robin Williams, and artists Janis Joplin, Arlo Guthrie, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Hoyt Axton, Jackson Browne, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Dave Mason,Tower of Power, The Chambers Brothers and Jerry Garcia, among others.
One of Huntington Beach's most prominent landmarks, the pier has been the center of the City's beach culture for more than a century. The pier is home to the annual Vans U.S. Open of Surfing, July 4th celebrations, and the New Year's Day polar bear plunge. The Huntington Beach pier is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located at the end of Main Street and west of Pacific Coast Highway, and is one of the longest public piers on the West Coast.
Pacific City Hall at 122 Main Street originally was a cash grocery and feed store on the lower level, with town governance meetings held upstairs. The land and building were owned by one of the founders of Pacific City, land developer Phillip Stanton. Stanton either constructed or moved the wooden building to Pacific City between 1901 and 1903.
Constructed in 1913, the Doctor George A. Shank house now serves as a station for the Huntington Beach Police. It was the home of one of the first medical doctors for the Huntington Beach Township. Shank served as the City's first health officer in the 1910s and as a member of the Huntington Beach Township Board of Trustees in 1926, the predecessor to the city council. The Huntington Beach police acquired the Shank house for a one of their stations in 1991.
M.E. Helme House Furnishing Company dates to 1904 and is the only surviving commercial building with the original Western Falsefront architecture remaining in southern and central Orange County. Both the M.E. Helme House Furnishing Company and the adjacent 1888 Helme-Worthy House, which was the home of Huntington Beach's fourth mayor, Matthew Helme, were listed on the National Historic Register in 1987 and are undergoing restoration. The M.E. Helme House Furnishing Company operates today as an antique store.
The International Surfing Museum is a non-profit with a mission to preserve the history of global surfing culture. It is dedicated to Duke Kahanamoku, who is generally regarded as the person who popularized the modern sport of surfing. The Museum features special exhibits relating to surf and skate history, displays historic surfboards, exhibits legendary surfers, holds surf music concerts in their parking lot, and screens classic surf films.
The United States Post Office at Walnut Avenue and Main Street opened in 1935, during the Great Depression. The Post Office opened seventy-five years after the Pony Express and twenty-eight years before the introduction of the zip code. The Post Office retains its original brass postal boxes and hand-painted lettering on its interior woodwork, and is still actively used as a post office.
The Main Street Branch Library is one of four branch libraries for the City of Huntington Beach. The library's site-cast, concrete tilt-up construction during Southern California's post-World War II building boom was considered novel at the time. Triangle Park was informally used for recreation beginning in 1912, three years after the incorporation of Huntington Beach in 1909. The Canary Island Palm Trees lining the park were planted between 1924 to 1925. The Library and Triangle Park were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
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This walking tour starts at the location of the former Pacific Electric Railway station near the Huntington Beach pier and includes several landmarks, the site of the Golden Bear, the International Surfing Museum, and historic buildings past and present.
