Huntington Beach

By Chris Epting

The 100-year history of Huntington Beach is a rich amalgam of agriculture, oil, surfing, beach culture, aerospace, and small-town America. This comparative, visual evolution of the city is crafted for both locals and tourists alike, featuring some of the most defining views ever captured of Surf City, USA .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Jun 16, 2008
• ISBN: 9781439620618

Chris Epting

Chris Epting is the author of many books, including Led Zeppelin Crashed Here, All I Really Need to Know I Learned from KISS, and Hello, It’s Me—Dispatches From a Pop Culture Junkie.

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INTRODUCTION

As I wrote several years ago in the book Images of America: Huntington Beach, Though we’ve only lived here for little over a couple of years, it’s hard for me to imagine my family and I not spending the rest of our lives in Huntington Beach. The weather is near perfect; never too hot or too cold. All year, gentle breezes carry the scent of the ocean throughout the city and with it, the innocence and promise of summer. ...The snow-covered San Gabriel Mountains provide a picturesque backdrop in winter, when daytime temperatures can still linger in the 60s and 70s. On clear days, even though it’s 26 miles out at sea, Catalina Island seems close enough to touch. Today I still feel the same way, which is why I was anxious to create a Then & Now book about Huntington Beach. The city is changing so much before our eyes that I felt the urge to document what is here today. Soon, as more and more development strips away the past, very little of the original city will be left. As it is today, scant evidence of the laid-back beach city remains at all.

I have always loved the idea of then and now photography, and it’s something I practice all over the United Sates. For me, there’s just something magical about standing in the footsteps of a previous photographer. What were they thinking back then? Was it a job or hobby for them? What was the weather like? The moment I click my shutter, I know I have made a connection with that person who stood there before me. Forever we are joined in that