Huntington Beach Travel Guide

Huntington Beach is technically my hometown in the US. I grew up there but have moved away every now and then. First off, Huntington Beach, or abbreviated HB, is a bastion of conservatism in a generally liberal state. Second, HB has its ugly parts as well as the beautiful parts. The beautiful part is the long beach with a historical pier and blindingly white sands. You can go there, but expect to pay tourist prices, i.e. 5% more than what the locals pay elsewhere. Third, the place is good for cruising up and down Pacific Coast Highway or PCH as the locals call it. The Huntington Beach Central Library is a good place to hang out in the hot summer days as well as the neaby HB Central Park. Across the street are stables for horseback riding. Fourth, food: anything you want is available and there are no local specialties. Thai food, Mediterranean cuisine, Taiwanese cuisine, Korean, Applebees and Americana are all available.

Ruby's Diner on the pier. 

They DON'T take reservations, so the only thing you can do is sign in on the wait list at least.  They can usually give you a general idea of how long the wait is... but don't stray too far, I think it's a good 10 min. walk from PCH down to the end of the pier.

is beautiful for swimming and surfing. The waves are just straight to the beach, great! But if you want to do other stuff to, stay outside of Huntigton. Laguna Beach is way more beautiful and you can reach Huntignton by Bus in 45 Minutes.