Good wave HUNTING
Dudes’ fun in California Surf City
THEY’RE so proud of their surf in Huntington Beach that even the bus shelters are shaped like huge breakers. ticks a lot of other boxes for funseekers. On the day we landed there was a classic car convention with stunning vintage motors dotted down the main street and pier.
The characters sitting alongside their gleaming chrome and hugewinged beauties look straight from Hollywood central casting.
Gnarly bloke in cowboy hat? Tick. Ageing hippy grinning away in a poncho? Tick. Chuckling, tanned blonde with a throaty voice and enhanced cleavage? Tick. It’s the ultimate people watching spot.
That night ght we’re we re back on the beach, wrapped apped up as the wind whistles in, n, but quickly warmed by y a fire specially set up and prepared for us.
The Waterfront terfront Beach Resort company mpany does all the hard work, ork, stacking the wood ood and getting the flames going while le you sit back and d toast the marshmallows provided. It’s bliss. Alcohol is banned on the beach but the whoops and giggling from nearby groups grows louder as the night continues, suggesting those flasks of theirs contain more than a bit of Bovril.
Luckily the craft beer revolution is booming in California with bars breaking away from the Budweiser borefest and microbreweries springing up everywhere.
The Dudes Brewing Company had only recently opened in the Pacific City mall near our o hotel.
The thought of a m mall normally turns my stomach but th this is a classy, small scale affair where you y can grab a bite from one of the food stalls and take a seat at the Dudes. D I gazed at the screen with details of the 24 beers on tap t with the same glazed-eyed lust Ted had shown at Hans’ Homemade Ice Cream men menu nearby. We stayed at Pasea Hotel & Spa, a tenten-minute stroll from the h heart of the action with a pool and huge hot tu tub.
From o our balcony you cou could see the surfers f i in the th distance di t and d the th lights li ht below twinkling into life to invite you to jump into the nightlife.
Huntington is also a great base for southern California. Disneyland is just over 20 miles away, Hollywood and the museums and food heaven of Los Angeles an hour away.
Drive south and you can be in Laguna Beach – soon wishing you lived there. San Diego and even the craziness of Tijuana, Mexico, are easily drivable.
But with a beach as vast and glorious as the one here, why budge?
At American Dream in Pacific City we gorged on burgers, more inventive craft beer and again looked out at that jaw- dropping ocean as Fleetwood Mac and ZZ Top played in the background.
It really felt at that moment we were living the American dream at Huntington Beach. FACTFILE: For more information about Huntington Beach see surfcityusa.com. Stay at the Pasea Hotel and Spa, merit agecollection. com/ paseahotel, for £186 per room, per night. Surf lessons from Toes on the Nose starting at £ 86. Beach bonfire services organised through the Waterfront Beach Resort are from £90 for groups of four.