Huntington Beach Happenings
by: Chris MacDonald
Published: July 20, 2026
HUNTINGTON BEACH...Wishing the following people a very Happy Birthday - Huntington Beach City Councilman Andrew Gruel, Living Waters Church Pastor Emeritus Dan Moore and Yours truly's Birthday is July 22nd.
Here is a link to my article on Surfside Seventies Surf Contest.
Huntington Beach Assistant City Clerk Juan Esquivel provided a link to the agenda for the next Huntington Beach City Council Meeting on Tuesday July 21st, 2026.
Huntington Beach City Historian Jerry Person presents Remember When
Let's Remember some of our very early town-folks
This week we are going to remembers some of our very early townspeople who help create Huntington Beach in its historical past.
It was in 1904 that Henry and Frank Gibbs owned and operated Gibbs & Son Grocery in a small wooden building at 111 Main, but at that time it was then numbered 109 Main). In 1905 Gibbs Grocery moved their store over to 201 Main and continued operating the grocery through 1905 and in 1906 they sold their business to W.L. McKinney for his grocery business that would later be located on the Northeast corner of Main and Walnut..
Huntington Beach's first shoe stores was owned by Harry McCain, who opened in that small wooden building that Gibbs previously used in 1905.
On the northeast corner of Ocean Avenue (PCH) and Main, pioneer druggist Leonard Obarr moved in Huntington Beach's first drug store building with the help of cables and a team of horses. During the move, the whole building got stuck in the soft peat, so George Gothard brought over a load of gravel and several loads of willow wood and the building was on its way again at 2 to 3 miles a day.
In 1909, John Eader opened his bakery on Main Street, a business that would last for over half a century. His bakery sat next to an alley and just in back of Eader's bakery sat the small fish market of Henry Baskerville. Although Baskerville had only one arm, it was said by residents of the time that he could clean fish faster then any man with two arms.
Across Main at 122 was the city hall of Pacific City and was located upstairs and downstairs was Smith's Grocery. Inside Smith's was the little post office for Pacific City where Mr. Smith acted as post master with Ross Brown as his clerk.
Over on Third Street, Ed Manning, Pacific City's first plumber had his business. He would later become Huntington Beach's first mayor in 1909.
Where our post office stands today at Main and Olive the city's Water Works' well was located and with its large horse trough. This was a gathering spot for some of our local residents to talk over matters and to water their horses.
On the corner of Orange and Main, Fred Ott and his father had their blacksmith shop. Fred would later go to Hollywood where he worked as a chauffeur for the Max Sennett Movie Studios. He would later return to Huntington Beach in the middle of the 1920s where be accepted the job of city lifeguard.
These are just a few of our towns folks who lived and worked in those early days as Huntington Beach was growing up.