kimc14

I presently live in what is considered downtown Huntington Beach, which is a an area of streets numbered from First to 22nd and also includes Main Street, where a good majority of shops and restaurants are located. The climate here is probably one of the best in the country, if not the world. We also have one of the longest continuous beaches in California that is fully accessible to the public, unlike our snobbier neighbor, Newport Beach, where homes are built right on the sand and people who live there think they also own the beaches. At one time Huntington Beach used to consist of mostly oil wells. As the wells dried up, the individual lots were sold off at different times, thus giving downtown Huntington a truly eclectic look. In other words, there are houses of all different types and styles, ranging from tiny turn of century bungalows to 3 story behemoths that include elevators and rooftop decks with ocean views. We also are one of the few communities where somebody can still actually walk to a local grocery store, laundromat, bar, restaurant or park, not to mention the beach. There are little stores located all over our downtown neighborhoods, which is a true rarity in most cities in Southern CA, where gated communities have become the norm. Property taxes are reasonable, thanks to Prop. 3 mostly. However, if you are looking to buy right now, the lowest you can expect to pay is about 400K for a beachfront condo. Single family homes typically range anywhere from 750k up to 3 million. Downtown is a very safe place to live, as our main police station is located about 5 minutes away and we have a fairly large force with not much to do. I believe car theft is the biggest crime downtown and probably wouldn't surprise me if people do that just so they can secure their parking spaces, since the streets can get crowded in the summertime. We are probably best known for our huge 4th of July celebration, which includes a parade down Main St. each year as well as awesome fireworks by the ocean. We also host the surfing championships every August and recently started having a first class air show downtown too. In addition to that, we have Art-A-Faire each Friday at the Pier, where local artists sell their wares as well as a Farmer's market. There are many fire pits at the beach, where you can have your own private party at night. Just be aware that both our city and state beach close at 11 pm. (Bummer!)