Epting - Huntington Beach, California

OCEAN AVENUE , ABOUT 1909 . Before it was called Pacific Coast Highway, this road was called Ocean Avenue. This view is looking east toward the intersection of Main Street. The Red Car is seen at the Huntington Beach train depot on the right, with the Pier Pavilion (later to become the Pier Restaurant) on the far right.

MR . BILL MANSKE , C . 1900 . One of the earliest area-photographs available, a gentleman identified as Mr. Bill Manske poses with his horse and buggy on Main Street near the ocean, c .1900.

STUDENTS AT THE FIRST GRAMMAR SCHOOL , ABOUT 1908 . As these students pose on the steps of the fist grammar school in Huntington Beach, notice that the boys in the front row are barefoot and the girls are not. Supposedly, it was not considered proper behavior for young girls to show their bare feet in public.

MAIN AND WALNUT , 1910 . Some horse and buggies and even a couple of dogs are seen wandering Main Street toward the beach in the quiet, pre-oil era of Huntington Beach. Nothing is left of this today, save for the scent of the salty sea air.

PUBLIC LIBRARY , 1907 . This is the main room of the first library built in Huntington Beach. Several years later, the Carnegie Foundation would help build the city a bigger and better public library.

MAIN STREET , 1907 . This shot (looking toward the ocean), though not a clear image, struck me as interesting. Maybe its the little girl near the center of the frame, who looks as if she might be mugging a bit to the photographer. How strange a contraption a camera must have seemed in 1907 to someone so little.

HUNTINGTON BEACH BROOM FACTORY , 1910 . Located next to the railroad at Garfield, this company operated from 1906 until it burned down in the mid-1960s.

HOLLY SUGAR FACTORY AT MAIN AND GARFIELD , 1911 . The Holly Sugar Factory was opened and began processing sugar beets in 1910. By the late 1920s, it would be converted to function as an oil refinery.

HOLLY SUGAR FACTORY , C . 1920 . These vats represented just one step in the sugar making process once the beets were crushed.

HOLLY SUGAR FACTORY , SUMMER , 1911 . As the picture caption reads, at one time this was the second largest sugar factory in the U.S.

UNOFFICIAL CITY HALL AT MAIN AND WALNUT , C . 1910 . W.L. McKenney may have sold groceries out of this old building, but the structure was perhaps best known for being Huntington Beachs unofficial City Hall. This was the gathering place for those wishing to discuss municipal affairs and many who decided to run for city council did so because of discussions held here.

FIRST SCHOOL BUS , 1910 . These teenagers are being transported to Huntington Beach Union High School on the towns first real school bus.

LARGE BEAN WAREHOUSE , C . 1910 . Just after the turn of the century, Huntington Beach provided substantial agricultural supplies to much of the area, resulting in warehouses like this one, primarily located on the outskirts of town.