City of Huntington Beach 4th of July Parade

This is a great show year after year the shows are always spectacular and the whole city is also doing shows of there own! there must of been like hundreds of cops this year but it’s all good another safe great 4^th of July!
2014

Don’t come here expecting the Rose Parade. Half the town is in the parade, with the other half watching it. This is fun hometown parade, but nothing more!

This is the first year I’ve spent 4^th of July with HB, and it was awesome! Living on Main Street, made the experience even better! I noticed lots of traffic and bikers making their way down Main Street towards PCH about 9am. Best way to travel would be with a bike! Street lights were closed and lots of people walking in all different direction. The parade is was very organized and with lots of entertainment. A lot of locals are friendly! Lots of freebies!

I am on the verge of giving the whole 4^th of July in HB 3 stars but ultimately it is a lot of fun. It’s just lost a little luster, being a local and all… oh and living on Lake (parallel to Main) and not being able to move from my parking spot for like 3 days.
First of all… to all of you non-locals…do us locals a favor and instead of driving into HB and parking on our streets– park a mile away and ride your bike in. You will have a lot more fun, you will bypass all the cars trying to get in and out of HB before and after the festivities and YOU WILL HAVE SOMEWHERE TO PARK. The funniest thing is to hear people freaking out over parking while Im brushing my teeth. Or watching people try to parallel park with the pressure of other drivers trying to go around you. Hahaha. Idiots.
Second of all… it’s crowded. Really really crowded (hence the bikes.) Endless amounts of people lining the street with kids to watch the parade. Good luck and be alert.
Third…While the parade is a very family oriented experience… tons of cute little families, cute kids super excited… this is HB. Drinking begins in the shower while we are getting ready to rage for the rest of the day. The longer you are out with your kids, the drunker the rest of HB gets. The more barf you will see. The more crass, crude, lude and vulgar language you will hear being screamed out from patios, balconies and passer byers. Oh and lets not forget about the I.E. A-​Holes that seem to show up out of nowhere and take over house parties. They are usually very confrontational because no one likes them.
Fourth…You better have friends that live DT… because the bars on Main are a shit show. You wont get in unless you are wearing a G-​String and triangle top, have acrylics and hair extensions– and trust me, these ho’s will be barfing a little after Noon. So house parties it is. Riding your bike from location to location. Be prepared to get wet– no not from sweating– from evil children and asshole guys throwing water balloons.
Fifth… Make sure you aren’t too drunk and be on the look out for cops because they will arrest you. Dont go flying through stop signs (like I did a few years ago, whimpering like a little bitch when I got pulled over) because again, they will stop you, smell the booze and have probable cause to arrest you for being drunk in public. HB has a reputation for having asshole cops because IT IS TRUE. Be polite, keep your mouth shut and do as they say. Period. No ifs, ands or buts. They hate you. So don’t be a douche. They aren’t stupid, they get that everyone is getting shitcanned. So the only deciding factor for them is how respectful you are.
**RULE** The later the time of day… the more likely the cops are to fuck with you. So mind your P’s and Q’s people.
Sixth…If you are going to show up at someone’s house party and you dont know them– BRING YOUR OWN BOOZE. Oh yah, nice to meet you– nope, no more beer left. Sorry. It goes fast because like St. Patties Day, this is the other day of the year where people test their limits and see how much alcohol consumption is humanly possible. Regardless of the outcome. Again, this is another thing to keep on the DL while traveling. Sure, you have a huge brick of beer on the front of your bike but you better not have an open container. If the cops can see «BEER» on you, be prepared to be stopped.
**Ladies…flasks or open bottles in the purse– you have the right to refuse to be searched unless they have probable cause. Hopefully you aren’t too wasted. If you do refuse them to search you, be firm and polite. You can forgo this experience all together by not acting like a stupid loud snatch.
I think these should help all the HB 4^th of July Rookies out there… of course always have your ID on you, tell your parents to have bail money ready and for fucks sake TAKE A CAB, even if you have a bike. Too many people wake up in a pool of blood on the street. Trust me.
What have we learned today?
1. BIKE is a must, so is a lock stupid.
2. BE PREPARED — for drunk assholes, lots of bad behavior and COPS.
3. BOOZE– everyone is welcome, mooches are not! So bring your own! Need a liquor store? Unilocal it, duh.
4. CAB IT HOME– a lost or stolen bike, the cost of a cab is all fucking cheaper then a BUI, DUI and/​or the cost of medical bills dummy.
XOXO…see you on the 4^th.

The parade was awesome. This is the first time i saw it. I really liked how the jet planes came back and fourth. It was really emotional time seeing all the veteran surviors of world war 2 and pearl harbor.

Didn’t do anything but go to the beach (Huntington Beach Pier) for the fireworks! Parked on Beach Blvd just north of Beach and Atlanta — first place we could find parking at 8:30pm (yeah we were late, but hey it worked).
Walked West on Atlanta to Huntington Street, then South on Huntington Street (which was closed to vehicle traffic) to the beach. (By the way, Pacific Coast Highway was also closed to traffic from Main St. to Beach Blvd.) The walk took maybe 20 minutes.
Set some towels down on the beach and waited 10 or 15 minutes and fireworks started — a little after 9pm. A solid 25 minute show, with a helluva rockin’ finale! WOW. Never seen a finale quite like that… so many going up continuously for so long! It was awesome.
There were thousands of people on the beach, but the beach is big, so no problem finding a spot. They say you want to be on the beach South of the pier (the fireworks are shot off the pier) and North of Huntington Street. But it really depends on the direction of the wind… if the wind is blowing at the position you’re sitting in, you’ve got problems, because smoke hides the fireworks from you… oopsie. The smoke was hitting the beach a little north of us, so we were ok.

There is no way to top KC’s review. That was priceless.
I am a little less tolerant of watching the parade for 2 – 3 hours, so my family started the day out by doing the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast ($ 5 a head to a good cause, corny old trio singing that made us all smile, meeting Dan H. for the first time) before heading over to the parade route on bike. We cruised the entire length of the route backwards before ending up at Pier and PCH right before 10am. We were disappointed as well that the only flyover at the beginning was the HBPD copter. Budget cutbacks? We hung for about 15 minutes then went north on PCH and saw every band, float, Scout Troop etc.
Wow, an entire parade in 20 minutes! Cool… Kinda like hitting FF on the old Tivo. That’s the way to do it.

Since 1904, the City of Huntington Beach has celebrated our country’s birthday in style. Boasting the largest attendance this side of the Mississippi, every year, the parade begins on Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway and ends on Main Street and Garfield.
In true All-​American fashion, spectators witness groups from all over the south-​land from marching bands, automobile clubs, veterans associations, various public service clubs (Kiwanis/Lion’s Clubs) and in 2008 for the first time an animal rescue group (German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County — GSROC).
In addition to the parade, families and friends can participate in the festivities on the pier and end the evening with a spectacular array of fireworks sure to please all.