Flashback - Main Street Festival of 1975

In May of 1975, the Huntington Beach Coordinating Council, Mayor Norma Gibbs, City leaders and more than 100 service groups put on the “Main Street Festival” as an experiment to see if folks would visit downtown. For 10 days, the first two blocks of Main Street were closed to try a new ‘mall concept’ that envisioned outdoor dining, walkable businesses, and to assess downtown merchants to see if the City had a viable concept with this new model. At the time, Huntington Beach was emerging and trying to find its identity as a beach town.

The following video is nearly 50 years old – but some of the same themes resonate today. While Main Street has evolved – it continues to grow. The City recently kicked off a listening dialogue called “Downtown Dreamin’” as a chance to bring our Downtown partners, community leaders and businesses together to discuss our Downtown story. We are Surf City – the Times Square of Surf Culture – and we have lots of stories to tell… and we’re just getting started.

Enjoy this episode of Flashback from 1975’s Main Street Festival.