Surf City online, 24/7

Dave Brooks

Next time you’re at the beach, make sure to smile -- you could be on

camera.

Hollister Jean company plans to install two digital cameras on the

pier and transmit live images of the beach into 50 of its stores

across the country. The images will be broadcast on plasma

televisions made to look like windows of a beach cottage, complete

with a special placard letting shoppers know they’re looking at

Huntington Beach.

“There’s no question about it, this looks very real,” Hollister

spokesman Tom Lennox said. “Huntington Beach is Surf City and this is

our way of bringing the Southern California experience [to

customers.]”

The city is expected to pull in $60,000 a year from Hollister,

which is leasing the camera space. And the city’s lifeguards will be

given two plasma televisions that will broadcast the same images in

the lifeguard headquarters.

“It provides the lifeguard supervisor with a view of the beach for

staffing and safety purposes,” said Asst. City Administrator Bill

Workman, who helped broker the deal. “This is a win-win situation. It

provides a great opportunity to spell out to the rest of the nation

what Huntington Beach is and promote its branding as Surf City.”

The cameras will be “fixed-focused,” meaning they can’t zoom in on

beachgoers or rotate in either direction.

“It’s going to be angled in a way that you can see people, but

they won’t be readily identifiable,” Workman said.

The cameras will be attached to the underside of the pier some

time this week, and will be housed in protective casing to block it

from wind, water or sand. They’re expected to broadcast 24 hours a

day.

A similar technology is used by Huntington Beach-based web

broadcaster Surfline, which captures live images of surf conditions

for its online subscribers. Unlike Surfline’s regular page, however,

which simply uploads a still image of conditions every few seconds,

the Hollister technology will be broadcast in real time.

Hollister is owned by retail giant Abercrombie & Finch. Despite

its Ohio headquarters, the company markets itself as selling clothes

that reflect the “California Soul” and frequently uses the image of

Catalina Island. Its closest store is in the Los Cerritos Center in

Cerritos. Lennox said that store will also get the technology.

The plan drew mixed reactions from Surf City residents.

“I think it’s a ridiculous idea and an invasion of privacy,”

surfer Justin Wheeler said.

Bike-taxi Camrie Slemboski had different sentiment.

“That would be hot” she said. “I mean, it’s more natural than

everybody posing.”

Asked if she would mind having a camera on her while she laid out

on the beach, Slemboski said: “It wouldn’t bother me.”

Duke’s restaurant manager Becky Sanford said she felt the cameras

weren’t invasive.

“If it’s far enough away, then I wouldn’t mind at all,” she said.

“Anything to benefit the city in a positive manner is great,

especially that it’s a private business involved. I support it.”