IN THE PIPELINE:

Call it “Extreme Makeover — Huntington Beach Edition.” Have you walked through downtown lately? Or read the papers? Huntington Beach is experiencing a big wave of change, and in the next year or so, the downtown area of the city will be dramatically different.

I took a walk this week on Pacific Coast Highway, starting out down near the new Pacific City complex, which is going up between Huntington and First streets.

Forget the ocean and sunset views the massive development will be blocking for thousands of local residents — forget the fact the complex is curiously named for what Huntington Beach was called at the turn of the century — this is all about bringing something “special” to Huntington Beach. Pacific City bills itself as “a mix of SoHo hip, South Beach cool and Rodeo Drive luxury,” and it will include shops, restaurants, entertainment venues, offices and homes.

In fact, initial pricing for the homes has just been released. From the Pacific City website: “More than a place and an experience, Pacific City is the dream come true. A new oceanside village that brings an urban vibe and sophisticated style to Huntington Beach The first village released will have 136 homes, including one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Preliminary introductory pricing:

1-bedrooms from the low $800s to just under $1 million

2-bedrooms from just under $1 million to $1.5 million

3-bedrooms from $1.75 million to $2 million.”

As for the hotel that will be built at Pacific City (by Makar Properties), as Makar’s Chief Executive Paul Makarechian told the Orange County Business Journal, “Bringing this brand to Orange County finally fills the void for a hip boutique hotel.”

The nine-story hotel is set to have a spa, fitness center, restaurant, cafe and bars.

Continuing down Pacific Coast Highway, just past Main Street, the Shorebreak Hotel is going up as part of The Strand complex.

The Shorebreak Hotel — “The first Luxury Boutique Hotel in Huntington Beach; a four-star hotel with impressive services, décor and facilities a cut above all other hotels in the area,” will all but block any ocean view once it is complete. Standing on Walnut Avenue today, in fact, any sense of being near the ocean already seems completely blotted out.

Dave Pluma seems bemused by all the development looming over the El Don Liquor Store (next to The Strand), which he has owned since 1972 (the building dates back to 1902).

“I think it will be good for business,” he told me.

“That is, between April and August. Everyone opening all these hotels need to realize that when it’s not tourist season, things are pretty quiet around here. Also, as for all these new shops, it might be tough. Rents are high, plus, millions of people come here to go to the beach and then go home — they’re not looking to spend a lot of money.”

And it’s not just the development that’s altering the city. It’s the attitude of some of the local leadership. Case in point, an editorial in the Los Angeles Times dealing with our tourism officials’ recent Surf City USA legal spat with Santa Cruz:

“Protecting a valuable trademark is a worthwhile pursuit. But what are the Huntington Beach folks thinking — that Santa Cruz T-shirts are somehow detracting from sales in Orange County?

They seem to envision ‘Surf City USA’ taking tourists by storm, such a hot brand that street peddlers would sell counterfeits just over the city line in Westminster, along with the fake Rolex watches. Watch your back, Quiksilver.”

The editorial continued: “What a deal. Huntington Beach gets the dated trademark and a rep for being a bad sport that tried to monopolize surfing legend for a buck. And the real winner is: Noland’s, which has gotten free national publicity — and public sympathy — it couldn’t have afforded in a decade of surf-tchotchke sales. The visitor’s bureau has reportedly spent half a million dollars to promote its trademark. So far, the investment has been worth every penny — to a beachwear shop in Santa Cruz.”

And the Times wasn’t the only outlet to deride our city — it seems like it’s becoming a sort of sport to bash Huntington Beach over the irony that it’s behaving like a corporate heavy — something that completely runs counter to that of a free-spirited surfing lifestyle. But that’s our new Surf City USA® personality, I guess.

The city clearly wants to be a bigger hub of tourism, but is it ready? What will traffic be like for locals? Are the beaches already too crowded? What about parking? Will local businesses benefit or get lost in the sauce? The development of the late 1980s, early 1990s is still the source of much grousing for locals — a time when they feel the heart of the city was surgically removed and replaced with too much terra cotta.

I’m not a city planner. I know growth is good. But you have to be ready, the city must be able to support it with the proper resources and it should not be done at the expense of people who live here — who spend their lives (and their money) here year round. If tourism is the only focus, look out.

For better or worse, the next wave is here. Will locals (and local businesses) benefit or be swept away in the current?

What do you think of the changes the city is going through? Is it good or bad for locals? Post your In The Pipeline, www.hbindependent.com/ columns.

CHRIS EPTING is the author of 10 books including his latest, “Led Zeppelin Crashed Here, The Rock and Roll Landmarks of North America” and the forthcoming “Huntington Beach — Then & Now.” He also hosts “The Pop Culture Road Trip” radio show on webtalkradio.net. You can write him at chris@chrisepting.com.