Growing beets and surfers

Talbert. Wintersburg. Gospel Swamp. Shell Beach. Pacific City.

Huntington Beach.

Surf City turned 100 on Tuesday, but had its start in celery, sugar beet and lima bean fields. From there, an oil boom and the introduction of surf culture put the tiny farming community on the map.

At the turn of the century, Philip Stanton developed a town called Pacific City, which was meant to rival Atlantic City’s hold on the East Coast.

But months later, Stanton gave up on his dream and sold the land to railroad tycoon Henry E. Huntington, who brought the Red Car to his new namesake in 1904.

Some of the first plots of city land were given away — for free — when 360 New Englanders bought $126 sets of encyclopedias about 100 years ago. Today, a patch of dirt in that area can cost upward of $750,000; back then, the “worthless” encyclopedia lot deeds were stashed away in attics and filing cabinets, and quickly forgotten.

That is, until the discovery of hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil directly underneath the encyclopedia lots. East Coasters quickly dug through their files to find the insignificant pieces of paper, which yielded them huge amounts of cash from 3,000 miles away.

The tiny town’s population boomed during the oil years, from 915 at its incorporation in 1909 to about 6,000 during the rush for black gold.

The city became famous for its Saltwater Plunge, a party spot at the foot of the pier that drew people inside during cold beach days.

A severe earthquake in 1933 was followed that decade by storms and floods, but the city emerged relatively unscathed. It became a Navy outpost in World War II; after the war, families flooded to the town and watched movies at the Surf Theater, ate at Boogie Woogie’s and danced at the Pavalon beside the pier. Following a land annexation in the late 1950s, the town’s population boomed; surfing began its 50-year grip on the city around the same time, when surf legend Duke Kahanamoku made surfing an international phenomenon. The Golden Bear became a live music destination.

Since then, industry took a foothold, with the Douglas space plant helping send astronauts to the moon and development increasing population and traffic — but the legacy of surfing, suburban values and great entertainment remains.

REPORTER CANDICE BAKER may be reached at (714) 966-4631 or at candice.baker@latimes.com.