In The Pipeline:

OK, so Irvine, experiencing a population surge, bumped Huntington Beach down to fourth largest city in Orange County (we had been third). No big deal. But it was a different list that really made me sit up a few days ago: Surfer magazine announced its list of top 10 Surf U.S. Towns, and guess who didn’t make the cut? Huntington Beach, a.k.a. Surf City, USA. Was this a slap in the face? A poke in the eye? Or a fair call? Joel Patterson, editor in chief at Surfer magazine, graciously took some time to answer my questions about the list.

What was the criterion used for determining the top 10 list?

The criteria was several-fold. Primarily, we looked at quality of surf and quality of life, but other factors we included were climate, consistency and variety of waves, cost of living, availability of cultural experiences as well as jobs. I think it’s important to add three things. First, this wasn’t a scientific study or exhaustive survey, but the well-informed opinions of our editorial staff and senior contributors, making judgment calls based on criteria. Second, we tried to include the whole of the coastal United States, acknowledging the East Coast surf scene, which is frequently an afterthought for major surf mags. Third, we are talking about “towns,” which we interpret as less-populated, smaller places to live, surf and conduct one’s life. Huntington Beach, with 200,000+ residents, is much more of a major Orange County “city.” It may be semantics, but we were looking for smaller places. For example, La Jolla could have made the list, too, but we thought Encinitas was more of a “town.”

Where exactly did Huntington Beach rank?

Huntington was in the final round of choosing the towns for the list (and there was hours of debate on the final rankings and towns), but the sheer size of the place made it not fit in with the other locales, the largest of which has a population of 62,000. I would imagine that in a list of the world’s great “surf cities,” Huntington would be high in the running.

In your opinion, what is it that keeps Huntington Beach off the top 10 list — that is to say, if things could be improved, what would they be?

Huntington is obviously a huge part of surfing. Whether we’re talking about history (Duke Kahanamoku surfed the pier), competition (the U.S. Open gets, by far, the biggest crowds of any surf contest in the world), waves (while Huntington is primarily on giant southwest-facing beachbreak, the pier has “surfable” conditions probably about 325 days of the year and more overhead days than most California surf spots), or influence (Huntington is the home of Quiksilver and dozens of other major surf brands), H.B. is a major player in surf. Like I said before, it’s a matter of size.

Have you heard from anyone in Huntington Beach regarding the list — city officials, etc.?

I heard some city officials dismiss the list on some television news broadcasts that picked up on the story, but no one’s contacted me directly.

(End of interview)

So what do you think about Joel’s answers? I’m not a surfer (though I love watching people surf), so while I can’t critique the surfing specifics, I do think his candor revealed some interesting things about how folks on the outside view Huntington Beach, particularly how the sleepy surfer town has truly given way to a bigger, varied, city known for other things besides the sport.

What do you think? Should our city be on the list? Or is it a given that people will always come here to surf simply because this is “Huntington Beach,” and so perhaps it’s time for the city to promote other things besides surfing? Write me and I’ll post some results.

The other day, our daughter Claire and I stumbled onto a recipe for lemonade that we thought was so good, we wanted to share it. In fact, we even named it to pay homage to the city.

“Surf City Crush”

Ingredients: One cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice

One handful of fresh blueberries

One handful of fresh mint leaves

One cup of sugar

Directions: Crush the mints leaves (using a mortar and pestle)

Add them to the lemon juice in pitcher

Crush blueberries and add to pitcher

Add sugar

Fill pitcher with water

Add crushed ice

Stir and let step for 2 to 3 hours (which allows for the flavors of the blueberries and mint to blend with the lemon juice — where the magic happens).

Who knows? Maybe someday Huntington Beach will embrace it as its official drink. Regardless, it will always bear the name of our favorite place.

CHRIS EPTING is the author of 14 books, including the new “Huntington Beach Then & Now.” You can write him at chris@chrisepting.com .