Surf Break Maps: HB - North City Beach

North City Beach runs from just North of the HB pier up to about Goldenwest St. where the HB Cliffs start. It is a pretty good-sized stretch of beach that is easy to pull a surf-check…you don’t even have to get out of your car, just slide in a spot on PCH and wait for a set to roll in.

Wavewise North City Beach is sort of like a mix between the HB Pier Northside and the cliffs…but it sort of lacks the standout qualities of each. I like to think of this area as sort of a workhorse beach. There is nothing fancy about it. It has a lot of room, you don’t need to surf in a crowd if you don’t want to, and when the other spots are good it is usually good too…just a little less so. It seems like you actually see a lot more of the real HB surfers, the guys that live across the street and surf on Doc’s and Chaz shapes, up around this area.

Like most of HB this region really shines on the combo swells…particularly if you mix in a lower tide and some offshore winds. It does alright on the single swells but has a tendency to get a bit walled. It also gets worked by the higher tide and will generally turn into shorebreak if you get too much water on the beach.

Spot details:
Best swell direction: Combo of S swell (170-195) and WNW swell (270-290).
Best Wind: N-NE-E, light-moderate Santa Ana winds are the best.
Sea Floor: Sand
Best Season: Late summer through Fall
Crowds: Crowds are not generally that bad. It does get a little heavy on weekends and in the summer.

Surf Break Maps: HB - South City Beach and HB State Beach

South City Beach and HB State Beach are another couple of solid workhorse beaches. South City Beach stretches from south of the pier to about Beach Blvd. HB State Beach runs from Beach Blvd to the Brookhurst out-flow. Even though they are divided into 2 different areas thanks to City and State jurisdiction they are pretty much the same beach.



The beach itself slowly curves back so that the shoreline faces more SW’er as you move south toward Brookhurst. At the same time you also move a little bit more into an open SW facing swell window, which allows for a little bit more SW southern hemi energy to filter in.

In general the wave is fun and playful with a few scattered sandbars here and there to give it a faster and more hollow section on the right swell and tide. Like the rest of HB the combo of S and WNW swells are what really light this beach up…it tends to like more S swell and less W swell in the mix but it does pretty good with any sort of mixture of the two. These beaches are only “ok” with windswell on a lower tide…at high tide it is pretty much only shorebreak.

Spot details:
Best swell direction: SE-SW (160-210) and W-NW (260-290)
Best Wind: N-NE-E, light-moderate Santa Ana winds are the best.
Sea Floor: Sand
Best Season: Summer is ok but it is really best through Fall and Winter
Crowds: Weekends can be crowded…but on an average day you can find plenty of room.