At 1,856 feet, the Huntington Beach Municipal Pier is one of the longest on the West Coast, and walking out to the end of it at sunset is one of those simple experiences that almost always impresses.
The pier stretches into the Pacific from the heart of downtown Huntington Beach, putting you well offshore and above the waves. On clear evenings, you can see the Palos Verdes Peninsula to the north, Catalina Island to the south, and on the best days, a faint outline of the Sierra Nevada mountains to the northeast. It’s a genuinely big view.
The Ruby’s Diner at the end of the pier is a 1950s-style diner serving burgers, fries, and milkshakes. Not fine dining, but charming and reasonably priced — it’s been there since 1982 and is part of the experience.
After the pier, downtown Huntington Beach offers plenty of ways to extend the date: beach fire pits available to rent by the hour, a walkable main street lined with bars and restaurants, and on weekend evenings, a lively beach scene that’s hard to find anywhere else in south OC.
