H.B. officially ‘Surf City USA’

Huntington Beach has trademarked the moniker “Surf City USA,” sealing an important victory over rival Santa Cruz in the fight to obtain exclusive rights to the name.

The decades-long spat between the two cities over which one was the rightful owner of the “Surf City USA” title turned ugly in November 2004 when the Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau moved to trademark the phrase.

Santa Cruz objected to the bureau’s efforts to get exclusive rights to the nickname and applied for its own “Original Surf City, USA” handle.

Santa Cruz Mayor Mike Rotkin even challenged Huntington Beach to a surf contest in an appearance on a local cable station, singing: “Let’s have a contest. Bring your sticks, but leave your lawyers with their trademark tricks.”

Jan & Dean, a 1960s surf music duo, immortalized the phrase “Surf City” with their hit song, bragging about a town where there are “two girls for every boy.”

The duo’s Dean Torrence, a Huntington Beach resident, has supported the bureau’s use of the phrase. Torrence has also agreed to allow the bureau to use his name, likeness and images for promotional purposes.

“‘Surf City USA’ could capture the feeling and positive association with the city in one phrase,” said Doug Traub, president and chief executive of the bureau. “It’s not the name of a landmark but captures a state of mind that makes Huntington Beach unique and different.”

The bureau put in two years of research and $83,000 and interviewed more than 85,000 visitors and locals to come up with a branding strategy for the city. Its new ad campaign promotes Huntington Beach as an “authentic, contemporary beach culture.”

The Visitors Bureau has received two other trademarks from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that would allow the city to market the “Surf City USA” signature on beach bags, clothing and sports gear worldwide.

Among the list of merchandise debuting this summer are bicycles inspired by the Woodie generation. Huntington Beach’s official car is the Woodie, a 1950s-era surfer’s station wagon. The bicycles bear the ‘Surf City USA’ logo on a wooden piece attached to their frame. hbi.18-surfcitylogo-CPhotoInfo6U1R1E2M20060518ize6vwnc(LA)