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Rapid growth during the previous two decades in Huntington Beach caused
some serious problems during the 1970s. These concerns received attention
from both city officials and residents who formed or joined groups to
study the problems and offer solutions or make recommendations. The
efforts earned the city recognition from the National Municipal League’s
All America Contest, which selected Huntington Beach as a finalist in the
top 22 cities in the nation.
UC Irvine also honored Huntington Beach with an award for its resident
involvement and government cooperation along the waterfront and byways in
the areas of landscaping, preservation of natural resources and in the
interest of people in the community making the city not just good but the
best.
The early 1970s saw an emphasis on the improvement of cultural and
ecological climate through the efforts of residents and government. The
City Council established an environmental council and an art and cultural
council.
The population boom also called for more parks and open space around the
city. Under the leadership of the newly founded People for Parks
committee, residents approved a $6 million park bond. Two community
parks, as well as several neighborhood parks, were completed by 1973. The
city also took some land and developed it into the 400-acre Central City
Park, officially dedicating it in 1974.
On a hill in Central City Park overlooking Lake Talbert, the Huntington
Beach Central Library opened its doors a year later. World-renowned
architects Richard and Dion Neutra designed the $3-million library.
The flourishing land development and construction occurring over the
previous years aroused an interest in the city’s history. The Huntington
Beach Historical Society was established and dedicated itself to the
preservation and collection of artifacts and data.
In 1972, the city hired the Pacific Coast Archeological Society to survey
and study possible sites where the Native American tribes of the
Gabrielenos and Wainalenos lived centuries earlier.
The archeologists discovered 21 sites throughout the city. Significant
finds along the bluffs showed Native Americans lived in the area during
two periods: 400 to 800 years ago and 2,000 to 6,000 years ago. An
American Indian maiden, fully intact, was found in what archeologists
believe to be a burial ground or village.
In 1974, the city and the Huntington Beach Historical Society agreed to
restore the historical Victorian home of Mary and William Newland as a
museum that would serve as a centerpiece in the newly established Central
Park. A low point in the house’s restoration came when vandals set fire
to a mattress in the vacant boarded-up house, burning a hole in the roof
and causing serious damage to the second floor.
In addition, the water used to put the fire out ruined the plaster walls
throughout the house. But the Historical Society members went to work
repairing the damage and restoring the house to its former beauty.
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