Cities vie for name rights

A Santa Cruz senator has escalated the battle between the northern

California town and Huntington Beach over which is the genuine Surf

City.

State Sen. Joe Simitian introduced a resolution Aug. 16 asking the

California Senate to recognize Santa Cruz as the true Surf City, USA.

The move escalated the uneasy rivalry between the two beach towns

into a political battle with legislators on both sides of the state

gearing up to protect their city’s claim.

Santa Cruz Mayor Mike Rotkin said his city is even preparing to

challenge Huntington Beach’s recent trademark of the phrase “Surf

City, USA,” and he said he plans to file a formal complaint with the

Federal Trade Commission.

“We don’t believe Huntington Beach should have exclusive rights to

the name,” Rotkin said by phone from Santa Cruz. Rotkin said he is

worried that Huntington Beach will begin to go after businesses in

Santa Cruz that use “Surf City” in their names.

Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau President and CEO

Doug Traub said the bureau already promised not to do that, but

Rotkin said he fears trademark attorneys would pressure businesses to

change their names as Huntington Beach begins to develop its Surf

City, USA brand.

News of the resolution spread like wildfire through Huntington

Beach’s tourism community. Traub said he was preparing to lobby

Orange County state Sen. John Campbell to help protect the city’s

trademark of the phrase.

“At least $250,000 have been invested by the bureau in this

trademark, and many millions more have been dedicated toward this

effort in the future,” he wrote in a letter to Campbell.

Earlier this year, Traub arranged trademarks for nine different

applications of the phrase “Surf City, USA” and launched a licensing

campaign to sell beach products and clothing adorning a newly

designed Surf City, USA logo. The bureau is currently launching a new

marketing campaign, highlighting Huntington Beach as a mecca of the

surfing lifestyle.

It remains unclear what, if anything, Simitian’s resolution would

accomplish. The federal government, not the California Legislature,

governs trademarks. If Simitian’s resolution were to pass, it would

likely only mean that just the California Legislature recognizes

Santa Cruz as Surf City, USA.

What that means is unclear; nevertheless, Huntington Beach

officials do not want to see the resolution go through.

“We’ve rallied the troops,” said Huntington Beach spokeswoman

Laurie Payne. The city has begun preparing a detailed history,

explaining why it should be recognized as Surf City and has begun

lobbying its own legislators, she said.

Huntington Beach Assemblyman Tom Harman said he was dismayed by

Simitian’s decision.

“That’s kind of silly. We have other things to do up there,” he

said, calling it “an improper, unnecessary and foolish waste of

time.”

Harman worried that party politics might prolong the resolution.

Simitian is a Democrat; Harman and Campbell are Republicans.

“Things up here in Sacramento, like it or not, are often

party-line votes,” he said.

Campbell seemed to take the resolution a little more in stride. In

a weekly letter to his constituents, he wrote:

“I am aware how the future of our Democracy may hinge on where the

real Surf City lies,” he wrote. “But, I just think we ought to leave

it to each city to call themselves what they want. And if they want

to go trademark it, fine. Besides, how can California declare Surf

City, USA anyway? Wouldn’t we be declaring ‘Surf City, California?’”

Either way, officials in Huntington Beach and Santa Cruz both

agree that the rivalry, picked up by major media organizations in the

United States and dozens more overseas, has generated a lot of buzz

for both cities.

“Because of all the fuss, we have received record website hits and

media attention, record hotel visitation and a flood of unsolicited

Surf City, USA licensing offers,” Traub said.

Rotkin said Santa Cruz has also fared well in the melee by

igniting the decades-old rivalry.

“They [Huntington Beach] should be thanking us for heating this up

again,” Rotkin said.