While the popularity of reality television shows seems to indicate that large numbers of people's favorite form of entertainment is watching ordinary people struggle to find a husband or renovate their home, there are still those rare souls who enjoy actual learning. This fading tribe can often be found in the non-fiction section of the library browsing books on the effects of fin keels on racing sailboats or the history of aboriginal peoples in Australia. It is to these avid knowledge seekers that we dedicate this article on the history of manufacturing in Huntington Beach, California.
Although there has never been a period where only one form of manufacturing went on in the city, Huntington Beach has gone through several distinct periods of differing primary production that we shall call:
The Age of Agriculture
Soon after the arrival of Europeans in the 1780s the original Spanish land grant, or Rancho, became a source of food. The property was used by a small group of settlers who ran cattle and grew barley, which could then be manufactured into foodstuffs for animals and people. The barley, in particular, was multi-purpose. In its raw form it could be used as animal feed, and with fermentation and the aid of fabricated strainers could eventually become beer.
The Petroleum Period
Development in the town was slow - primarily a seaside town with an agriculture base, there wasn't much call for real estate - until oil was discovered in the 1920s. Practically overnight oil derricks and workers' housing sprung up along the shoreline, and huge parcels of land were given over into the hands of the Huntington Beach Company. The extracted petroleum was then refined into such fuels as gasoline and kerosene as well as used in the production of plastic products like heat shrink tubing.
The Aerospace Era
Oil was still going strong in the 1980s when Donald Douglas Jr. decided to open his fledgling aircraft company in Huntington Beach (in fact, the availability of fuel probably counted in the city's favor.) And there's still oil production going on today now that Douglas Aircraft (now a Boeing subsidiary) is one of the largest aircraft companies in the world. Hundreds of types of aircraft were built in Huntington Beach factories from their Lexan canopies to their Dunlop Thermo tires - including the Saturn V rocket that launched the Apollo missions into space.
A Time for Tourism
Now that tourism has become the largest component of the city's economy, there's less call for metal benders and aerospace technicians than there once was, but manufacturing is not dead. Instead, it has adapted to fit the new model. Now Huntington Beach fabricates lines of souvenir items under their trademarked "Surf City, USA" brand name to sell to tourists.
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