Sidewalk safer in Sunset Beach

An old swimming hole in Sunset Beach has gone from safety hazard to

public walkway after decades of effort by area residents.

What was once “Kid’s Beach” in the small coastal city just north

of Huntington Beach is once again a place where children can feel

safe, following nearly $200,000 in street and sidewalk improvements.

The new walkway was officially opened Sept. 22 during a

ribbon-cutting ceremony with Orange County Supervisor Jim Silva,

representatives from Caltrans and area residents, who said the

improvements were long overdue.

To the casual observer, the new sidewalk, railing and access

stairs to Huntington Harbour’s front bay may seem innocuous, but many

residents said the new street improvements replaced a dangerous dirt

path and rail guard that ran along Pacific Coast Highway. School

children in the tiny beach town often walked along the dirt path to

catch a school bus, and many residents said there were countless

near-accidents with drivers headed north to Seal Beach and Long

Beach.

“There are children that haven’t been born yet that will live to

be adults because of this sidewalk,” Silva said.

The new walkway also revitalizes what was once Kid’s Beach, a

place where future surfers would learn to swim before tackling waves

at Surfside, Sunset Beach and Bolsa Chica State Beach.

Located across Pacific Coast Highway between 11th and 12th

streets, Kid’s Beach was a small sand area tightly wedged between the

highway and what was once a large bay fed by the Bolsa Chica Channel.

It was the first water volunteer firefighter John Woods had ever

been submerged in -- his mother first took him there when he was only

five days old.

“There was even a lifeguard tower there,” said Diane Pridgeon of

the Sunset Beach Community Assn. “It was a pretty popular place.”

Kid’s Beach began to disappear in the 1960s and 1970s with the

infill of the bay for homes in the newly built Huntington Harbour.

Units and moorings in the harbor began to eat up swimming space,

and a highway-widening project evaporated the beachfront. Eventually

the sand from Kid’s Beach was removed to cut down on dredging costs,

and increased boating and home development on the bay brought about a

decline in water quality. Now the small bay is used as a launch point

for kayakers seeking to explore the harbor.

Silva said he hoped the sidewalk improvements would make it safer

for weekend visitors looking to paddle around in the water.

Woods said he’s just happy the sidewalk’s been improved.

“I heard a lot of near-misses while working at the station,” he

said, recalling how even as a child, he realized how dangerous that

section of the highway was.

“My mom felt safer putting me in a life jacket and having me cross

the channel in a rowboat than she did having me walk across the

highway,” he said.

His mother, Georgia Woods, said she was happy that Silva had taken

an initiative to complete the project.

“It’s a wonderful feeling. I never thought I’d see it in my

lifetime,” she said.