Huntington Beach: The West Coast's 'Jersey Shore'

The 'Jersey Shore' Of The West Coast?

Welcome to Huntington Beach, the "Jersey Shore" of Orange County.

When the sun sets here, a three-block stretch of innocuous-looking stucco buildings morphs from a place where shopkeepers hawk beach towels and surfboards to one where bartenders sling bottles of vodka illuminated by black light and neon.

Bartenders tell tales of throwing naked men out of clubs and breaking up bloody fights. And drunks wander so often into the wrong house looking for a place to sleep that police gave it a term -- a "Downtown 459" -- named after the state's penal code number for a burglary, since a resident's initial panicked call is because they think someone is trying to rob them.

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