Not much gets past our landlord. He has better ears and eyesight than we do and is the first to hear someone at the door or to spot anything out of order.

I’m still pretty thrilled that one of the poems in the “Bright As Life” exhibit at the Huntington Beach Art Center has my name on it. I love the accessibility of this exhibit. Anyone can walk in during Art Center hours, for free, and read the poems. They’re on the walls until today, February 14th, and in the meantime, I’ve been hanging out with them.

After one of my visits, I took a walk downtown to the end of the pier to catch a glimpse of the power plant mentioned in my poem. I also checked out the planned new restaurant/bar “Huntington’s on the Pier” which will replace a former bait and tackle shop.

The project was approved in 2021, but construction has yet to begin. In January 2026, the city council approved a $1.3-million completion bond and locked in a 50-year agreement with Surf City Partners, providing rent credit of $300,000 for restroom improvements and waivers of up to $50,000 in city fees.

Our council likes generous long-term agreements. They made a similar arrangement with the Pacific Air Show.

Normally, Surf City’s council votes in unison. For example, when the California Supreme Court denied the city’s appeal of the 4th District Court ruling that Huntington Beach’s proposed local voter ID requirement violates state election laws, the city council agreed 7-0 to appeal the decision all the way to the Supreme Court.

But there’s dissension among the council about this restaurant project. Three of the members voted against approving the agreement. And, although he ended up voting for the agreement, even Pat Burns noted that the project had been “stumbling along” and wondered “if there’s supposed to be some kind of deadline or something ... on the life of this bond.”

Ya think?

Personally, I wondered about the poster in the window depicting the folks who “inspired” the restaurant. Ella Christensen is an obvious choice although I wish they’d found a better photo of her. She was known as “Queen of the Pier” and owned and operated three pier concession stands from 1951 to 1988. Ed Manning makes sense too, I guess. He was a plumber who had the contract for the pavilion on Balboa Peninsula, was elected HB’s first mayor back in 1909, and had a fine head of hair.

But what’s so inspiring about Henry Huntington?

When I stopped in at the Main Street Library branch to check out how many books the city council will have to remove to make room for their desired relocation of the Surf Museum (a lot of books is my opinion) I noticed The Art of Wealth, The Huntingtons in the Gilded Age on the shelf.

Henry Huntington inherited one fortune, built a second, and married a third, shocking society in 1913 when he divorced his wife to marry his uncle’s wealthy widow, Belle Huntington. Although Huntington amassed and donated a huge collection of rare books, tapestries, and art to the public after he died, I don’t find him inspirational.

One reason—he’s largely responsible for So Cal’s urban sprawl. As Medium reported last year, in the early 1900’s Henry Huntington built the largest streetcar system on Earth, with 1,300 miles of track that had one purpose only — to carry people to his real estate properties scattered across LA’s outskirts, including Huntington Beach. Henry ran his transit system at a loss but made a fortune selling houses to everyone who rode his rails. Once the land was sold, Huntington stopped funding and maintaining the streetcars and then abandoned them. Southern Californians have been stuck in their cars ever since.

And no surprise to anyone who is a fan of the television series “The Gilden Age,” Henry Huntington was also a notorious anti-labor businessman who fired union members demanding better wages and working conditions, hired strikebreakers, and joined and funded multiple anti-labor organizations (such as the LA Times) to subdue union activity.

I find no art or inspiration in any of that.

But I am grateful to find art and poetry at the Huntington Beach Art Center.

In other encouraging news, plans are in the works for the first ever Surf City Author Fest on May 9th. Applications close Sunday February 15th. Apply here if you’d like a chance to be part of it.

My books are available for your favorite valentine wherever you like to buy books, and always on the shelf at Santa Ana’s only bookstore LibroMobile.

My husband always calls Valentines Day, “Thanksgiving,” which is one of the many things I love about him. In celebration of Thanksgiving, I’m giving away a signed paperback of “Those People Behind Us.” To win (US READERS ONLY) write back and tell me who you find inspirational. As long as it isn’t Henry Huntington, I’ll enter you in the drawing.

Congrats to PJ who won the last giveaway.