NAIDA OSLINE -- Guest Commentary

In order to find excitement, serenity or salvation, Huntington Beach

locals need not venture inland. Instead, they can check out the offerings

right here at home.

Don’t miss attending at least one concert this summer at Pier Plaza. The

Pier Plaza Presents concert series is where you can hear everything from

fresh rockabilly sounds of Huntington Beach’s own Billy K and the

Starliners to the 11-member Orquesta La Palabra, with its hot Afro-Cuban

rhythms. Dancing is encouraged.

Concerts are held both Saturday and Sunday once a month from May through

October, with extra weekends in September and October. The Pier Plaza

Presents season concludes with the 2000 Grammy Award winners, Asleep at

the Wheel. The group won a Grammy for a tribute album of songs by the

great Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, the original western swing band.

You can’t see any of the groups in the Pier Plaza Presents series perform

anywhere else for free. Concerts start at 1 p.m. on Saturday and noon on

Sunday. Call the City’s Community Services Department at 536-5486 for a

complete schedule.

For surf music fans, there is no shortage in Surf City thanks to the

International Surfing Museum, which brings emerging and established surf

bands every other Sunday to the museum located downtown. See Dead Men

Don’t Surf, The Bone Sharks, The Reventlos, The Torquays and Surf Beat.

The music starts at 1 p.m. and runs until 3 p.m. Since the concerts are

free, you’ll have some extra change to donate to the museum. Call

960-3483 for a schedule of bands and dates.

For those of you indoor types, such as myself, who would not even

consider donning a bikini and exposing some flesh, there is still hope

for summer fun in the twilight hours. You can enjoy movies at Pier Plaza

on June 27-29 -- that’s during the week -- starting at sunset.

The selections include “Top Gun,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and, one of

my personal favorites, “Ace Ventura, Pet Detective.” So what if you have

already seen the movies. You can’t go to the drive-in any more.

Cinemax, which is presenting free outdoor movies in several U.S. cities,

hopes you will bring along an extra blanket to leave behind to be

collected and given to the homeless -- so don’t spill your Coke.

Wrap yourself in the colors of the American flag on July 4 and cheer on

the politicians, beauty queens and marching bands during the annual

Fourth of July Parade. At 96 years old, this celebration is our

longest-held community tradition, and its history includes wilder days of

chariot races down 5th Street and a human ball of fire jumping off the

pier.

Not quite as wild, but worth attending, are some additional elements to

the Fourth of July celebration starting the weekend before -- including

the Main Street Freedom Festival, a festival of living history at Lake

Park on July 1 and 2. Here you can be reminded of our hard-won freedoms

by interacting with solders from various wars in their daily life and

watching battle reenactments.

On July 2, an afternoon concert at Pier Plaza will celebrate American

roots music by presenting Creole cowboy Geno Delafose. Delafose, from the

heart of Louisiana, is the son of the legendary John Delafose, a renowned

Cajun musician. For Fourth of July information, call the hotline at

374-1535 or check out the city’s Web site at

www.ci.huntington-beach.ca.us.

Huntington Beach has never been known as a place with a low testosterone

level. So if you don’t get enough burning hormones on the beach or in the

streets, check out Pro Beach Hockey, four full weekends of roller hockey

team competition, complete with cheerleaders and hard-driving,

competitive music. Running through June 11, Pro Beach Hockey will be held

on the north side of the pier. The event will be broadcast on ESPN, so be

a part of the jeering and cheering audience and find yourself later on

the rebroadcast.

For more beach sports action, you might also want to check out the

volleyball pros competing in the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals

tournament on the south side of the pier on June 17 and 18.

Surfing is always the order of the day in Huntington Beach, and the big

daddy of surfing competitions -- the Panasonic Beach Games and the

Bluetorch Pro -- is your chance to see our own local surfers compete with

the world’s best. If you aren’t a surfing fan (a crime in Huntington

Beach), you can witness some other extreme sports such as BMX, in-line

skating and skateboarding.

The event includes music at Pier Plaza and a huge vendor area. Look for

the event on the south side of the pier the last two weeks in July.

When you have had enough of the crowds, go fish. You don’t need a fishing

license to fish off the pier, and you can rent a pole at Lets Go Fishing.

During the summer months, you can catch fish that I am certain I have

never heard of -- such as tomcod, smelt and corbina, along with piling

perch, sand sharks, stingrays and mackerel. You may not want to actually

eat these sea offerings, so consider giving them a second chance and

throw them back.

If you want to enter into the grisly task of cleaning your catch, or if

you are just looking for an anatomy lesson, you can make use of the fish

cleaning stations. Or better yet, just stop by the Friday Farmers Market

at Pier Plaza on your way back and pick up some tasty seafood for your

outdoor barbecue.

Grunion hunting can be considered sports fishing in as much as miniature

golf can be considered golf. But if grunion hunting is your thing, you

can do it here in Huntington Beach in the middle of the night from June

through August. You’ll need a fishing license from California Fish and

Game and a schedule of grunion runs are usually posted somewhere in the

paper.

Tread lightly though and remember that the grunion are not really

“running,” but rather in that delicate but frenzied act of love, fishy

style.

For a less group-oriented activity and to contemplate your place in the

universe take a walk in the Bolsa Chica wetlands. You can also go along

on a tour every first Saturday of the month, offered for free by the

Amigos de Bolsa Chica. For tours, meet at 9 a.m. at the walk bridge of

the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve located about 1 1/4 miles south of

Warner on Pacific Coast Highway. Tours last about 90 minutes.

If you don’t find any meditative solutions in the wetlands, go back to

the pier and downtown where there is no shortage of sidewalk preachers

ready to help you save your soul. You can do that day or night.

* NAIDA OSLINE is the specific events director for the city of Huntington

Beach and a downtown Huntington Beach resident.