Not So Fast There, 'Surf City'
A 13-year feud between Huntington Beach and Santa Cruz over the moniker "Surf City USA" is heading toward a political showdown in Sacramento.
State Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) waded into the ongoing north-south controversy Tuesday )with a proposed Senate resolution to designate Santa Cruz in his district as "Surf City USA." The resolution (SCR 60) is now before a legislative committee. The news riled people in Huntington Beach, where tourism officials have filed nine trademark applications for "Surf City USA" and in July rolled out a new logo and Surf City merchandise line replete with bicycles and T-shirts.
"Is there any action we need to take to ensure this bill is killed as soon as possible?" visitors bureau chairman Cormac O'Modhrain beseeched state Sen. John Campbell (R-Irvine) by letter Wednesday.
The five-member Senate Rules Committee, which must support the resolution before it goes to a full vote, held off hearing the matter until next week. That heartened Campbell, who reminded his colleagues of the Huntington Beach trademark rights.
"I took [the delay] as a good sign that hopefully people are recognizing that we have more important things to do and it's not something the Legislature needs to stick its nose in," Campbell said.
Allowing Huntington Beach to monopolize the name would be "a sham," Simitian said Thursday. "I think the commoditization of Surf City is really unfortunate. Surf City is as much a state of mind as it is a place, and you can't trademark a state of mind."
He said his resolution wouldn't preclude another city from using the name "Surf City" but would give Santa Cruz its rightful stake, something that could be helpful in its opposition to the Huntington Beach trademark effort.
"This is a bit of mischief, but it puts the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on notice that there are other Surf City USAs out there that might take an opposite view to [Huntington Beach's] application," Simitian said.
His resolution lists nine reasons Santa Cruz deserves official state recognition as "Surf City USA," including local Jack O'Neill's invention of the wet suit, the 11 world-class surf breaks there and because surfing was launched in California in 1885 when three Hawaiian princes rode redwood boards where the San Lorenzo River meets the Pacific in Santa Cruz.
