Post Thanksgiving in Huntington Beach

A couple of things going on this week:

For networking, RBN is having their networking lunch this coming Tuesday (27th). This networking luncheon & mini expo covers Huntington Beach, Long Beach & Seal Beach. $25 members, $35 non-members & guests. For more info or to make on-line reservation, go to www.rbninfo.com

It's going to be a big one in downtown this weekend. Main Street is going to be the place to be. On Saturday, HB Skin Spa is hosting a Diva Day, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Don't you and your friends deserve a day of fun, food & shopping? Come support your local businesses! You will find clothing, purses, Pampered Chef, OC Pole Fitness, Aussie Dog Wash, candles, perfume, Posh Gourmet, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Cookie Lee Jewelry, Goji Juice and more! All proceeds for the day go to the Huntington Beach Community Clinic. Location: HB Skin Spa, 526 Main St. Ste 102 in the courtyard. Free to attend. For more info or to participate: 969-9713
And while your downtown, I'm sure you've heard it is the Taste of New Zealand weekend. New Zealand may be clear across the globe, but residents of Huntington Beach are going to be fortunate enough to get a taste of its culture during the first weekend of December. Maori performers, outdoor New Zealand films, food demonstrations by 10 different New Zealand chefs and more is scheduled for this exciting FREE event. Main will be closed to car traffic both days. Times are: December 1, 2007 (11 a.m. to 7 p.m.) / December 2, 2007 (11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.). See FLYER

Of course there is more to do in town and you can find it all listed in the calendar section of the site.

FEATURED BUSINESS OF THE WEEK La Choza - Located at 7402 Edinger Ave at Gothard. 714-842-7888. Traditional Mexican food since 1976 (but new to Huntington Beach). Make sure to try their home made tortillas. They are the best. They also have a great banquet room for your party needs! Perfect for those family gatherings or office parties! La Choza also now has a salsa night! Every Tuesday you can come out and do some dancing on their patio. Free lessons from 8:30 to 9:30 pm, and then practice your moves with dancing til 2:00 am! Yes there are a few places in OC that are open late! I haven't been to the salsa night yet, but I've heard they fill the place. I have eaten there, and I keep going back. It is SO good. Give them a try - their Mexican food is worth it. If you didn't see their coupon in the last copy of Dining Out in Huntington Beach, you can print it from your computer off our coupon page .

Support Huntington Beach this holiday season and shop locally

Thanks to Joe Shaw for this posting in his 'Greetings from Huntington Beach' blog! I thought this was important enough to re-post it here! Let's support Huntington Beach.

This Christmas it's more important than ever to shop locally.
With reports showing a dismal October for retailers nationwide, with the Orange County housing market taking a more than 10 percent dive in the last year, and with the price of oil nearing $100 a barrel, all predictions are that consumers will be tight with this year's holiday spending.
We can help our local businesses by keeping our holiday shopping dollars at home here in Huntington Beach.
There are small specialty stores throughout our city that support families and Christmas is the time of the year when they make enough money to pay the bills for the whole year. Choose one of our small independent stores for your gifts this year.
If you need to shop at chain stores, go to Bella Terra or Five Points or downtown Huntington Beach to do your shopping. Don't spend your money in Costa Mesa or Long Beach or Newport Beach. Let's help our local businesses and keep our money here at home.

Coastal Commission Bows to Shea Homes, Sacrifices Bolsa Chica Wetlands

This is just terrible! So many of us locals are VERY unhappy. Once again the money of the big developers wins out and nature loses. Sad, so very sad.

FROM THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
BY CINDY CARCAMO and ANNIE BURRIS

The Orange County Register story below barely begins to tell the awful tale of how Coastal Commission member Dan Secord and his merry band of development crazed panel members sought to gut their staff’s expert and scientific recommendations in order to allow Shea Homes to bulldoze and destroy wetlands and raptor habitat at the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach late last evening.
It wasn’t as though coastal scientists and environmentalists sought to deny development. In fact, the preferred plan would have allowed even more than the 170 houses sought by Shea, but would have used a clustered approach to save wetlands on the property and insure endangered white tailed kite raptors survive the subdivision.
Secord, notably, embarrassed himself and the intergrity of the entire California coastal program with his relentless efforts to destroy every bit of coastal resource protection conditions contained in the staff analysis. Secord even said, at one point, “Help me here, I want to delete the wetland.” Watch it for yourself as it is all on internet video available on the Coastal Commission website at www.coastal.ca.gov. (Note: Commission member Dan Secord is an appointment of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger - three of four of the Governor’s panel members- Brooks Firestone, Bonnie Neely and Secord- read off the Shea Homes crib notes for their actions. Only gubernatorial appointment, Steve Blank, made an effort to protect wetlands and raptor habitat at the site. Worse, ALL FOUR of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez’ appoinments to the Commission- Ben Hueso, Patrick Kruer, William Burke and Dave Potter- towed Shea Homes’ freight. Sadly, only two of Senate leader Don Perata’s appointments- Sara Wan and Mary Shallenberger- sought to protect the wetlands, while the other two- Larry Clark and Mike Reilly- both sided with Shea.
In the end, it was a great day for a growing corps of highly paid pro-development lobbyists and the ‘wine and dine’ atmosphere of the Commission and a sad commentary on the direction of the Commission, where coastal development and private profits trump even marginal resource protection efforts.Wednesday, November 14, 2007Homes next to wetlands OK’d by coastal panelShea Homes proponents and opponents are confused, however, as to exactly how much land both sides lost for their causes.

Hotels for the Thanksgiving holiday visitors!

Do you find yourself with last minute family members coming in to town? No place in your house to put them up? Why not let TheLocalHB.com help you out. Did you know you can make hotel reservations for HB and surrounding areas on the site? Pay the same, or most likely less, by making your reservation through our system. Safe & secure. Check out what's available HERE - and if you can't open that link, go to the HOTELS menu button on the site. And if you don't like making reservations on line, we also have a toll free number for you! 1-877-545-3249 where you can speak to a live person. And don't forget to check out the places in town who are offering Thanksgiving brunch/dinner. A couple of new ones have been added. INFO HERE .

Early holiday shopping at these Holiday Boutiques

To start off the holidays right, do some celebrating and some shopping. A few events are coming up you'll want to know about.

Thursday the 15th at 4:30, Happiness Consignment store (16562 Gothard @ Heil) is having a ribbon cutting. Ladies, you don't want to miss this one. This little shop if filled with treasures. Stop by that evening and show them your support.

After that ribbon cutting, you can pop over to Ocean View High School (Warner & Gothard) for their Holiday Boutique . From 4 to 9 pm, it will take place in the school commons (enter off the Gothard parking lot). Put on by the Grad Night Committee, there will be 25 vendors to shop from including Cookie Lee Jewelry, Pampered Chef, Taste of Home, Longaberger, Arbonne , Partylite, Silpada, Gold Canyon, Holiday crafts and linens, Discovery Toys, Children's clothing and much more! There will be refreshments and opportunity drawings throughout the evening.

On the following weekend - Friday the 23rd from 9am to 5pm and Saturday from 9am to 3 pm, Dinners Ready (7378 Center Ave @ Gothard) will host a Holiday Boutique. Stop by and check out the vendors and their wares!

Fresh & Easy soon to open in Huntington Beach

Thanks to the LA times for this info

The new Fresh & Easy markets get a big thumbs-up from customers for product selection and lower prices.

Maybe Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market can compete after all. Parking lots were full and cash-register lines long at the six stores that British grocery giant Tesco opened in Southern California on Thursday. Some people showed up two hours before front doors were unlocked.
To find out whether the wait was worth it, The Times sent staffers to four of the new markets and asked Evan Kleiman, host of "Good Food" on KCRW-FM (89.9) and owner-chef of Angeli Caffe in Los Angeles, and Donna Barasch, a Villa Park gastronome whose cookbook collection numbers more than 250, to visit two.They found Fresh & Easy to be a blend of Trader Joe's and Ralphs."I would definitely go back," Kleiman said after returning home from the Fresh & Easy in Glassell Park.
The Fresh & Easy philosphies:
"We create value for our customers so they will come back again and again."
"We treat people how we like to be treated and nobody tries harder for customers."
"We think fresh, wholesome food should be accessible and affordable to everyone."
"We're a neighborhood market, so it only makes sense that we care about our neighbors and our environment."
"People who are valued are better able to value our customers, so creating a rewarding workplace is very important to us."
Read more about them on their website.

Salon Ambiance for your Hair - Huntington Beach

People come up to me and ask me where I get my hair done.... I'm sure everyone has had that happen before. Well I hear that more than ever now. And it is because I switched over to Salon Ambiance (5075 Warner Ave near Bolsa Chica - 714.846.5900). They have been open a bit over a year now and that is about how long I've been going there. And not once have I been disappointed. In fact, it is the opposite. I love them! Sopi, the owner, is the one who takes care of me. If you give them a call and she isn't available, I can also recommend Paul Pina - I know others who go to him and are very happy!! If you are looking for a new place to get your hair done, check them out! They are, of course, full service so anything you need done they'll do! And make sure to check the website for other business listings!