Huntington Beach for J1?

lukiej

im planning on going to California this summer on j1 and thinking about heading to Huntington Beach. Its my first time doing the j1 so i dont know a lot. iv done a bit of research already but still unsure about where is best to go in Cali. i would be grateful of any advice on Huntington Beach, if anyone has been there on a J1. Also some advice on accommodation and jobs, where is best, rent etc.
cheers

c7

Was just thinking about this myself! Trying to decide where the best place to go is in terms of jobs. A friend of mine was telling me to stick to the bigger cities like San Diego and San Francisco, but I really want to spend a summer on the beach!

lukiej

c7 wrote: »

Was just thinking about this myself! Trying to decide where the best place to go is in terms of jobs. A friend of mine was telling me to stick to the bigger cities like San Diego and San Francisco, but I really want to spend a summer on the beach!

ya from what i could gather from looking through boards and other forums san fran is supposed to be terrible for jobs at the moment, they have been hit bad by the recession and san diego is like ireland during the summer. so for me im gona hit one of the seaside towns, although Huntington is a city, from what i can gather accommodation isnt a problem and if u want a job u will get one. still im looking for advice on the topic as im not 100% convinced!

Beanmachine

Hi lads!! I stayed in huntington beach for nearly two months just this summer gone!! Couldnt reccomend it more one of the best holidays ive ever had!! It is completly different to San Diego or San Fransico although it is a city is more like a town it is tiny compared to them but much nicer than either in my opinion.If your looking to spend the summer on the beach it is the perfect place.Main street is the town area with all the bars and restraunts and the beach is literally right beside it.
we stayed on a street called florida street which was about 15-20mins walk away from the main street but we just got bikes everyone gets around on bikes over there.Newport beach is really close and is within cycling distance and well worth going to.Laguna is a bit further away but a really nice place aswell.
I wasn't on a j1 but nearly all my friends were,they struggled to get jobs but ended up driving pedi cabs along the beach you pay a flat fee at the start of the day think it was $15 and whatever tips you get throughout the day you keep for yourself some days the lads would come home with well over $100 others they would be lucky to make $40 so it was hit and miss really.
There are plenty of things to do there,the beach is class during the day usually loads of people on it never too packed though and the waves were unreal,we were lucky enough to be there for the US Surf Open which was one of the best weeks of the holiday,plenty of places to shop aswell like south coast plaza and fashion island in newport.
We based ourselves in our apartment on florida street and travelled to San Diego LA and Vegas during the trip, didnt really like san diego bit of a kip compared to huntington and full of irish but LA and Vegas are must do's.
I would reccomend finding accomodation before you go away we struggled to find a place to stay for the first week.

lukiej

Beanmachine wrote: »

Hi lads!! I stayed in huntington beach for nearly two months just this summer gone!! Couldnt reccomend it more one of the best holidays ive ever had!! It is completly different to San Diego or San Fransico although it is a city is more like a town it is tiny compared to them but much nicer than either in my opinion.If your looking to spend the summer on the beach it is the perfect place.Main street is the town area with all the bars and restraunts and the beach is literally right beside it.
we stayed on a street called florida street which was about 15-20mins walk away from the main street but we just got bikes everyone gets around on bikes over there.Newport beach is really close and is within cycling distance and well worth going to.Laguna is a bit further away but a really nice place aswell.
I wasn't on a j1 but nearly all my friends were,they struggled to get jobs but ended up driving pedi cabs along the beach you pay a flat fee at the start of the day think it was $15 and whatever tips you get throughout the day you keep for yourself some days the lads would come home with well over $100 others they would be lucky to make $40 so it was hit and miss really.
There are plenty of things to do there,the beach is class during the day usually loads of people on it never too packed though and the waves were unreal,we were lucky enough to be there for the US Surf Open which was one of the best weeks of the holiday,plenty of places to shop aswell like south coast plaza and fashion island in newport.
We based ourselves in our apartment on florida street and travelled to San Diego LA and Vegas during the trip, didnt really like san diego bit of a kip compared to huntington and full of irish but LA and Vegas are must do's.
I would reccomend finding accomodation before you go away we struggled to find a place to stay for the first week.

thanks for all your info Beanmachine! really helps! just wondering if you know or heard of Huntington Breakers Apartments, supposedly a lot of J1er's go stay there, it's pretty close to the beach? Is it very difficult to get a job before you go out there? i would really like to do so, would take a bit of pressure off. also what are the pubs and clubs like when it comes to i.d. i will be 19 over there and plan on getting some sort of fake i.d. sorted before I go out. Thanks again for your help!

Beanmachine

To be honest it is really really strict on id's!! we were all 21 and got asked for id everywhere, in the off license in the clubs even in restraunts.There was a group of girls staying in our block who were only 19 who had fake id's and it was hit and miss really with the bouncers some night they would get in other night they wouldnt.
Yeah we were offered an apartment in Huntington Breakers but we decided against staying there because there was so many rules about noise and drinking they said we would get thrown out if we made too much noise.We talked to an irish group staying there and they said they had to drink in their friends places at night!!
I'm sure you would get a job on the pedi cabs like i said before,some of the girls got jobs in a make up shop and another one got a job in an ice cream shop if you go over early enough i don't think it would be a problem.Being 19 i'm not sure many bars or any places that sell alcohol would take you on though.
If your i'd is good enough you should be grand but the bouncers and police are so strict it is unbeleivable and will take your id off you if they think its fake.It is a completly different drinking culture over there,when an american says they are going for a beer they really mean one beer.We went out with a few american girls one night had them over in our apartment before and they couldnt beleive we were drinking before we went out!! they had one or two shots and just drove home.