Mayor Casey McKeon, who delivered a speech at the event, said the pier will be illuminated for multiple nights leading up to July 4.

The city held a special event Thursday night at Pier Plaza, unveiling America 250 banners and lighting the pier red, white and blue.

The funny thing about Huntington Beach — a.k.a. Surf City, USA — is that it doesn’t always have great surf. But when it does, it can be all-time (ahem, see photo above). It has consistent surf.

Keith Bohr remembers eating lunch on the red stools inside the quaint sandwich shop Neptune’s Locker on the Huntington Beach Pier back in the ’80s, mesmerized by the surfers riding waves in the ...