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Senate panel says, 'No way, dude' to claim on 'Surf City' moniker

C

craigdawg

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 8, 2004
360
0
Sactown
Normally I would be OUTRAGED at this outrageous waste of taxpayer dollars. But this is important.
They're having fun, fun, fun in Santa Cruz now that state lawmakers have passed a bodacious resolution that says the town has every right to call itself "Surf City USA.''

Wading into murky waters where no legislator has ever hung ten before, the Senate Rules Committee declared that the Orange County town of Huntington Beach -- which also fancies itself as Surf City USA -- cannot claim exclusive rights to the name.

For years, the two towns have both used the moniker, but the informal truce was broken not long ago when Huntington Beach applied for a trademark -- and exclusive rights -- to the name.

That gnarly move prompted the committee to pass a resolution declaring that Santa Cruz, home of the wetsuit, is the true Surf City USA but that any town can use the name if it wants to.
Click to expand...
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/26/BAG46ED67B1.DTL
 
rainman::|:|

rainman::|:|

macrumors 603
Feb 2, 2002
5,438
2
iowa
eh, it's mildly better than congressional hearings about baseball :rolleyes: surprised "surf city usa" isn't copyrighted as part of a song or something...
 
Doctor Q

Doctor Q

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 19, 2002
39,788
7,523
Los Angeles
This battle between the two cities has been going on for years, and lots of tourist dollars are involved. If only there were two equivalent ways to say "Surf City" they could each have one version and share the glory, but "Surf Town" and other variations on the theme just doesn't have the same link to the Beach Boys era. Dude, how bogus is that? What a bummer.

Now I'm gonna take the woodie out to The Wedge, wax my board, catch some gnarly waves, ride the curl, hang ten, show off my spinners for the honeys, and kick out before I'm over the falls. Cowabunga!
 
aloofman

aloofman

macrumors 68020
Dec 17, 2002
2,206
3
Socal
craigdawg said:
Normally I would be OUTRAGED at this outrageous waste of taxpayer dollars. But this is important.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/26/BAG46ED67B1.DTL
Click to expand...

Well, thank goodness that a state legislature can overrule federal copyright. And on something so important too!

The next good thing that the state government does will be the first in at least a decade. I can't imagine another state being so poorly run.
 
gammamonk

gammamonk

macrumors 6502a
Jun 4, 2004
666
105
Madison, WI
Has anyone else noticed a huge surge in the use of the word "moniker" in the media lately? Using it to describe hacker screen names for example. I don't think I've ever spoken that word out loud, nor do I know how to pronounce it. ^__^
 
Xtremehkr

Xtremehkr

macrumors 68000
Jul 4, 2004
1,897
0
I, for one, can vouch for the fact that most of the time, Huntington Beach has lousy sets rolling in. IMO, neither city can really claim to be 'Surf City.' HB is way too over developed and the placement of PCH1 to the shoreline ruins the atmosphere.

If you want real beach atmosphere, try the north shore of a Hawaiian Island. Two lane roads that lead to beach bliss. The waves are incredible, especially in season.
 
AmbitiousLemon

AmbitiousLemon

Moderator emeritus
Nov 28, 2001
3,415
3
down in Fraggle Rock
Xtremehkr said:
I, for one, can vouch for the fact that most of the time, Huntington Beach has lousy sets rolling in. IMO, neither city can really claim to be 'Surf City.' HB is way too over developed and the placement of PCH1 to the shoreline ruins the atmosphere.
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It was better before the storm in 1988 dropped the sand bar off the shore.

HB's claim though has to do with the fact that the Beach Boys wrote the song about HB.
 
mactastic

mactastic

macrumors 68040
Apr 24, 2003
3,681
665
Colly-fornia
Lol... stupidly, we're having the same discussion in my little area over a similar moniker problem.

Link to Stupid Problem.

When Oceano historian Norm Hammond heard that nearby Guadalupe had adopted the phrase "Gateway to the Dunes" as its official motto, he was incensed.

At a recent barbecue for the Oceano Improvement Association, Hammond crouched at the bumper of a truck and pointed to the lettering on the vehicle's license-plate holder. There it was, irrefutably embossed on black plastic.

"Oceano, Gateway to the Dunes."

"We gave those out at the centennial in 1993," said Hammond, who is author of the book "Oceano: The Atlantic City of the West." "That's how a (community) defines itself, with logos. We are the gateway to that."

When he told members of the Oceano Improvement Association at their monthly meeting about what he considers the purloined slogan, Hammond said, "People went ballistic. They were like, 'Who do they think they are?' "

The beach-goers, surfers, campers, four-wheelers and nature lovers who enter the Dunes every day via Pier Avenue in Oceano dwarf the number who use the Oso Flaco entrance in Guadalupe, though the northern Santa Barbara County city is home to the Dunes Visitor Center.

The Guadalupe City Council voted 3-1 earlier this month to adopt "Gateway to the Dunes" as the town's official motto. Soon, the language will appear on the letterhead of every piece of city business stationery with a regularity that is likely to put Oceano residents in a slow burn.

But there's not much Oceano can do about it. No one ever bothered to copyright the phrase.

"I don't know, maybe we were asleep at the wheel," Hammond said, sighing.

Al Baughman, president of the Oceano Improvement Association, pointed out that the first thing visitors to the association's Web site (http://www.oceanoca.org) see is an emblem depicting a pair of dolphins gazing at each other over a receding quartet of sand dunes. And the wording just below?

"Oceano, Gateway to the Dunes."

Use of the phrase isn't limited to the Central Coast. A quick Google search turns up at least five municipalities nationwide with dunes nearby -- including Florence, Ore.; Chesterton, Ind.; and Mears, Mich. -- that refer to themselves as "Gateway to the Dunes."

But Baughman said he isn't concerned with out-of-state usage of the phrase.

"That doesn't bother me a bit," he said. "The only thing that bothers me is when it's right next door." Oceano and Guadalupe are less than 20 miles apart.

Guadalupe City Administrator Carolyn Galloway-Cooper said she wasn't aware that Oceano had been using the motto.

"I am sympathetic," she said. But she added that Guadalupe's proximity to the Dunes and the presence of the Dunes Center makes the city a legitimate bearer of the title.

"I grew up in Santa Maria, and I spent a lot of time at the Dunes," she said. "You can get to the Dunes from Guadalupe or Oceano or Pismo. There's a lot of ways to approach them."
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Did I mention I came here from Santa Cruz? :rolleyes:
 
Xtremehkr

Xtremehkr

macrumors 68000
Jul 4, 2004
1,897
0
AmbitiousLemon said:
It was better before the storm in 1988 dropped the sand bar off the shore.

HB's claim though has to do with the fact that the Beach Boys wrote the song about HB.
Click to expand...

HB has great nightlife, Main Street is a cool place to hang out. Quiksilver is also based there, very cool. $35 a day for parking sucks though, but I used to ride my bike down to Main Street.
 
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