Mailbag: Surfing museum is taking up too much of the library, paying too little

Re H.B. International Surfing Museum moves to new home inside Main Street library (July 29)

While it seems reasonable that the city that calls itself “Surf City” should have a surf museum, the way that this City Council is approaching it certainly seems odd.

In 2025, the museum was renting space from the city in a building downtown, just off Main Street. By all accounts, they were nearly a year behind on therent. The council rewarded this behavior by proposing to move them into the Main Street Library, despite conflicting advice from the consultant the city hired to develop the library master plan, as well as robust public opposition.

The proposal was voted on at the Dec. 16 council meeting, and wouldn’t you just know it, the surf museum paid their back rent just before that meeting. In the proposal, the surf museum was to be allowed to occupy less than 1,200 square feet , of which 954 were vacant.

The map provided as part of that agreement showed almost no space being taken up in the library’s main reading room. Rent was set at $500 a month, well below market rates.

Now that the surf museum has had its grand opening, the situation is vastly different. The city says nothing has changed since the December meeting, yet the museum is occupying far more of the main reading room that initially promised. This has displaced all of the desks and chairs for library patrons into a cramped and low-ceilinged space.

This was a council that ran on the slogan of “running the city more like a business.” What business do you know that rewards those behind on their rent with vastly more space at a significant discount? An incredibly poorly run business.

David Rynerson
Huntington Beach

For some, the opening of the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum inside the Main Street Library is a joyous event. For others, it’s a hostile takeover.

The agreement between the city and museum specifies which spaces are for each entity and which are shared. The reading room is designated library but for a narrow area used to display surfboards.

Space on the other side is for four small museum display cubes. However, the museum has commandeered the entire right half of the room for displays and an art gallery, with tables and chairs now squeezed into the children’s section. The library’s used book store now shares space with the computer lab so the museum can have a gift shop.

Museum board President Fred Wilson claims it’s “just a misunderstanding on the part of the folks that are the library advocates,” and “the understanding we had all along was that we would have 50% of the main area for the surf museum.”

The museum pays $500 per month for its designated areas yet has seized considerably more with no increase in cost. No commissions on art gallery sales, no percentage of gift shop sales, the city pays all utilities. It seems public resources are being used to benefit a private enterprise that was delinquent on its rent for nearly a year at its previous location, and that is disrupting library services.

It feels as the surfing museum now operates on the basis of “possession is nine-tenths of the law” — ownership is easier to maintain if one already has possession of something. Yet another example of rampant cronyism with the current City Council.

Michele Burgess
Huntington Beach

A non-apology apology

Re Huntington Beach mayor pro tem apologizes for profane remark to protesters (July 22):

Huntington Beach Mayor Pro Tem Butch Twinning tried to apologize for his actions on July 19 in the city’s parking lot. But instead, it was an attempt to justify what he did. It certainly did not answer the questions you should be asking.

First, the white wall on Yorktown Street did not have any signage saying, “no posting on private property.”

Second, there was nothing pro-Nazi about those signs. Nothing! One sign showed a swastika struck through with a red X, the universal symbol against Nazism, not for it.

Third, What Twinning mistook for a swastika was a stylized 47. A number. Not a symbol of hate.

Let us be clear: 47 is not a Nazi symbol. It is anti-Trump satire accusing this administration of fascism. If the current sitting president bragged about grabbing women’s genitalia without consent, we can certainly protest him with symbols.

Fourth, Twinning was driving through the City Hall parking lot one-handed, cell phone in the other, according to video of the event. A better approach: park his car, inquire who is leading the group, then raise his concerns directly. Remember, only the property owner has jurisdiction over the wall.

Finally, the vaping comment I made to Twinning was caught on tape. Butch called my remark “funny.” I did not think so. I had a flashback of our incoming mayor caught on camera prior to being on the council vaping in this very room. This is the person who wants to run our city?

Andrew Einhorn
Huntington Beach