"The box." That's what Peter "PT" Townend, executive director of the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum, called the museum's old home on Olive Avenue, where it had been since 1990. In July the museum moved a few blocks inland, into the Main Street Branch Library at 525 Main Street. On September 30 the city opened a cultural hub at Triangle Park on the same block.
The new space is a big step up. The surfboards are larger and the room is grander. The bigger change for anyone who lives here is the schedule. A museum that now shares a building with a city library also shares its hours. So the fifth block of Main Street now runs on a civic weekday clock, a few blocks and a whole rhythm away from the pier.
From the box on Olive to the library reading room
The Huntington Beach City Council approved the move unanimously in March. Townend traces the idea back to a 2023 coffee with Tony Strickland, who was mayor then and is now a state senator. The museum's grand opening in the library was Friday, July 24, 2026. Hundreds of people came to the opening reception, according to the Daily Pilot.
Townend's reasoning was simple. "The exhibition space increased dramatically, and that was part of the reason for the move, to have a better museum in time for the Olympics in two years," he told the Pilot. Huntington Beach didn't end up hosting an Olympic event. Even so, he said, "we want to attract the Olympic audience to Surf City."
The higher ceilings let the museum stand vintage boards upright, which the Olive Avenue space never allowed. Moving in with the library also put the museum on the library's calendar.
Three doors, two schedules
The museum's website lists its hours as Tuesday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The city's page for the Main Street Branch Library lists exactly the same hours, with the library closed Sunday and Monday.
The Huntington Beach Art Center at 538 Main Street sits across from the library and opens later. Its galleries open at noon. They stay open until 8 p.m. on Tuesdays, until 6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, and until 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Admission to its exhibitions is free.
| Day | Library and Surf Museum, 525 Main | Art Center, 538 Main | All three open |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday | Closed | No posted hours | None |
| Monday | Closed | No posted hours | None |
| Tuesday | 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. | Noon to 8 p.m. | Noon to 6 p.m. |
| Wednesday | 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. | Noon to 6 p.m. | Noon to 6 p.m. |
| Thursday | 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. | Noon to 6 p.m. | Noon to 6 p.m. |
| Friday | 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Noon to 5 p.m. | Noon to 5 p.m. |
| Saturday | 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Noon to 5 p.m. | Noon to 5 p.m. |
Add it up and the museum is open 43 hours a week. All three venues overlap for 28 of those hours, every one of them between noon and early evening, Tuesday through Saturday. Sunday is the day a lot of families head downtown, and on Sunday the whole block is closed. Saturday is the only weekend day that works, and it closes at 5.
Tuesday evening is the one exception. The Art Center stays open two hours after the library closes, so a Tuesday after work can still mean an hour in the galleries.
What fills the reading room
According to the Daily Pilot, the museum takes up a large part of the library's main reading room, to the right of the main entrance. The gift shop is to the left. The opening exhibition celebrates 50 years of world champions in professional surfing. The museum's website calls it "World Surfing League: 50 Years of Professional Surfing." Opening-night coverage used the title "The Birth of Pro Surfing: 50 Years of World Champions." The city describes it as historic photographs, championship memorabilia, surfboards, archival footage and personal artifacts.
Townend, now 73, was the first pro surfing world champion in 1976, so in a way the exhibit covers his own career. Boards ridden by Mark Richards and Shaun Tomson are on display, along with some of the earliest wooden surfboards. Near the entrance to the main exhibit is a surfboard art piece by El Segundo artist Damian Fulton titled "What Could Possibly Go Wrong?" It recalls the 1986 surf riots at the OP Pro, the event that came before today's U.S. Open of Surfing. Fulton designed the first OP Pro poster.
Sharing the room has drawn mixed reactions. Elaine Keeley, president of the Friends of the Huntington Beach Public Library, told the Pilot that the group's used book sale moved to a back room it now shares with a computer lab. She raised concerns about reading-room access, library closures and noise. Resident David Rynerson questioned the museum's footprint and its $500 monthly rent. Museum chairman Fred Wilson said the agreement with the city always gave the museum 50% of the main area, and he called the move a win-win for the library and the museum. If you want to see the used book sale, it's in that back room. It keeps the same doors and the same hours as everything else in the building.
The Art Center sets the fall deadlines
The Art Center's calendar decides which weeks are worth a trip. Two shows close Saturday, October 24. "California Fibers: The Languages of Fiber" fills Galleries 1 through 3 and looks at fiber as a way of communicating through material, process and technique. In Gallery 4, "VAALA Presents: Make it Home" shows work by Ann Lê, Hùng Việt Nguyễn and Thịnh Nguyễn about how people define and rebuild the idea of home.
That leaves three Tuesday-through-Saturday weeks from today to see both. After that, the galleries change over. "Inspired" runs November 14 through December 19, with an opening reception on Saturday, November 14, and an Art for Lunch program on Thursday, December 3.
The city wants more programming here. Dan Faltz, the city's senior cultural arts supervisor, said the area will hold quarterly events going forward, though the opening coverage gave no dates. On September 15 the City Council voted 5-2 to have staff draft a resolution creating an Art Center advisory committee. It would have seven to nine residents who help schedule events, curate exhibitions and coordinate with the surf museum. That resolution is on the October 6 council agenda. "We want to compete with Newport Beach and Dana Point and Laguna Beach when they have their art festivals," Mayor Casey McKeon said at the hub's opening. If the committee is approved and the quarterly events start, some of the hub's programming could fall outside the weekday hours above. For now, the posted hours are the only schedule there is.
An afternoon that fits the window
Library and cultural services manager Marisa Rodriguez described the hub as a chance to experience the library, Art Center and surf museum "together, rather than as separate destinations." With the posted hours, that works best on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday afternoon.
- Start with coffee. Milk & Honey at 438 Main Street opens daily at 6:30 a.m. and is about a block from the library. For a sit-down breakfast closer to the pier, Sugar Shack Café at 213½ Main Street says it has been at that address since 1967 and is still family-run.
- Park with a time limit in mind. The Main Promenade structure at 200 Main Street has 830 spaces. The city's rate table lists the first 90 minutes free there, then $1 per 20 minutes off-peak, with a $15 daily maximum. The city notes that rates can change. The Strand garage at 155 Fifth Street, entered from Sixth Street, is another option.
- See the museum before noon if you can. The library and museum open three hours before the Art Center, so a late-morning visit leaves time to cross the street when the galleries open. The museum's website doesn't list an admission price, so check before you go.
- Cross to 538 Main after noon. Admission is free, and on Tuesdays the galleries stay open until 8.
The library itself turned 75 last week. It was dedicated on September 30, 1951, and served as the city's main library until the Central Library opened in 1975. At the birthday party, muralist Melissa Murphy painted a wave canvas and kids painted whales at Triangle Park, while a 1947 Ford "Woody" was parked in front of the museum. On a normal Saturday the building closes at 5 p.m. and doesn't open again until Tuesday morning.
Part of knowing Huntington Beach is knowing which blocks run on which schedule, and that kind of detail goes into every home search I run. If you're weighing a move closer to downtown, or you'd like to talk through what makes the area around upper Main Street special, Ashley Marie is happy to walk it with you. Schedule a consultation.
