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Los Angeles Times
08-02-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Huntington Beach Sports Hall of Fame inducts first class
The 2011 team from Ocean View Little League remains the only team from Orange County to win the Little League World Series world championship. That hasn't changed. The players themselves? Well, they've grown up. They were 12 years old at the time. Now, their ages have more than doubled to 26 and many of the players were able to make it to a special event Sunday at the Huntington Club. The 2011 Ocean View Little League team was among the inductees into the inaugural class of the Huntington Beach Sports Hall of Fame. 'Coming back, it's like we never left each other,' said Dylan Palmer, who played third base on the team. 'That bond is very indescribable because we spent so much time together growing up. When I see one of the guys, we're still best friends. We're all laughing, joking, having fun like we're 12 years old.' The inaugural class also included Hall of Fame football tight end Tony Gonzalez, a Huntington Beach High graduate, and Ed Arnold, longtime broadcaster at KTLA and KOCE at Golden West College. Huntington Beach resident and trailblazing basketball player, general manager and announcer Ann Meyers Drysdale also was inducted, as were former world surfing champion Peter 'PT' Townend and 12-time state champion Golden West College women's volleyball coach Albert Gasparian. Eight of the 13 players on the 2011 Ocean View team attended the ceremony. Some of the players wore adult-sized letterman jackets, which they were given after they won the title and they grew into over the years. The team's manager, Jeff Pratto, said his son Nick was unable to attend but shared that he and his wife, Hannah, welcomed a baby a couple of weeks ago. 'That's the first offspring of the World Series champions,' Jeff Pratto said, to laughs from the crowd. 'I think there will be many more.' Steve Garvey and his daughter Olivia served as co-emcees of the Hall of Fame event, which had all seven Huntington Beach City Council members in attendance. Artist David Holbrook illustrated large portraits of each inductee. Gonzalez, who is in New Orleans preparing to cover Super Bowl LIX, was unable to attend, but his mother Judy and former high school coach George Pascoe accepted on his behalf. In a video message, Tony Gonzalez thanked all of his coaches. 'It's nothing when you don't have the people around you that support you and that have been there since the beginning,' he said. 'It's all about that. Everybody have a great time, I wish I was I was there and that's about it. H.B.!' Meyers Drysdale was the the first woman to receive a four-year athletic scholarship from UCLA, and the first woman to sign a contract with an NBA team, which she did with the Indiana Pacers in 1979. She had a quip for Garvey. 'I think Steve has been part of more Fourth of July parades than I have,' she said. 'I've got to catch up to him.' Townend, originally from Australia, said a couple of surfing memories from Surf City stood out to him. In 1984 he coached the U.S. national team, featuring fellow locals Janice Aragon and Scott Farnsworth, to a gold medal. And he also cherished the decade he spent coaching surfing at Dwyer Middle School, which resulted in three NSSA National Championships. 'This is really an honor,' said Townend, who got a bit emotional at the start of his speech. Huntington Beach Sports Hall of Fame executive director Dave Garofalo, a former mayor of Huntington Beach, said his team has gathered a list of at least 200 more nominees for future classes of the hall. 'We have wrestlers, boxers, skateboarders,' Garofalo said. 'In almost every sport known, we have somebody from Huntington Beach that is excelling in that particular area.'
Los Angeles Times
05-02-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
129-home community breaks ground in Huntington Beach
New housing is quickly coming to one of the most bustling areas of Huntington Beach. Landsea Homes recently broke ground on a 129-unit townhome community called Essex + Gage, located on Edinger Avenue just west of Gothard Street. The all-electric townhomes are each three stories, with two to four bedrooms. They will range in size from 1,097 square feet to 2,516 square feet. 'We've monitored a few other new developments that have gone up and they've done really well,' said Patrick Higgins, vice president of sales and marketing for the California division of Landsea Homes. 'The housing stock, the existing housing, it's Huntington Beach — a lot of single-story homes, a lot of homes built in the 1950s and '60s. A lot of people love Huntington, love the vibe, and I don't think the city goes out of their way to add new development. 'One thing we appreciate about Huntington, they want Huntington to remain Huntington, and we agree. I think they want to set the bar high to maintain the attractive nature, the feel of Huntington, and we're all about that.' Higgins said a grand opening is planned for sometime in June. The project, on a 5.62-acre lot adjacent to Golden West College, was previously brought forward by another developer and approved by the Planning Commission on a unanimous vote in 2023. Landsea, which has other properties in Orange County but is building in Huntington Beach for the first time, closed on the land last June and is now the builder for the project. The Essex homes are row townhomes, 71 in all, while the 58 Gage homes are U-shaped. There are 11 different floor plans overall, Higgins said. Each home features smart home automation technology, including Apple Home integration. The complex will also contain a pool, spa and outdoor barbecue and fire pit area, as well as public open space with a dog park and turf area.
Los Angeles Times
30-01-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Huntington Beach Sports Hall of Fame inducts first class this weekend
A long list of athletes, coaches, sports media members and others have made their mark in Huntington Beach over the years. For all of that talent, Surf City hasn't really had a place for them to be collectively enshrined. Until now. The newly created Huntington Beach Sports Hall of Fame will induct its first class on Sunday afternoon at the Huntington Club. The inaugural class includes Hall of Fame football tight end and Huntington Beach High graduate Tony Gonzalez, as well as Ed Arnold, longtime broadcaster at KTLA and KOCE at Golden West College. Huntington Beach resident and former pro basketball player Ann Meyers Drysdale, former world surfing champion Peter 'PT' Townend, longtime Golden West College women's volleyball coach Albert Gasparian and members of the 2011 Ocean View Little League team that won the Little League World Series will also be enshrined. 'I think it's a really good class,' said Ryan Broccolo, a Huntington Beach native and sports marketing professional who is on the Huntington Beach Sports Hall of Fame Board of Directors. 'We're excited. I think it's a good representation of the city in multiple sports.' The Huntington Beach Sports Hall of Fame has been a passion project for Dave Garofolo, the Hall of Fame's executive director and former mayor of Huntington Beach. He said he started building the Hall of Fame in 2023, when Tony Strickland was mayor. Strickland, a former college basketball player, is also part of the board that selected the class, along with legendary swim coach Mark Schubert and acting Golden West College Athletic Director Tim Bremen. Garofolo said he wanted the Hall of Fame to include more than just players, and he worked with an advisory committee including Huntington Beach Union High School District athletic directors to create a list of 200 candidates. 'We're also including deserving coaches, media,' Garofolo said. 'A team is hard to do because of the cost of the awards, but we'll always honor a team as exceptional as the 2011 Ocean View team.' Garofolo said he hopes to hang the Huntington Beach Sports Hall of Fame plaques in the Central Library, with a new class being inducted each year. Former Los Angeles Dodgers infielder and recent U.S. Senate candidate Steve Garvey will serve as the event's emcee, along with his daughter, Olivia Garvey, a sports anchor at NBC 4. Limited tickets are available for Sunday's ceremony at the Huntington Club, which runs from 2 to 4 p.m., and the reservation deadline is Friday at noon. A $60 donation per person is requested. For reservations and information, email HBNews1@ or call (714) 914-9797.
