Overview
Anderson Street is a fickle Orange County beachbreak in Surfside that can turn on into high-quality, top-to-bottom A-frame wedges when everything lines up. It breaks over sand, and its quality leans heavily on swell refraction off the Huntington Harbor jetty. Constant sand migration and beach erosion keep the sandbars shifting, so peaks come and go, but the main break straight out front of the old water tower stays relatively dependable. On its day it is a classic, hollow California beachbreak, though it takes patience and a bit of luck to catch it firing.
When It Works
The spot needs a solid south groundswell to come alive, drawing swell from south-southeast through south to west-northwest (SSE-S-WNW). It works from 0.9 m / 3 ft to 2.4 m / 8 ft: too little swell and it misses the refraction off the harbor jetty, too much and the lineup turns into a washing machine. Expect anything from chest-high to slightly overhead on a good day. Summer and autumn are the prime windows, with late-season south swells especially worth chasing for their cleaner conditions.
Wind and Tide
Look for northeast (NE) offshore wind, with a workable window running from north through east-northeast to east-southeast (N-ENE-ESE). Mornings are the play, since onshore winds usually get on it by 10 or 11am and blow the afternoons out through the summer. Tide timing matters as much as anything: it surfs on low to mid tide, with a rising tide generally the better call. Push too high and backwash becomes a problem; as the tide drops, big rip currents can tear the lineup apart.
Local Tips
This is a shortboard wave that rewards intermediate and expert surfers who can read the shifting peaks and hunt down an uncrowded wedge. The lineup stays moderately busy when it is working, ridden by a talented local crew who have the place wired. The gated Surfside community sits right on the beach and many residents surf here, so tread lightly. Keep an eye out for rip currents, shallow sandbars, and great whites known to hang around the mouth of Huntington Harbor.
Access
There is free parking close to the beach.
