In the 1926 high school year book, Cauldron, students recalled a rather unusual groundbreaking  held on Monday, February 8.  After singing the National Anthem and saying a prayer, the students grasped two long ropes attached to a plow.  William Newland, senior member of the Board of Education, held the plow in its course as the students pulled it about 100 feet, creating a deep furrow. The program was concluded with the singing of "America".

The rich history of this wonderful school includes scholar Eddie Morris who was considered the world's fastest boy in the 1930's, award winning glee clubs, surfing teams and award winning athletes in nearly every high school sporting event. 

Huntington Beach High School in Huntington Beach, California is a public high school with a student population of over 2,500 attending grades 9 to 12. Known also as Huntington High, the school ball teams are known as The Oilers, due to Huntington Beach's history as an oil town. In fact, across the street from the high school at Huntington Beach City Hall there are several oil pumps. The school colors are orange and black and its motto is: Preparing our students to become educated, responsible and successful citizens within our global community. Publications at Huntington Beach High School include The Oiler Times newspaper and  The Cauldron annual yearbook.  www.hboilers.com

Huntington Beach High School (HBHS) first began operating in 1906. This school is part of the Huntington Beach Union High School District, which includes several other area high schools. Attendance boundaries for HBHS stretch east from Brookhurst Street, north four miles to Warner Ave., and up the coast to a portion of Seal Beach. Their athletic teams are known as the Oilers and the school colors are orange and black. The school is located on Main Street between Utica and Yorktown.

Huntington Beach High School's founding was one of uncertainty and political opposition. Originally known as Las Bolsa High School, the school opened in Los Alamitos in 1902 and served as a secondary school for Westminster, Garden Grove, Los Alamitos, Bolsa, New Hope, Fountain Valley, Chica, Ocean View and Springdale elementary districts. However, after only one student showed up for class, the site was scrapped four days after its opening. After attempts to find a permanent location failed due to political opposition and controversy, the remaining districts of Ocean View, Springdale and Fountain Valley were joined by those of Huntington Beach and Newport Elementary.

In 1906, the "school on wheels," as it was often called because of its inability to secure a permanent location, finally settled in Huntington Beach and began operation as Huntington Beach Union High School. Classes were initially held in the basement of an auditorium operated by the local Methodist church. Having received a land grant from the Huntington Beach Company, the high school completed construction of its first permanent buildings at its current location in 1908. By 1910, there were seven teachers and three clubs; Huntington Beach had a population of 815 people. By this time the four graduates had become an average of 14 graduates a year. The first graduating class consisted of six students, but expanded rapidly in the next decade into the hundreds.

In 1921, the Huntington Beach Company increased mining in abundant oil fields around the city bringing a wave of prosperity to the area. In 1926, the school's architects, Allison and Allison (a Santa Ana firm), described the school's structure as a Lombard Romanesque Revival. The iconic bell tower and auditorium were the first buildings constructed, and seven other buildings were built between 1926 and 1952.

In the 1970s, Huntington Beach High School began construction of new facilities. Many of the old buildings (except the bell tower and auditorium) were demolished and rebuilt because they were not built up to current earthquake and fire codes. The quad was redesigned and landscaped with new trees.

In March 2004, Measure C passed, granting a massive bond for school funding. As HBHS was nearing its centennial and was the oldest in the district, it received a lion's share of the money. Construction began and the summer and has continued since. Infrastructure projects has elevated the school with up-to-date piping and rewiring. Handicap ramps were built in and around difficult places for ADA compliance. The D Building, which contains math and science classrooms, is currently being retrofitted with an elevator, the last of the academic buildings which requires such construction. However, no plans have been proposed for making the M building (which contains music and recording arts classrooms) handicap accessible.

In the 2006-2007 school year, portable units introduced to the campus and rotating classes to alleviate challenges in finding rooms while Math and Science building is is rebuilt. It will require that the classes in the affected buildings to be moved out of the portable on a yearly basis to begin and complete the remodeling.

Huntington Beach High School serves as the host campus for the District's magnet arts program, the Academy for the Performing Arts. This audition-only extra-curricular school offers majors in six disciplines: Acting, Commercial Recording Arts, Dance, Instrumental Music, Musical Theatre, and Technical Theatre. All Mainstage performances are shown in the historic Darrel Stillwagon Auditorium, an Orange County Historical Landmark.

When the program began in 1972 by history teacher Lynn Aase, the Model United Nations program initially consisted of 35 students who attended the Harvard conference. The program now consists of more than 300 students who attend conferences locally, nationally and internationally. The program has recently sent winning delegations to New York, Washington DC, Russia, France and Germany. At the UC Berkeley conference, a competition in which many top schools in the state attend, HBHS MUN delegates have won 24 out of the 25 delegation awards in years they've attended.

All-Pro NFL Tight End for the Kansas City Chiefs Tony Gonzalez is an alumnus of HBHS. Also notable is Eric Anderson, the first openly gay track coach. He coached during the 1990s and wrote Trailblazing: The True Story of America's First Openly Gay Track Coach.

Huntington Beach High School's wide array of sporting facilities result in a diverse athletic program. The school currently competes in the Sunset League, but will be moved to the Sea View League beginning in the 2006-07 academic year, as their football team has gone 3-22 against Sunset League competition since 2001.

Seasonal sports take place in the campuses sports facilities and at competitions. Cap Sheue Field is home for Huntington Beach and other local high school athletic organizations.  Stillwagon Auditorium was named after former Activities Director Darrell Stillwagon. An  Indoor gym, Competition Swimming pool, Cap Sheue Football Stadium, All-weather track
Weight training facilities, baseball fields, soccer fields and tennis courts are all maintained on site.

Girls' Volleyball Field Hockey Football Girls' Golf Girls' Cross Country Boys' Cross Country Girls' Tennis Boys' Tennis

Boys' Soccer Girls' Water Polo Baseball Girls' Track Boys' Track Softball Boys' Golf

Boys' Volleyball Diving Badminton Girls' Basketball Boys' Basketball Girls' Soccer Boys' Waterpolo Wrestling

Arts: Darrell Stillwagon Historic Auditorium, Audio recording facilities, Macintosh media laboratory, Guitar stations, ProTools recording, Video production facilities, Green screen, Video editing stations, Two dance classrooms, Darkroom, Ceramics and other fine arts facilities, Digital media, Vocational Shops and other resources
Auto shop, Wood shop, Family and consumer science facilities, Library, Career center, Photography laboratory, 4 computer laboratories, The Academy for the Performing Arts, HBHS MUN

Music groups: Suburban Legends; Hellogoodbye; Avenged Sevenfold are popular groups whose band members attended Huntington Beach High School.