Bolsa Chica State Beach is a public California state beach in Huntington Beach, stretching about 3 miles along the Pacific and paired across Pacific Coast Highway with the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, which adds birdwatching and coastal wildlife to its identity. Once called Tin Can Beach, the 169-acre property joined the state park system in 1960 as coastal development was rapidly changing Southern California. Known for surfing, sunbathing, fishing, and other water sports, it also features a bicycle path, lifeguard patrols, and seasonal natural events such as grunion runs. A massive nuclear power and desalination project proposed offshore in the late 1960s was abandoned in 1968.