Beach Haven is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand and is located north-west from the city's CBD. The area has gentrified rapidly over recent years as young professionals move into the area. The first European settlers arrived in the 1860s and by the 1880s the area was a popular summer resort, with many city dwellers making the trip across the harbour to Island Bay for excursions and holidays. Up until the 1920s the area was rural, largely made up of market gardens growing fruit (mostly strawberries) and vegetables for the growing city across the harbour. Most of this produce was transported by water. There were also sawmills in the area, the evidence of which could be seen for decades in the form of abandoned machinery and mounds of sawdust. The area was always popular as a holiday destination, evidence of which can still be seen today in some of the remaining baches. In 1923, the Birkdale Land Company bought and surveyed the land around where the wharf is now and it was then marketed as the Beach Haven Estate, "the Gem of the Waitemata." After the construction of the Harbour Bridge in 1959, housing subdivisions completed the transformation into an urban area.

Beach Haven has one main shopping area with a variety of shops, including a French cafe, two bakeries, a post office, a gym and a police community constable office. There are several preschools and one primary school that serve the area. Churches in the area include the Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, Mormon and Assembly Of God. Beach Haven is surrounded by many beaches which are suitable for swimming, including Charcoal Bay which is considered one of the most beautiful bays in the Waitemata Harbour.The area also has a wharf which is a very popular feature of Beach Haven. The biggest park in Beach Haven is Shepherd's Park which has a 1.6 km walk through native bush beside Oruamo/Hellyers Creek, as well as squash, bowling and tennis facilities. It also has rugby and soccer grounds and is home to Birkenhead United AFC.

Beach Haven is well serviced by bus connections to Takapuna and the CBD. In August 2012 after years of delays, Auckland Transport announced that it would spend NZ$1.35m to upgrade the wharf at Beach Haven, allowing a ferry service to the city to begin at the start of 2013 to coincide with a new service to Hobsonville. It was expected that this new service will ease traffic congestion on Onewa Road and service the wider areas of Glenfield and Birkdale. The ferry service opened with five sailings a day in February 2013. Beach Haven and Hobsonville wharves are the first new ferry services to be built in Auckland in 50 years.

*source: Wikipedia