Beach Haven is a southwestern suburb of the North Shore, located in Auckland, New Zealand. The area has gentrified rapidly over recent years as young professionals moved into the area. History Prior to European settlement, the Beach Haven area was covered to the water’s edge by thick bush, pōhutukawa, ferns and giant kauri trees. Maori tribes inhabited the area, but were decimated by wars and finally succumbed to the newly acquired guns of Hongi Hika. In 1844 the area was sold to the Government and became deserted. One of the first settlers in the district established an orchard near Soldier’s Bay and as the kauri trees were gradually removed from the land, it was found to be an ideal place for fruit growing, especially grapes and strawberries. Most of the kauri trees taken out were used by boat builders for masts and spurs. 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. Demographics Beach Haven covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. Beach Haven had a population of 10,566 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 429 people (4.2%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 735 people (7.5%) since the 2006 census. There were 3,549 households, comprising 5,217 males and 5,349 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.98 males per female, with 2,337 people (22.1%) aged under 15 years, 2,076 (19.6%) aged 15 to 29,