This song finds the Florida natives reminiscing over their early days when they hung out on Ocean Boulevard in Jacksonville's Atlantic Beach. Ben Harper, Yellowcard's guitarist at the time, told The Boston Phoenix: "It's this place where we used to hang out in Jacksonville. Instead of talking about a girl, it's talking about a scene and a feeling that we want to get back to: hanging out and writing, before we moved to California."
While Yellowcard frontman Ryan Key was writing the lyrics, he changed "Ocean Boulevard" to "Ocean Avenue" because it rhymed better. The lyrics also reference Cherry Street, where Key's childhood home is located in Neptune Beach.
After signing with Capitol Records, Ocean Avenue was the band's major-label debut. The title track became their breakthrough hit, but it almost didn't happen. Key nearly cut the song from the album because he was struggling to finish the chorus.
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