I've been told by some people that my 750 Maxim is a good first bike. It's not the typical first choice for beginner bikes as so many go for ninjas and cbrs, but in the cruiser class I think it's good. Probably the biggest reasons for me are that it's not grossly underpowered for it's weight, easy and cheap maintenance. Also, given that a beginner bike will be replaced within a year or two, it makes alot of sense to get an older bike that is at the bottom of it's depreciation scale. So I can ride this for a month or a year or five years, and I will never lose money on the resale when I upgrade.
If you are set on a new beginner level cruiser though, I like the Shadow Phantom VT750C. It has bad *** looks, a killer sound and a decent price tag. I'm hoping I'll be able to get into the demo ride this week to try it out. If it rides as good as it looks, I might move up to that one.