Gregor Swiderek reserves a special place for southern California in his heart. Aside from the obvious attractions of Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Disneyland, he says it’s a land of “unexpected gems”.
My feelings towards Los Angeles are a little ambivalent. Many dismiss it as unattractive – only seeing freeways chock-full of traffic, a sea of bland suburbs, smog, and silicon people.
However, I would argue that it’s difficult to understand modern America without visiting Los Angeles. It’s here where many trends were – and still are – created, and where US culture is constantly transformed. In my experience, LA is one of the best places to start a tour of the west coast. Flights to LA are cheaper than to other west coast cities, and car rental is usually excellent value.
My first visit there was a brief but eye-opening one – I was en route to a summer camp in Sierra Nevada and flew to LAX (probably the only airport in the world known almost exclusively by its IATA code) before catching the Greyhound bus to Fresno, even though this meant an overnight wait.
I ended up in a nearby hotel and it was probably the strangest place I’ve ever slept. I was served by a Sikh receptionist hiding behind bulletproof glass, who asked me for a fingerprint along with my passport. There were unsavoury characters everywhere, but luckily the view over downtown was quite nice.
My next visit a few months later couldn’t have been more different. Me and my friends strolled along Hollywood Boulevard looking at the Walk of Fame’s stars, drove past the mansions of Beverly Hills and generally enjoyed Los Angeles’ more revered side.
LA’s coastal communities
But it was another visit when I discovered the best part of this metropolis: its coastal communities. I stayed in a small independent hostel in Venice, just a few minutes from the ocean. It’s here I experienced the archetypical southern California lifestyle – strolling the Venice Beach boardwalk along the famous Muscle Beach (where Arnold Schwarzenegger used to train) all the way to Santa Monica and its historic pier.
People-watching is the prime activity here, and it’s fascinating. Attractive lifeguards, old people playing chess, skateboarding teenagers, surfers, hippies; you name it, they’re all there.
Getting around
Renting a car is essential in LA. There is public transport, but it’s rather skeletal and not really useful. A car will give you independence and give you the chance to cruise LA’s legendary freeways. The first thing you notice is how vast they are, often 10 to 12 lanes wide with five-level junctions.
Southern California: A land of contrasts
Travelling south from Los Angeles, down to San Diego, is a number of beach communities. The best way of enjoying them is a lazy drive – preferably in a convertible – along the coastal highway, stopping here and there whenever you feel like it.
On the other hand, just a few miles north of Los Angeles are the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains. Reaching 3,000 and 3,500 metres respectively, these are wild and rugged areas offering great hiking or skiing. Because they are heavily forested, they are more reminiscent of Oregon than California.
In the mountains are small resort towns where LA folks escape the heat of summer and enjoy winter sports. One of them is the tiny Twin Peaks, where we drove because one of my friends is a huge fan of the famous TV series. Unfortunately, after asking locals, we learnt that the show wasn’t located or shot there (apparently we weren’t the only ones asking). However, driving up there was fun as the road from San Bernardino was very scenic, rising a vertigo-inducing 1,700 metres in about 15 miles.
My favourite part of ‘SoCal’ is the desert. One of the best places to experience the desert environment is Joshua Tree National Park. Located just two-and-a-half hours east of downtown LA, it’s easy to reach yet far enough to escape the crowds. I found it after consulting my trusty California atlas while looking for something interesting and wild but not far from LA.
Joshua Tree National Park
During my visit in early June the park was almost empty – it’s one of a few places in the US where the high season is winter as summers are simply too hot. I pitched my tent at one of the best landscaped campgrounds I have ever seen, with tents nicely spread between rocks and boulders for privacy.
The park’s landscape is simply breathtaking. In addition to Joshua tree forests, the park’s western section includes some of the most interesting geological displays in California. The dominant features are hills of bare rock, usually broken up into loose boulders, while he flatland between the hills is sparsely forested with Joshua trees. Together with the boulder piles and Skull Rock, the trees make the landscape otherworldly. The only palm native to California, the California Fan Palm, occurs naturally in five oases in the park, which are perfect destinations for a hike. But due to the oppressive heat it was possible to hike only late in the afternoon and around sunset.
Unexpected gems
‘Unexpected’ is probably the best word to describe southern California. Yes, there icons like Hollywood, Disneyland, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica – but also plenty of hidden and unknown gems, a multi-ethnic population and great cuisine (away from the junk food, that is).
What’s really striking is just how many ways there are to have fun. Surfing, hiking, skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding, lounging on the beach, cruising along the coast in a convertible, shopping – just some ways of experiencing the legendary ‘SoCal’ lifestyle.
Southern California is one of the world’s top tourist destinations – and in my eyes, deservedly so.
- If you’ve been inspired by Gregor’s Los Angeles and Southern California travel guide, take a look at one of these useful maps or travel guides:
- > Los Angeles and Hollywood map
- > California map
- > Joshua Tree National Park map