Beaches! Coronado to Seal Beach.

California Dreamin’

Our California explorations continue. Let’s leave the desert and head to the Pacific Ocean now and visit some beaches. Not just any beaches but the glorious Southern California beaches. Love them! Growing up in California we used to take these family trips in the Ford station wagon (estate car) to the south from the SF Bay Area to see the relatives, check out the stars on Hollywood Blvd., go to Disneyland, Marineland (RIP) and the other SoCal attractions and the most fun activity of all, hit the beaches. Well, let me correct that – maybe the second most fun thing after Disneyland. Big sandy, sunny beaches where we could actually go in the water and jump in the waves.

The thing is that the northern part of the state has spectacular beaches but with rare exception (Santa Cruz comes to mind) they are not particularly safe. Rip tides…rogue waves…most of the beaches up north have very dangerous surf and currents, and the water is ice cold. Ocean Beach in San Francisco – the closest to where we lived in the East Bay – is said to be one of the most dangerous ones. The parents watched us like hawks when we went there.

In Southern California it was and is different, and a family beach day down there was something special. Sure, there are days there when the currents are bad and the warning flags are up, but mostly the beaches are safe (especially compared to the north), and there are a lot of family friendly beaches we could go to. It’s a lot warmer, too. Santa Monica comes to mind (the SoCal family lived in West L.A.) as one we used to frequent a lot with the cousins. Besides a huge expanse of sandy beach and the waves, there’s also the amusement pier there. The water is warmer in the south, too. These trips are really fine memories.

I am really digressing. Let me get off memory lane and say something about the photos in this set.

The rule in this post is that the photo must be at or right by the coast.

We are going to start out in San Diego County at Coronado. In the last post we got within about 30 miles (48 km) of Calexico and the Mexican border. Our starting point here is even closer to Mexico: it’s a little less than 15 miles (24 km) from the Coronado Beach pix below to the international border just above Tijuana, Mexico. Coronado is just across the San Diego Bay from downtown San Diego and a great spot. Dr. Beach gives the beach there high marks, and he knows his California beaches! The famous Hotel del Coronado is there. (Film buffs, the Miami hotel in Billy Wilder’s classic “Some Like it Hot” is actually the Del – it was filmed there and not Florida. In the photo above, that’s Marilyn Monroe with the Del in the background.)

Just up the coast from Coronado is La Jolla. Another lovely spot (get used to hearing that or similar praise in this post and the next following posts). Among other things, the University of California San Diego campus is there. So is the Salk Institute founded in 1960 by Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine. The architect Louis I. Kahn designed the buildings which are featured prominently in the documentary film “My Architect” about Kahn’s life and work. On my other site there’s a set of photos of the buildings; the link is here. It’s truly an architectural masterpiece and is perched dramatically right at the bluffs overlooking the ocean.

La Jolla Cove is a spectacular stretch of coastline. I have never done the kayaking there but hear that it is a lot of fun. There’s lots of other stuff to do and see in La Jolla, and it has great food and drink. Definitely a fave. It’s very popular with tourists. Seals and sea lions, too.

Who’s the little girl looking it the seals? It’s granddaughter Isabelle a few years ago on her first trip to the Southern California beaches.

Time permitting, if you find yourselves in San Diego, consider a walk at beautiful Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve (also in La Jolla) at the cliffs above Torrey Pines State Beach. It’s a very special place – a nature reserve of pine forests and sandstone canyons with the nation’s rarest pine tree, Pinus torreyana, which only grows there and on Santa Rosa Island off the coast near Santa Barbara, California. It is also said to have one of the last great salt marshes and waterfowl refuges in Southern California. The views down to the beach are incredible, and the trails are very walkable.

Our next stops will be as we head up to the North County and visit Encinitas and Oceanside. Why all of the military stores in Oceanside? It borders the US Marine Corps Amphibious Training Base located in North Oceanside with a military community of over 36,000 spread over 125,000 acres (10,117 hectares). It is a huge military base (home of the First Marine Division) and situated on what was once a Spanish land grant called Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores. I took the pix in this set on a foggy Sunday morning, and the city was very, very quiet.

Continuing up the coast we will leave San Diego County and arrive in Orange County. Our first stop is Laguna Beach, another gem along the Southern California coast and a fave as well. That shot of the volleyball game at the beach was taken earlier this year on February 3. Yes, the 3rd of February. Why did I leave California? The first week of February in New York: brrhh! Freezing! The Laguna Beach grouping includes the first of many sunset shots at the coast. It seems that I am always searching for that perfect sunset at the Pacific and never quite getting it.

From Laguna Beach we will continue on California State Route 1 – the Pacific Coast Highway (a/k/a the “PCH”) – to Newport Beach. Corona del Mar, Balboa Island and the Balboa Peninsula are all located within the city. Isn’t the Lido Theatre a beauty? According to the excellent Cinema Treasures website, when it opened in 1938 the first film showing there was “Jezebel” with Bette Davis. The reason was that Davis lived nearby in Corona Del Mar and had mentioned to the owner that “they had better open with my picture.” Which they did. It’s called the surf film capital of Southern California, and they roll out a blue carpet for premieres of surfing films. It’s also one of the locations participating in the annual Newport Beach Film Festival. With so many historic California movie palaces endangered or already gone, it’s always gratifying to see a survivor like the Lido.

Have you seen the TV series “Arrested Development”? (It’s on on Netflix.) If so, you already know Balboa Island. It takes place in Newport Beach, and the Bluth family runs a frozen banana stand on the island based on the real life Sugar & Spice, the place that supposedly brought frozen bananas to Balboa Island. (I get a little confused there, because Dad’s also has a sign saying “original frozen banana”.)

Orange County is in a lot of TV shows and films. I have to say one of my all time favorites about the OC is the 2002 film “Orange County” with Colin Hanks and Jack Black. Big thumbs up.

What do you think of those views in Corona del Mar? Not bad, eh?

We’ll finish this first installment of the Southern California coastal drive at the northern edge of Orange County in Huntington Beach and Seal Beach on successive days for some more end-of-day shots. I also can’t get enough of the golden hour light at the coast, as you will see in this set and the sets to follow. These are our first piers; we’ll be seeing many more as we work our way up the PCH in this grouping of posts.

Huntington Beach calls itself Surf City USA; they even have it trademarked. Jan and Dean sang about it in the 1963 hit “Surf City”. Its pier (pictured) is one of the longest in California at more than 1,800 feet (549m). There’s a surf museum there and also selfie heaven by the world’s largest (44 feet/13.5 m long) surfboard (not pictured – it got too dark that day). There are concrete fire rings up and down the beach – it’s a very cool sight to see all the bonfires at the beach at night.

Less famous and smaller Seal Beach is the northernmost beach town (and beach) of Orange County, and we’ll pause our coastal drive there. See you in a few weeks when we resume the journey north at the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the South Bay of Los Angeles County.