‘Let’s talk about Los Angeles: beaches edition, it has become one of my favorites cities. As a huge Disney fan, I have gone to the LA area a lot. We have explored the area around Anaheim, drove down to the beaches, but ‘I’ve never seen anything. To remedy that, my wife and I decided to take a nine-day trip to Los Angeles. We tried exploring the area, mostly to a lot of beaches, from Malibu to Dana Point, from Universal Studios to Disneyland, and different places in between.
I dragged my poor wife all over the LA area, but we have come to a consensus of how we feel about it. We loved the city. If you drew a circle an hour from where we were, the number of things you could go and see was insane. I would relocate my family if the stars lined up to allow me to move to LA. There are a lot of great things about this place, but along with the good, there is also the bad.
Along with many growing cities, there is a massive problem with the homeless population, if you look into Seattle, Portland, Vancouver B.C., San Fransisco, Brussels, Paris, and London has a growing homeless problem, that seems to be exacerbated by the rising costs of living. This contributes to the rise in crime that can be seen in metropolitan areas. Along with an increase in traffic as people have been forced to move to the suburbs of these cities as the cost of living has increased exponentially, but the jobs that make a decent wage have moved within these cities limits.
Any major trip into a big city, like some of the ones ‘I’ve listed above, you will have to deal with this influx of traffic and LA is no different. As a Seattleite, what sets this apart is that the people in LA drive like a bat out of hell and blare the horn while doing so. After My wife and I got off the plane and through LAX, we were driving along the Pacific Coast Highway at the posted speed limit, and we were being passed like we were at a standstill.
Speaking LAX, in my experience, is not a very good airport. ‘It’s outdated, smells a bit weird, and their signage is terrible. The airport is undergoing a lot of reconstruction, and in the future, it could get better, but until then it kind of sucks. In LAX. It takes a bus to reach the car rental place as it is pretty far from the airport, almost like the Las Vegas airport, but not as far. I would recommend flying into Long Beach, ‘it’s small, the car reservations are right across the street, and getting through security takes no time at all (probably due to the size of the airport).
My wife and I stayed in a quaint little house down by the sea in the Venice Beach area. This was a fantastic location, with a lot of freeway access and the beach was just a twenty-minute drive. This was our first time staying at an Airbnb, and it was honestly a great experience. I would highly suggest staying at an Airbnb, you often can get a place that in a great location, it gives you a “local” experience, and it feels cozier than a hotel room.
The little house we stayed in allowed me to drag my wife from place to place, beach to beach, and community to community. ‘Let’s just say my wife is awesome with putting up with me taking her all over!
When it comes to Venice Beach, I have one suggestion for you just GO! I would highly suggest making a trip down to Venice Beach. ‘It’s such a unique place, I mean ‘it’s certainly out there. When you visit the main beach, there is just an overload of weirdness, a bunch of crazy stores, and the people are something else. It was quite an adventure, to say the least.
The front and center of Venice Beach is the skatepark. (If you ‘don’t know my love for skateboarding go check out my other posts!) This skatepark was terrific, I have taken so many photos of people skateboarding, and I could have stayed there for weeks taking even more. The talent I saw there brought back a reminisce feeling of my childhood. Once again, my wife was amazing and ‘didn’t get upset by me taking my time taking dozens of photos at the skatepark.
‘What’s also great is that the oceanfront walk connects Venice to Santa Monica. The boardwalk is filled with clusters of shops and restaurants. Taking a walk down, it is worthwhile. Whether you walk or take the short drive up to Santa Monica, you get to see the Santa Monica pier.
The Santa Monica Pier is basically a carnival on a dock, over the ocean. There are so many street performers, shops, carnival rides, and restaurants. Since ‘you’re above the water, the pictures you can take can be quite unique given the point of view. Especially when taking photos of surfers. The pier has beach access as well, so the area gets very busy with lack of parking and the number of people and tourists causes a lot of traffic. As the day progresses the parking and crowds gets even worse, so be prepared. We parked The Lobster restaurant, which was close to the ramp that leads to the beach. We paid about forty dollars, but it was valet. Santa Monica and Venice are picturesque towns with a lot of interesting people and places to do.
My wife and I headed north, and stopped at four more beaches; Topanga Beach, Malibu Point, Point Dume, and Paradise cove. These beaches have two pinnacles of California beaches: surfing and palm trees.
We ‘didn’t mean to go to Topanga beach, it was more of an accident. We were looking for parking and came across the parking lot, and honestly, it was a happy little mistake. The beach was amazing, the waves were so small that the longboarders were out in force. To be honest, I ‘wasn’t expecting to take so many pictures of surfing and skateboarding, not sure why I ‘wasn’t, but it made me happy knowing that the lens I rented was getting used. Topanga was relaxing, and I highly recommend going if you have the chance.
Malibu Point is one of my favorite beaches to take pictures of surfers. It has small surf, but a lot of surfers so I was able to wade out into the water and take pictures. My dream would be to have better equipment and bigger surf to get some great shots of surfers. The beach itself ‘isn’t the greatest per se, but if ‘you’re looking to take photos of people surfing, I would suggest going there.
Point Dume and Paradise cover, in my opinion, are some of the best beaches in California. Point Dume can be seen in a major motion picture, Planet of the Apes, and in a television show called Chuck, where Ellie and Awesome get married. ‘There’s a fantastic cliff on the south side of the beach, excellent surf, and beautiful sand. The north side bends away and along the California coastline and has the high cliffs that are scattered with houses, that are way out of my price range. We had the beach practically to ourselves, and it made for a perfect day.
Once ‘you’re done with the beach, however can one ever be done with the beach, take a left on Highway 1 heading back to LA and look for a sign to Paradise Cove Beach Cafe. You must stop here. First things first, the parking is terrible and expensive. The only way to get a discount is to eat at the cafe, but ‘it’s not cheap either. Trust me. ‘It’s worth the price.
The beach has been host to several big movies; Lethal Weapon 4, Beach Blanket Bingo and Creature From the Black Lagoon were all filmed here. The cafe was full of character and good food, then once ‘you’re done, you can head outside, grab a chair, and enjoy the sun and surf. The scenery is fantastic you will regret it if you ‘don’t go.
Before we keep moving south, I want to talk about Newport. ‘It’s full of fancy cars. In fact, you will see so many ‘Bentley’s they will appear to be an average everyday car here. Along the pacific coast highway (PCH) there is a row of car dealerships. If I remember it correctly, it went”” Maserati, Newport Autos, Ferrari, McDonald’s (yes McDonald’s) and Pagani. You will also drive by BMW, Mercedes, and Porsche. If you have money to burn head to Newport or send it my way I ‘won’t complain.
Newport is built around a harbor, so there are a couple of different ways to get the beaches there. You take a left on Old Newport Blvd. The first beach ‘you’ll see if Newport Beach Pier, which is fantastic and has good parking. The next one will be Balboa Pier, it is beautiful and is a great place to watch the sunsets. The following location will be of particular interest to those who enjoy surfing, like me!
There are a world-famous surfing and boogie boarding spot called the Wedge. It has lousy parking, a mediocre beach, but the drive is excellent. If you can get, there was the wave going off you will witness some of the gnarliest wipeouts ever. When the wave breaks, another wave starts and bounces off the north jetty wall. Go check it out when ‘it’s breaking.
A little further down is the Laguna beach, ‘it’s impressive. My wife and I spent a lot of time there while we were in California. We watched dolphins while eating breakfast and went for a walk. The breakfast spot is called The Deck, and it was delicious, plus it had a beautiful view.
‘There’s a boardwalk at the bottom of the hill when you come into Laguna, parking is tough, and you have to pay for it. There is a lot of places to sit and soak in the sights (plus the sun). We had a fantastic time there.
Down the road is the Aliso beach, it’s a picturesque beach with cliffs on both sides which form into some neat rock formation. I got some beautiful shots of wave breaks which will be up on the website. Then there’s Dana Point, we ‘didn’t make it down to the beach, but the views were beautiful.
Now ‘it’s time for the final and in my opinion the best beach. Huntington beach. Every year Huntington beach holds the US Open of surfing and attracts a hundred thousand plus spectators. This is the West Coast surfing hub, some of the greatest surfing finals in history have been held there. There are probably other places with better wave breaks, but with the ‘beach’s location, the pier that gives it a great perspective, the beach holds are the cards.
You can find the walk of fame for surfers, and you can also find ‘Duke’s. For those of you who ‘don’t know what ‘Duke’s is, ‘it’s a restaurant chain ‘that’s based out and in ‘Hawai’i. It has one of the best desserts ever. You must eat here, and you must save room for HULA PIE. Or skip the meal altogether and have hula pie. The pie is an ice cream dessert with caramel, chocolate, macadamia nuts, and whipped cream. You cannot go wrong, but bring friends since there will be plenty to share.
When we take the family to Disneyland Huntington Beach tends to be our one day away destination. ‘It’s reasonably close, and the beach is beautiful and sandy. There is a lot to do with the family with volleyball nets and the boardwalk. Keep an eye on the kids though the surf can get quite big. The Southside of the pier is where the surf is the heaviest. On the north is where the beginner surfers can start out which is always adorable to see. ‘There’s also shopping nearby, which was a plus for my wife.