A week in California

My job took me out to the west coast last week, starting off in San Diego and finishing up in Silicon Valley, with the weekend between to drive up the coast. I’ve driven the Pacific Coast Highway once before, in 2002, but starting further north. It’s a stunning drive, interrupted every fifteen minutes by the need to pull off and just look at the ocean.

Also, a reminder that I’ll be doing my own songs tonight as part of the song circle at the Kings County Opry at Freddy’s Bar and Backroom, 6th Avenue and Dean Street, in Brooklyn, starting about 8.30 p.m.

Venice, USA
A very small neighborhood built around a series of canals in the 1930s.

Venice Beach
Still funky, like a thriving version of Coney Island, Venice Beach is touristy but not too much so. Graffiti all over the trees and concrete structures at the beach, with a gorgeous sunset in the background, and street musicians all along the oceanfront walk.

Malibu

San Luis Obispo
The first car-oriented hotel was built here in 1925, and architect Arthur Heinemann coined the word “motel” to describe it. It’s abandoned and half torn down now.

San Luis Obispo
“Chop suey” seems to be a big thing in this town.

San Luis Obispo
This charming little park built around a river is right in the center of downtown.

Elephant Seals
Just north of San Simeon (for the second time, I just passed Hearst Castle by), there’s a sign for the “Elephant Seal Viewing Area.” I pulled off, and at first, saw just a couple of them lying on the sand. They moved once in a while, so clearly they were OK, but it wasn’t much to look at. But then I walked a little further up and saw an entire beach-full of them, flopped down for their molting season. They mostly just lie there, occasionally flipping sand up over their backs.

Pacific Coast Highway

Big Sur
This may be one of my favorite places in the entire country, a lodge and hiking trails among the redwoods. Below is the Colony Tree, the largest redwood in the park.