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6 tlm n the travel & leisure magazine www.tlm-magazine.co.uk Autumn 2011 Autumn 2011 tlm n the travel & leisure magazine www.tlm-magazine.co.uk 7

policewoman taking a keen interest in the Corvette. Returning to the car, I asked in my finest upper-crust

English accent: “Is there a problem, officer?” Unfortu-nately, I had mistakenly parked in a red no-parking bay,saving the car in the adjacent metered bay from a parkingticket but earning one myself. Seeing my crestfallenexpression, the lady cop asked if the car was rented, andwhen I said yes she reassured me I would be OK as therental companies never paid parking fines.Seizing the moment, I asked if she would mind

posing with the car while writing the ticket so I couldtake some souvenir photos. “Sure,” she beamed, and Iclicked away as she struck different poses until a coupleof curious Hell’s Angels bikers pulled up alongside.Within seconds, they were in the photos as well, and Iending up getting them to sit on the car’s bonnet with thetraffic cop lying across their arms, pen poised on theticket. Only in LA! And I never did have to pay the fine.I had another brush with the law in California this year,

having done the LA-San Francisco drive in my Mustangand traded it in for a nondescript Japanese saloon to driveback down to Monterey for an overnight and a round ofgolf on the famed Pebble Beach Links course. With my return flight home from San Francisco that

evening, I put pedal to the metal on the coast road after myround and caught the attention of a California HighwayPatrol officer, who sped after me with his motorbike lit uplike a Christmas tree. It was a fair cop: I had been doing81mph in a 65mph zone. He told me I would get a speed-

ing ticket through the post, adding that had I been doing75 I would have got away with a ticking off. But I didn’tmind. I was still on a high from playing Pebble Beach. TheCHiPs officer can’t have ticketed many speeding motoristswearing a smile as broad as mine. And, six months on, Istill haven’t received that ticket, either.

surf cultureThe freeways are a quicker way of getting between California’s coastal cities and key attractions, althougharound LA they are often jammed solid. Driving thePacific Coast Highway needs time and patience, likesavouring an expensive wine. Plan to take in the sightsand highlights along the way and be prepared for frequentstops, from traffic in towns to photo opportunities.My Corvette trip took 11 days and began in San Diego,

a beautiful city of picturesque parks and grand,restored 1860s buildings in the downtown GasLamp Quarter. It made a fabulous, easy-pacedstart to the drive north. The coastline between San Diego and LA

is often bypassed by those who land at LAXand head north. Do that and you miss out onsome real treats. California is synonymouswith surfing and, while you see it all along thecoast, nowhere is surf culture stronger than southof LA. The breakers created by the offshore Santa Ana

winds are perfect for surfing at Huntington Beach, sung

6 tlm n the travel & leisure magazine www.tlm-magazine.co.uk Autumn 2011

There’s only one way to experience Californiaif you really want to get into the West Coastspirit – and that is by driving an open-topsports car up the Pacific Coast Highway, theBeach Boys and Eagles blaring out from thestereo, surfers to your left, cool wind in your

hair and blue sky up above.The PCH, as it is often shortened to, is officially the

120-mile stretch of Highway 1 between Dana Point andOxnard in Southern California, taking in Los Angeles,Malibu, Santa Monica and Santa Barbara. But to most

people, it applies to the entire near-500-mile lengthbetween San Francisco and LA, or the 600 milesbetween San Diego and San Francisco. You canalso take it up through Northern Californiaand on to the Canadian border, for a totaldistance of 2,000 miles.This long, snaking ribbon is far more

than a highway. It leads you on a voyage ofexploration right through California’s coastalheartland, passing by much of the Golden GateState that visitors want to see.Since my first visit to California 25 years ago, I

have been fortunate to have driven the scenic coastalstretch between LA and San Francisco on a couple ofoccasions as well as driving shorter sections many othertimes. Both times, it was in iconic American muscle cars: a

little red Corvette in the Nineties and, earlier this year, aflame-red Ford Mustang. I even turned down a classicJag for the Corvette, and as I motored around LA and itsenvirons, I couldn’t resist a lazy drive along SantaMonica Boulevard and West Hollywood’s Sunset Stripwith my shades and shorts on, the top down and one armdraped over the door. Call me a poser, but I firmlybelieve that when in Rome – or in this case, the laid-backWest Coast – you should emulate the locals.

memorableSome of my most memorable US moments havehappened along the PCH, none more so than when Idecided to photograph the stars’ hand and foot prints atMann’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood after my SunsetStrip drive and found what seemed a perfect parkingspot down a nearby side street. Having topped up themeter and walked off, I turned round to see a

A road trip along California’s iconic coastal highway encapsulates the very essence of America’sthird-largest state. Peter Ellegard dons shorts and shades to explore

The long and winding road

getting to know n californiagetting to know n california

n Mustang on 17 Mile Drive, Monterey

n Hollywood n Sunset surfer

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about in 1963 hit single, Surf City, by home-town duoJan & Dean. Today, Huntington Beach even calls itselfSurf City USA. It hosted the first professional surfingevent in 1959 and is where the USA surf team has itsbase. Surfing attractions include the International Surf-ing Museum and Surfing Hall of Fame(www.surfingmuseum.org), and the Surfing Walk ofFame (www.surfingwalkoffame.com).Surf culture is also strong in Oceanside and Newport

Beach and, beyond LA, in Malibu, playground of therich and famous.Majestic former transatlantic liner the Queen Mary

(www.queenmary.com) now lies captive in dock atLong Beach as a floating hotel and attraction. Stayaboard her, as I have done, in elegant decadence or betransported back to the days when steamships ruled thewaves on tours of its stately, art deco interior. Nearby arethe Disneyland (http://disneyland.disney.go.com) andKnott’s Berry Farm (www.knotts.com) theme parks ofAnaheim.To its detractors, Los Angeles is a sprawling urban

mass; a city with glitz but without a heart. The reality is ithas several hearts, and they beat loudest in its westernneighbourhoods. This is a Westside Storywith a difference.From the refined elegance of Beverly Hills and West

Hollywood to the vibrant oceanside communities ofSanta Monica and Marina del Rey, including funkyneighbour Venice Beach, each neighbourhood has itsown flavours and attractions for visitors.

ferris wheelBeverly Hills has attracted stars for decades. Today, it isfamous for its high-end shopping, with ritzy RodeoDrive (www.rodeodrive.com) the epicentre of itsshopping scene, and the grand Beverly Wilshire hotel


getting to know n california

mountains, forestsand deserts

California has nature in spades, with 270state parks, 19 national forests, over a dozenmajor mountain ranges, 14 million acres offederal wilderness area, 32 million acres offorest and 21 million acres of desert.At Yosemite, King’s Canyon and Sequoia

national parks, you can see giant sequoiatrees, nature’s largest living things. The latterincludes the General Sherman Tree – theworld’s largest tree by volume. It stands274.9 feet high and has a circumference of102.6 feet.California has three standing trees you can

drive through, for a fee. All are coastalredwoods in Humboldt County, NorthernCalifornia. Tunnel Log is a fallen giant sequoiawith a tunnel cut into it in Sequoia NationalPark through which cars can drive.Mountain resorts offering skiing and

summer adventure include Mammoth, SquawValley and Heavenly.Among California’s desert areas is Death

Valley National Park, where Badwater is theWestern Hemisphere’s lowest point. TheMojave National Preserve and Joshua Tree

National Park are other desert areas. Desertresort community Palm Springs is a man-made oasis offering luxurious spa resorts,golf, dining, art, theatre and shopping. ThePalm Springs Aerial Tramway takes visitors8,500 feet up to San Jacinto State Park.

“Driving thePacific CoastHighwayneeds timeand patience,likesavouring anexpensivewine”

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The beautiful, hilltop Old Mission Santa Barbara(http://santabarbaramission.org) is the city’s crown-ing architectural glory. Founded in 1786, it is one of 21missions built by the Spanish between 1769 and 1823and is known as the “Queen of the Missions”.Stay at a cosy downtown B&B like the Cheshire Cat

Inn (www.cheshirecat.com) and you can enjoy its artgalleries, shops and restaurants on foot.Santa Barbara Wine Country is one of California’s

main wine regions. You can taste local vintages at 12wineries within a few blocks of downtown and thebeaches on the Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail(www.urbanwinetrailsb.com) or take a Wine Tours byTrolley trip (www.sbtrolley.com), hopping on and offtrolleys to enjoy good libations at four wineries. Oscar-winning movie Sideways was set in Santa

Barbara Wine Country and you can check out film loca-tions on guided Sideways tours or pick up a map fromthe Santa Barbara Convention & Visitors Bureau

(www.santabarbaraca.com) and drive to themyourself. Among locations used were picturesqueSanta Ynez Valley communities Los Olivos andSolvang, a fascinating Danish village cele-brating its centenary this year withScandinavian buildings, antique and artshops, a windmill and an old mission.At San Luis Obispo, a stay in the

Madonna Inn (www.madonnainn.com)means sleeping in themed rooms, includingcaves where you shower under a cascadingwaterfall in your bathroom.Halfway between LA and San Francisco at San

Simeon, stop for a guided tour of newspaper magnateWilliam Randolph Hearst’s palatial, Spanish-styledHearst Castle (www.hearstcastle.org), which housespriceless art and antiques, with sculptures and a Romantemple gracing the estate.

artist’s colony The road from there to the Monterey Peninsula is one ofAmerica’s most spectacular drives, and is known as theBig Sur Coast Highway. It hugs the wild coastline pastBig Sur’s towering cliffs, canyons and giant redwoods.Stay at the chic, clifftop Post Ranch Inn(www.postranchinn.com) for spectacular views andto enjoy the natural beauty and wildlife, includingcondors, at leisure. Beyond Big Sur lies pretty artists’ colony Carmel.

There, you can take scenic 17-Mile Drive, which loopsaround the Monterey Peninsula headland past gloriousocean vistas, wind-sculpted cypress trees and golfcourses including Pebble Beach. Former fish-canning town Monterey, made famous

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(www.fourseasons.com/beverlywilshire) opposite.You may find yourself rubbing shoulders with celebsthere and at the Beverly Hills Hotel (www.beverlyhillshotel.com), a doyenne knownlocally as the Pink Palace.Shop for designer fashion and art at West

Hollywood’s Avenues of Art & Design district(www.avenueswh.com), before hitting Sunset Strip toparty the night away at its clubs and nightspots.Santa Monica Pier (www.santamonicapier.org)

features the Pacific Park amusement park, whichincludes the world’s first solar-powered Ferris wheel,giving bird’s-eye views of the beaches, and a traditionalcarousel.Muscle Beach (www.musclebeach.net) was born

just south of the pier in the 1950s, kick-starting thebody-beautiful, workout and health fads now such anintegral part of the LA scene. Rent a bike or skates andfollow the 8.5-mile beach path to Venice Beach, whereyou will find the musclemen pumping iron today. VeniceBeach is great for people-watching for its bizarre sightsand wacky performers. I once encountered a semi-nakedman standing one-footed while holding rubber snakes ineach hand and balancing a branch on his head. You couldalso have your photo taken with aliens sat in deckchairs.Neighbouring Marina del Rey boasts America’s

largest man-made yacht harbour, from where you cantake a chartered yacht to explore the coastline andoffshore islands or take a relaxing harbour cruise.Hollywood highlights include Universal Studios

(www.universalstudioshollywood.com), while LA’scultural scene takes in the Getty Centre(www.getty.edu) high above the city and the GettyVilla, in Malibu, with collections of artworks, sculpturesand photographs. Catch shows and concerts at the KodakTheatre (www.kodaktheatre.com), home of theOscars, and Los Angeles Philharmonic performances atFrank Gehry’s garish, silver Walt Disney Concert Hall(www.laphil.com). Pasadena is worth taking a side tripfor the historic buildings of its old centre. I vividly recallpartying all night with samba-dancing Brazilians in thestreet celebrations in Old Pasadena after watching Brazilbeat Italy in the World Cup Final at the nearby RoseBowl stadium in 1994.Shoppers wanting unusual souvenirs should head to

the LA County Coroner’s Office, where Skeletons in theCloset (www.lacoroner.com) is a gift shop a couple offloors up from the mortuary that sells items includingtowels with the outline of a dead body and toe-tag keyrings. The proceeds help rehabilitate offenders.

missionsTwo hours north of LA, Santa Barbara styles itself theAmerican Riviera and is a beautiful city rich in historywith glorious Pacific beaches and a marina edged byrestaurants. Take the lift up to the 85-foot-high clock tower of the

Spanish Colonial Revival-style Santa Barbara CountyCourthouse (www.sbcourts.org) for a great view over itsred tiled roof and the city, then go on a Red Tile WalkingTour past 1800s-era adobe homes and public buildings.



san francisco and beyondSan Francisco’s landmarks include Golden Gate Bridge, 75 years old in 2012, theclanging cable cars of the world’s last manually-operated cable car system, theshops, restaurants and attractions of Pier 39 (www.pier39.com) and Fisherman’sWharf (www.fishermanswharf.org) and former federal prison Alcatraz(www.nps.gov/alcatraz), set on an island.Several companies offer cruises to Alcatraz. For an unrivalled perspective of the

city, take a 20-minute aerial Vista Tour with San Francisco Helicopters(www.sfhelicoptertours.com) for $160 – on my trip, the pilot even flew usunder Golden Gate Bridge!And be the centre of attention on a city tour in open-sided vintage buses with

Mr Toad’s Tours (www.mrtoadstours.com). San Francisco has America’s largest and oldest Chinatown, established when the

1849 Gold Rush brought many Chinese immigrants. Other areas with a rich ethnicpast are Russian Hill, down which the “world’s crookedest street” – LombardStreet – descends, and North Beach (Italian). Haight-Ashbury was the birthplace ofhippy culture and flower power. Cultural institutions include the California Academy of Sciences

(www.calacademy.org), with an aquarium, planetarium, natural history museumand a four-story rainforest all under one roof.Beyond San Francisco, cross Golden Gate Bridge to carry on up the coast,

stopping off at arty Sausalito and the giant redwoods of Muir Woods. Or headinland to visit the wineries of Napa Valley or state capital Sacramento. After thediscovery of gold in the nearby Sierra Nevada foothills in 1848, it was a key supplycentre for the Gold Rush, becoming the capital in 1854. The Capitol Building is oneof two dozen museums in the city.

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by author John Steinbeck, is popular with tourists. Goshopping in Cannery Row’s stores and dine at harbour-side restaurants on Fisherman’s Wharf, from where youcan watch sea otters frolic among the giant kelp frondsor hear barking sea lions. Rent a kayak for a close-upview of seals and dolphins or take a boat trip to watchmigrating blue, grey and humpback whales. The Monterey Bay Aquarium

(www.montereybayaquarium.org) is a must andshowcases the rich marine life found just offshore in thebay’s protected marine sanctuary waters. The HotelAbrego (www.hotelabrego.com) makes a good basefor exploring the Monterey area, or if you want luxurywith world-class golf on your doorstep, book a stay atPebble Beach Resorts (www.pebblebeach.com).First opened over 100 years ago, the Santa Cruz

Beach Boardwalk (www.beachboardwalk.com), onMonterey Bay, is California’s oldest surviving amuse-ment park. Ride an old steam train through redwoodforests on the Roaring Camp and Big Trees NarrowGauge Railroad. By the time you reach San Francisco, you should be

chilled out after your marathon drive and ready for achilled glass of wine from nearby Napa Valley to toastthe memories. Much as I love San Francisco, I think Ileft my heart somewhere back on the Pacific Coast high-way.



california facts

when to goCalifornia’s diverse topography, from coastto deserts and forested mountains,means it has a range of climates. Coastalregions enjoys a Mediterranean-styleclimate with sunny and warm summersand wet and mild winters.

getting thereFlights operate from London Heathrow to LosAngeles and San Francisco, with direct services by British Airways(www.ba.com), Virgin Atlantic (www.virgin-atlantic.com), AmericanAirlines (www.aa.com), United Airlines (www.unitedairlines.com)and Air New Zealand (www.airnewzealand.co.uk).

getting aroundRent a car. All the main rental companies have locations throughoutCalifornia. You can rent Ford Mustangs from Dollar Rent a Car(www.dollar.co.uk). Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner train(www.amtrak.com) runs between San Diego and San Luis Obispo viaLos Angeles and Santa Barbara. San Francisco’s Muni (www.sfmuni.com)operates buses, trolleys and cable cars. Los Angeles has a bus networkand its Metro (www.metro.net), with four lines and 70 stations.

tour operatorsOperators include America As You Like It(www.americaasyoulikeit.com),Virgin Holidays(www.virginholidays.co.uk), BonVoyage (www.bon-voyage.co.uk),Premier Holidays(www.premierholidays.co.uk), NorthAmerica Travel Service(www.northamericatravelservice.co.uk),Funway Holidays (www.funwayholidays.co.uk) and Trekamerica(www.trekamerica.co.uk).

tourist informationVisit California: www.visitcalifornia.co.uk

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