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PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY

While still in the strawberry fields and cow pasture countryside of Ventura County, you come upon what some would call Southern California's most famous street...the legendary Pacific Coast Highway. This is L.A.'s piece of the legendary highway 1, courting the sea and giving you full access to some of the best of our beaches-although there are some places exclusive enough to elude even the great PCH.

THE FACTS: This road trip is approximate 130 miles long. Plan on an entire day or two end to end.

BEST DAYS: There are no best days here. The road's clogged with beach goers on the weekends, commuters on the weekday, and in heavy rain is frequently closed.

GETTING TO THE STARTING POINT: From downtown L.A., go north on 101 to Oxnard (about an hour-plus drive) to the junction of PCH (Highway 1).

Out of the grunge of our last trip, Pacific Coast Highway...from here on out referred to as locals do (and much more typing friendly) PCH...is just what the doctor ordered for all you California dreamers. This is the territory of the California dream, sun drenched beaches, tanned babes, buff bodies, surfers, and movie stars. Reality creeps in with monumental traffic jams, crowds, mudslides, wildfires, and a bit of that LA grunge in some spots.

No matter, this is a trip that everybody should take at least once. We'll start off in Oxnard but this trip can just as easily done in reverse from San Clemente. It'll touch on three counties and completely cover two. We start from the Ventura Freeway just south of downtown Oxnard where PCH spits off to the coast.

A very short freeway deposits you near Port Hueneme, home of the navy's SeaBees construction batallion and Point Mugu Naval Air Station where missles were once tested. Click on their cool machine gun toting bee above to visit their web page.

Just past this point, the road clings to a cleft between the ocean and the Santa Monica Mountains with some of the most gorgeous seaside scenery around.

Biker Heaven, Neptune's Net

Soon, a small fish shack will appear on your left with many motorcycles parked out front. This would be Neptune's Net, a very popular beach hangout. This marks the crossing into perhaps Southern California's most famous town, Malibu.

As you head south, the area will get decidedly less rural. Traffic will build with each passing mile. Many of the beaches along here are excellent and make a great place to pull out of the traffic, take in some sun, and spash in the waves. One of the more popular spots before you get into the central part of Malibu is Zuma Beach. Pay parking is available here.

Beach Boy U....AKA Pepperdine University

When you see Pepperdine University sitting up on the hill to your left, you'll know you're in downtown Malibu. Here is where you'll find Malibu Pier and the Colony Market. Stop here and roam around awhile.

See those houses on the right on the beach? Many of your favorite stars live there including Johnny Carson, Cindy Crawford, and more. (see this month's Death Tour for some Malibu lore)

Take a stroll through the Colony Market and pick up some snacks. You have a good chance of seeing some of those stars stocking up on this week's groceries while you're there.

Santa Monica Pier

Continuing on, you'll gradually leave Malibu, go through Pacific Palasades and end up in Santa Monica. Here, you can take a spin on the historic carousel and visit Pacific Park amusement park on Santa Monica Pier. This is one of the few piers in SoCal you can drive onto...for a parking fee.

PCH now starts is slow migration away from the coast it's named after...you'll see it named Lincoln Bl. for a few miles. You'll still be within a few blocks but you won't see the water again until you're in the next county.

Next, you'll cross into the beach everybody wants to see...Venice Beach. To see the daily carnival that's known as the Venice Boardwalk, turn right on Venice Bl. and go till you can't go no more. Frankly, it's a mediocre beach with a lot of colorful characters. Once you've had your fill, return up Venice to PCH/Lincoln Bl. and continue south.

Marina del Rey

Next comes Marina del Rey, the world's largest small boat harbor. Here you'll find some great restaurants (Shanghai Red's rates a special mention here), a few nightclubs and some shops. Those two round towers are the excusive Marina Club, waterfront home to many a celebrity and millionaire. Don't bother trying to drive in to get a look...exclusive means just that. There's gates & guards to keep day trippers like us out.

After the Marina of the King, we arrive at the king's beach, Playa del Rey (that's what it means in spanish). Here are some more great stretches of sand and some cool, funky beer joints. This beach, as well as many others around here, are frequently closed after rain storms due to heavy storm drain runoff polluting the water. Nearby Ballona Creek and the massive Hyperion sewage plant to the south are the main culprits.

As a point of interest, here at Ballona Creek is where Hollywood heavyweights Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, and Jeffery Katzenberg are building their new Dreamworks studio.

Now named Sepulveda Bl., PCH soon heads through LAX. You can make westward bound detour here to watch the planes take off over your head on Dockweiler Beach. This is a real nifty beach when it's not polluted. This is the only beach in L.A. County that allows overnight camping.

Next up, El Segundo, a real underrated spot. Nice beach, nice downtown, great places to eat & drink and good, cheap hotels convenient to LAX. It's out of the way yet nice enough the the Raiders used it as their base of operations while playing in L.A.

El Segundo gets its name from the massive Chevron oil refinery just south of town. It's the Chevron #2 plant...the second plant. El Segundo means the second in spanish.

Too see the town, you'll have to leave PCH. Turn right at Grand Ave. to see this interesting little city.

After the refinery, you'll enter Manhattan Beach at Rosecrans Bl. If you're reading this on a PC, you'll probably want to stop off at PC heaven, better known as Fry's Electronics, on the corner. If you need a nice place to stay, you couldn't do much better than Barnaby's hotel directly across the street.

This English style hotel will pamper you and cook you a full breakfast to boot. Borrow one of their bikes and ride down the path to the beach. Here you'll find an excellent, if a bit crowded, bike path to exercize on. Relax in the spa & pool when you're done.

All of the beach here is among the best around but can get pretty crowded on hot summer days. There is a lot of it to go around, however, as we get into Beach Boy territory, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, and about 200 yards of beach in the city of Torrance.

Redondo Beach's Horeshoe Pier

In Redondo, take a detour by turning right at Opal Ave. and visit the popular and famous Horseshoe Pier. Now a shell of it's former self, the pier nonetheless is still a great place to visit. Pick up some fresh seafood, browse the many shops, pick out a pearl from an oyster, ride the tilt-a-whirl, or drop a line (you don't need a license to fish off of the pier). This SoCal landmark is a survivor. It's been battered and knocked down by storms and much of it burned to ashes a few years ago but the city rebuilt and on it goes. It's a true SoCal original and makes a great stop on your tour.

Just south of the pier the beach continues on for a few hundred yards before hitting some big hills. Those hills are the Palos Verdes Peninsula and 200 yards of that beach are the property of Torrance, the beach city with the smallest actual amount of beach around.

Palos Verdes makes a spectacular detour from PCH with it's many coves, secluded beaches and unspoiled views. You can continue south on Catalina Ave. from the Horseshoe Pier to Palos Verdes Drive to take that detour.

Continuing on PCH, you will go even further inland past several shopping centers, industrial parks, and Long Beach Airport. This is the most uninviting section of PCH and makes you wonder why this stretch of road bears that name. Take heart, PCH will soon emerge out of the badlands of Signal Hill and Long Beach soon enough when it crosses the San Gabriel River and the Orange County line into Seal Beach giving you a tantalizing glimpse of the sea.

At the far end of Seal Beach...a nice little beach town in it's own right...PCH emerges back on the coast as it cruises over the Huntington Harbor estuary and into Sunset Beach.

Bolsa Chica Wetlands

Next you'll be on the water front at Bolsa Chica State Beach. Soon you'll be in surf city...Huntington Beach. This is another great beach spot but save some time to take a hike around the Bolsa Chica wetlands (see our Hiking Page for details).

Huntington will soon end and the rather rich community of Newport Beach. Newport has a wealth of things to see and do.

The Fun Zone and the Balboa Island Ferry

The kids will like the Fun Zone Amuzement park next to the Balboa Ferry landing on Balboa Peninsula. People of all ages love taking the ferry across the channel to Balboa Island. See the dory fishermen fleet at their open air fish market next to the Newport Pier. In fact, that's a great place to spend the night at the Dorymen's Inn Bed & Breakfast.

At the end of the peninsula is the world's most famous body-surfing spot...the wedge. Here, the best body surfers take on huge swells as the incoming waves crunch up against the harbor jetty.

Shopper's will love to stop in at Fashion Island, the Rodeo Drive of Orange County. Take in something to eat at El Torito Grill or the Cheesecake factory there.

Keep going and one right after another of the absolute best beaches in Southern California start to roll by starting with Corona Del Mar. Next comes Crystal Cove, then the truly spectacular beaches of Laguna.

Laguna Beach

Laguna deserves a special mention because it's one of the few beaches here that offers any decent snorkeling & diving. In the summer, many art festivals attract the masses including the world famouse "Pageant of the Masters" and the Sawdust Festival.

We're getting near the end now. Buzzing through Dana Point, now we'll enter San Clemente. Soon PCH fizzles out as it feeds into the San Diego bound Interstate 5 where the Camp Pendleton Marine base starts.

Before you finish, turn right at Camino Real and follow it to the end. Take a quick look over to the right at the housing development towards the beach. Before it was subdivided, that was President Nixon's famous Western White House. The house is still in there somewhere, but the grounds have been divied up.

Now, take a long break...it's been a real long drive, you deserve it. Hop on the north bound Interstate 5 and return back the way you came.