There are some myths about the Californian coast, which I"m going to do my best to expel in this blog (Please note, more seasoned travellers and more humorous writers than I have probably already debunked these myths, but it was all a surprise to the Photgrapher and I, so I thought I'd share them.)
1) San Francisco is the best city in the world
The Photographer and I spent some considerable time debating this question. We've been to NYC, Sydney, Cape Town, Edinburgh, Rome, Melbourne, London, Paris, and of course the ever fantastic Manchester, and we decided on night two in SF that we rated all these above SF. We were promised quaint beauty at Fisherman's Wharf, but found a tackier version of Blackpool; the throbbing energy we expected in the area around Union Square carried an undertone of sinister danger in all the hooded characters lurking in the alleyways; and don't get me started on the city's answer to Central Park. The Golden Gate park is a) misleadingly far away from its namesake, and b) crap. South Park in Macclesfield is better (a park should have two or more of the following: swings, mini golf, a tennis court, a lake and a rickety obstacle course, Macc has all of these, GGP has one!). This said, the twin attractions of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge cannot be exaggerated. We cycled over Golden Gate Bridge, as terrifying an experience as I have ever had on a bike, trying to negotiate the dual obstacles of the wind and daft pedestrians was quite exhilarating!
On day three we decided to bin our two guidebooks and look out our emails of countless recommendations from friends who had visited or lived here. And the same names kept coming up: Mission, North Beach, Castro. Off we set, and we found it, that thing which makes puts SF in contention for the highly rated Travel Sic Best City award. These areas are the city's beating heart: culture, music, food, history, books, art and above all, the people who moved here over the last hundred years and made this amazing place the melting pot that it is. Stand at the famous City Lights book store (which is, by the way, officially the Tavel Sic Best Bookshop in the World), and you feel like you're at some kind of metaphorical SF crossroads: China town to your left, North Beach and Little Italy behind you, the financial district in front of you, and the long, seedy road back to Fisherman's Wharf and tourist central to your right. And all these different elements of the City come together every Friday at the AT&T stadium to watch the Giants. I won't bore you with the ins and outs of baseball (mostly because even after reading about it and spending hours watching it, they are still a mystery to me) but what I will say is the culture of the baseball stadium is lovely. On our way in we were told that if this was our first time we could qualify for a certificate! Imagine, not been shouted at for being a game tourist, a glory hunter or a member of the prawn sandwich brigade, imagine actually having your ignorance celebrated. But perhaps my most favourite thing of all is the 7th Inning Stretch, where, after six innings of not a whole lot of action, everyone is encouraged to spontaneously stand and stretch to some music. And everyone does! Ever seen 22,000 people stretch simultaneously? It's hilarious!!
Travel Sic best bookshop in the world! Home of the 'Beat' movement
AT&T stadium. A boat sits in the harbour waiting to film balls which get hit into the water!
(Like I said, not much action in baseball!)
2) Monterey: playground of the rich, with beautiful views and a great aquarium for the plebs
Well, the middle one may be true, but the Monterey peninsular is also shrouded in fog the majority of the year, so not many people get a chance to find that out! What I will say is that the peninsular in fog, is in itself, a quite remarkable site. It seems even more rugged and wild, and if I was writing a guidebook I'd put 'See the 17 mile drive in fog' as a top tip, just so that everyone who is lucky enough to do it in sun feels like they are missing out!
Monterey, misty but wonderful
We found out another cool thing about Monterey: it loves its jazz! Every year it holds the world's longest running jazz festival, where world famous jazz legends perform, along with new local talent. As a result of this regional enthusiasm some pretty special school bands have grown up in the area, and every year the jazz festival pays for professionals to go round the schools, pick the most promising musical kids and train them up all summer, to perform at the festival. This has led to a real respect within the local community for jazz and the institution of the festival.
And the jazz festival itself... imagine a music festival with less overcrowding, flushing loos, no drunken people and recycling, sound like a more pleasant experience? Well it is! This music festival actually hires someone to stand by the nine different bins and explain which one you should use. A festival with a conscience. And the music is mind blowing (although towards the end of the headline set The Photographer leaned in and asked me whether they had finished tuning up yet). Monterey impressed us so much we didn't even have chance to make it to the infamous aquarium, we'll have to go back!
3) Big Sur is the best drive in the world
As far as I can tell there are only three types of Big Sur fans: hippies, elephant seals and guide book writers. Enough said.
Big Sur loved by hippies and seals alike
4) Hollywood is glamorous
'One thing I will say is don't touch the ground in Hollywood' our tour guide said as we stepped off the bus. I can understand why. In comparison with the incredibly rich districts of Bel Air, Beverley Hills, Malibu, and Loz Felis, Hollywood is manky. Everything looks faded, tatty, knackered. Even the palm trees which line the side of the road are worryingly malnourished, And there is a weird fascination with human failure. We had pointed out to us the places of Mel Gibson and George Michael's arrests; River Phoenix and John Belushi's deaths; Kelly Osbourne's drug indiscretions, and even, gleefully, that the historic Kodak theatre, home of the Oscars, had been renamed the Dolby theatre because Kodak had gone into administration. Yay, now I feel really good about the world.
LA: lovely smog!
And LA itself is a weird place. The best way I can demonstrate this is to say that no one normal lives there. You know, no one with a normal job, or children they take to school, or normal hobbies. Everyone is for show. In Malibu fifty odd surfers gather every day, but not to surf. The Malibu sea is too calm. They just put on wetsuits and sit in the sea. Weird. We even saw a homeless man who, instead of a dog, had two bright parrots. Only in LA.But what if I told you that 7 miles south of Malibu is a spot, so scenic that Baywatch was filmed there, so historic that one of the oldest Californian piers is still there, but so old school that its Downtown Main Street only has independent shops and restaurants? It's true. This place is Santa Monica, slightly set apart from the craziness of LA, and a really nice, and comparably normal place.
So, coastal California, full of well known preconceptions, which I have just inarticulately debunked. But also full of hidden treasures: the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra who give free performances; bubble gum ally in San Luis Opisbo; the crazy and amazing Museum of Slot Machines at Fisherman's Wharf; everything in quaint Santa Barbara; and Clint Eastwood's bass playing son - a veteran of the jazz festival. Now that is celebrity. Oh, and one other thing, they make all their bread with egg in California. Weird!
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