December 5-7, 1975: Touring the San Francisco Bay Area
	September 7-21, 1975: A Cross-Country Vacation
	Return to Index for 1975

On the first weekend I spent in California, Greg had to be gone, so I took a shuttle flight down to Los Angeles to visit with Bill Tobe, and old friend from Chicago, who was now living out there and working for Computer Sciences. He had an apartment in Culver City, near the airport.

I picked up a car at the LAX and drove over to Culver City to visit with Bill. He was a great host, letting me use his guest room on Saturday night. We went out for dinner at a favorite local place of his, and spent the rest of the evening catching up.

On Sunday, I took my rental car and just drove the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH or US 101) down the coast all the way to San Diego, just to see what I could see. At right is a map of the southern California coast, and I have marked some of the places I refer to in the descriptions of my photos. I didn't bother marking the route down the coast; Highway 101 hugs the coast almost all the way to San Diego.

Although a couple of them didn't turn out really well, I'm going to include here all seven of the pictures I took.

This was taken near the beginning of my drive in an area called Rancho Palos Verdes, which is on the coast just west of Long Beach.

I tried to get a picture of Santa Catalina Island which was south of me, but I guess the sun played havoc with the camera sensor.

Highway 101 goes right through a large number of seaside communities, each with its own flavor. Some are very upscale, like Huntington Beach, some are famous for their residents, like San Clemente, and some are more eclectic, like Laguna Beach.

The Coastline near Laguna Beach

Laguna Beach, for example, is basically a seaside resort city, known for a mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservation, and an artist community. About 12,000 permanent residents live here, although at any given time there are thousands of tourists around. The best guess as to why the city has its name is that the spanish word "laguna", which is a body of water cut off from a larger body by a reef of sand or coral, refers to the tidal pools that form at low tide along the coast here.

The area that is today Laguna Beach was first settled by Paleoindians, as was much of California. In more recent times, almost the entire state was a part of the Spanish Empire, controlled by Mexico. Along with the rest of California, the site where the town is now located became part of the United States following the Mexican–American War. Laguna Beach was settled in the 1870s and officially founded in 1887, and in 1927 was incorporated as a city. The city has remained relatively isolated from urban encroachment by its surrounding hills, limited highway access, and a dedicated greenbelt. The Laguna Beach coastline is protected by 6 miles of state marine reserve and an additional mile or so of state conservation area. That's why the coastline in my picture looks almost uninhabited.

Tourism is the primary industry with an estimated six million people visiting the community annually. Annual large events include various art festivals, music festivals, a movie festival, and even an event called "Kelp Fest". (Kelp Fest is an annual festival hosted by Laguna Ocean Foundation to promote ocean literacy, community involvement and an interest in nature for all visitors to Laguna Beach. Kelp Fest celebrates Laguna Beach’s unique coastal ecosystems and, of course, the kelp that supports it.)

I wanted to see where the Nixon "western White House" was located, so I made my next stop San Clemente. This city of 40,000+, located on the California Coast, midway between Los Angeles and San Diego, is the southernmost city of Orange County, known for its ocean, hill, and mountain views, a pleasant climate and its Spanish colonial-style architecture. San Clemente's city slogan is "Spanish Village by the Sea". I took a couple of pictures along the coast, but although they didn't turn out very well, here they are:

Just North of San Diego is the city of La Jolla, where the Guerrants now live. (Peter Guerrant was my college roommate, and I drove out to their former home in Pasadena in the summer of 1968 before I entered the Army that fall.) I was able to find their house, getting directions from a Baskin-Robbins, and stopped in to see them for a while. Pete, of course, was still overseas, as he has stayed in the Army beyond his two-year committment. I think he is planning on making it a career. Here are the two pictures that I took in La Jolla, one before my visit and one after.

La Jolla is a hilly, seaside community within the city of San Diego, and it occupies 7 miles of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. It is surrounded on three sides by ocean bluffs and beaches and is located 12 miles north of Downtown San Diego. The very upscale community is home to many educational institutions and a variety of businesses in the areas of lodging, dining, shopping, software, finance, real estate, bioengineering, medical practice and scientific research. The University of California, San Diego is located in La Jolla, as are the Salk Institute and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

I didn't go all the way into San Diego, but returned to Los Angeles International Airport via Interstate 5 and I-405, turned in my rental car, flew back up to San Francisco, and was back at Greg's apartment by nine-thirty, ready for another week of work on the EEO-Reporter project.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	December 5-7, 1975: Touring the San Francisco Bay Area
	September 7-21, 1975: A Cross-Country Vacation
	Return to Index for 1975