On the last leg of our 10-day road trip from Watsonville to Southern California, my wife Sarah and I bid farewell to family in San Diego County, packed up and departed the Great Western Hotel on the rocky shoreline of Carlsbad.
Heading north on Highway 5, we switched to Highway 1 through coastal towns such as Dana Point and Laguna Beach. Both of us have early memories of family trips in many of these spots. I even rode my bicycle through that area in the mid ‘70s with my friend Joe on a bike ride from Eugene, Oregon to San Diego.
Going through Los Angeles, we meandered through the mammoth port city of San Pedro. The endless rows of harborside cranes along Terminal Island, stacks of shipping containers, huge cargo ships from around the globe, all tied together with a spaghetti heap of bridges makes for dramatic views.
The Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, similar to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, has proven to be a great stop and there’s no admission fee. Their website states that their mission “is to be a leader in accessible, science-based marine education where every person is inspired to understand, respect, and protect the ocean and all life it sustains.”
Along Highway 1, north of Santa Monica, we took the slow way through Pacific Palisades to see the widespread damage left by the Jan. 7, 2025 Palisades Fire that killed 12 people, and roared through 6,837 structures. The blaze started in the Santa Monica Mountains and left a heavy trail of damage through Pacific Palisades, Topanga and Malibu.
We saw hundreds of homes that were reduced to their concrete and brick foundations, side by side for miles. Along the oceanfront, rows of concrete stairways, foundation slabs and fireplaces were all that was left, their pricey real estate lots standing empty at the ocean’s edge.
By plan we continued north and met up for coffee with my longtime friend from the UC Santa Cruz days in the late 1970s. Roger bought a house in Oxnard several years ago. His folks bought a home in the Hollywood hills back in the late 1940s and he is a treasure trove of information about the Hollywood scene and its surroundings, past and present.
Then we headed home. We meandered through a number of coastal cities with the intent of revisiting some of them for a deeper view of their nature and history.
