Now that several of you have spoken, it seems clear that my recently published list of the 101 Best California Experiences unacceptably includes palaces, train rides, ghost towns, underground parks, pixie margaritas, and Grunion Run. is less than. Plus, I could pay more attention to the orange bridges.
So say those who wrote in to our call for the most not-to-be-missed experiences in the state to offer extras and challenges. Your favorite destinations make an interesting list of their own and I’ll think about that as I figure out my next list. Here’s a sample.
The original Bob’s Big Boy restaurant in Burbank.
(Louis Sinko / Los Angeles Times)
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John Hawking in Alta Loma wrote that he was “surprised (angry?) that you included In-N-Out in your 101 Best CA Experiences but left out Burbank Bob’s Big Boy, in my opinion a much more prestigious destination. He noted the Big Boy statue, carhop service on weekends, and classic car enthusiasts who appear on Fridays, the Beatles’ visit in 1965, and the restaurant featured in the 1995 film “Heat”. Hawking didn’t even bother to mention that the 1949 building is the oldest remnant of Bob’s Big Boy or that director David Lynch was a daily visitor (and chocolate shack consumer) for seven years in the 1980s.
Hawking said, “I loved Big Boy Hamburgers and their diced ham and cheese salad and spent many nights there during my high school days.” next year.
- Downtown’s bicycle tour guide Jennifer Nutting recommends the area arts district for its “graffiti art, graffiti, under the radar cool culture”.
- Frank Bigelow of Monrovia, who grew up on the beach in Santa Barbara, had the simplest suggestion: “Look sunset over the pacific ocean,
- Luz Franco of Glendale recommends a trip to Ojai during Pixie Tangerine Season, preferably with a stop agave maria, which makes “the best Pixie Tangerine Margaritas in town”. This claim clearly calls for follow-up research.
Roman Pool, Hearst Castle.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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Charles Brown of Roseville alleged that “your list shows a bias for the southern half of the state, south of Sacramento,” and listed several places (north and south) that I left out, including Hearst Castle (which received three reader votes), Bodie State Historic Park (which two meet), Fort Ross State Historic Park (also two votes), Kings Canyon National Park, Mono Lake, Mount Shasta, Alcatraz, Lava Beds National Monument And Fort Bragg’s Skunk Train.
Some of them I left out because they are very famous or I included them last year. But I’ve never been to Bodie or Lava Beds National Monument, so I’d better do that. Thank you Mr. Brown.
- Diane Porch of Lake Arrowhead casts another vote for Bodie. “There’s something magical about going back in time and seeing what life once was like,” he said. “Isolated and rugged, yet somehow beautiful, the body remains much as it was left in the early 1900s. You can have a picnic, the kids run and everyone learns about California history. ”
- Julie Kirby in Glendale, a longtime reader, said the list “makes this CA native’s heart thump, and legs shake just a little bit.” Kirby also praised Francine Orr’s photograph of Yosemite Falls and suggested that our photographer deserves a bigger kind of credit. I’m sorry, Ms. Kirby. We need that space for author credits.
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Meanwhile, Laura Manning of Pismo Beach is raising her voice in favor of Fresno—more specifically, in favor of Fresno’s “charming and unique” Forestier Underground Garden, Open from March to November. “A Sicilian came to America to grow citrus. He landed on the East Coast and helped dig the Boston subway,” Manning wrote. “When he saved enough he made his way to Orange County, but land was too expensive, so he bought land in Fresno, not Visible… It was a hot summer (even for Fresno), so he decided to dig into the hard rock and build an underground home for himself. And then he just kept at it.
Forestier’s house and gardens are remarkable. And while he was digging in Fresno, another Italian immigrant, Sabato Rodia, was building the Watts Towers in Los Angeles. If there was a California DIY Hall of Fame, they deserve their own wing.
Beach-goers witness an unusual fish spawning ritual known as a grunion run at Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro.
(Louis Sinko / Los Angeles Times)
- Flori Leone writes to lobby for Kaanapali, Maui Tide Pools of the Palos Verdes Peninsula And grunion is afoot on South Bay beaches. Lyons wrote, “When my parents took us to the tide pools to see living creatures from the sea for the first time (time), it made a lasting impression on me.” “I remember going down redondo beach And to see Grunion running by the light of the moon.
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David Busse of Diamond Bar cited riding Amtrak Coast Starlight Miles of unspoiled coastline from Los Angeles to Oakland, especially north of Santa Barbara. Marty Connolly of Santa Barbara cast the same vote, calling it “the prettiest public train ride in California … between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, you look out the window and see the launch pads at Vandenberg Space (and sometimes SpaceX rockets). Force Base, private estates and beaches of Hollister Ranch, Dangermond Preserve, California’s Elbow at Point Conception, site of an epic US Navy seven-destroyer shipwreck at Honda Point, three of the Channel Islands, California gray and humpback migrating whales, local wildlife, and much more.”
To be clear, you can’t see those underwater ships from the train. But this September is the 100th anniversary of that disaster (which I’d never heard of).
- Endorsed by Cameron Andrews of Long Beach pacific wheel The Ferris Wheel at Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier, “the world’s only solar-powered Ferris wheel,” takes riders 130 feet up the hill with views from Palos Verdes to Malibu.
- Karen Rogers of Cottonwood cites Hearst Castle la bree tar pits (which I barely mentioned in my description of Wilshire Boulevard, an item on my list) and Pink’s Hot Dogs – “Very California.”
- Christopher Lucero of LA County cited a uniquely California experience without a fixed address – the sound of katydids Chattering in the evenings on warm summer evenings. It only happens for a few weeks each year, Lucero said, meaning “only native Californians and those who appreciate our summer evenings will ever experience it.”
LA’s extreme bacon-wrapped hot dog located in Left Field Plaza at Think Blue BBQ at Dodger Stadium.
(Hamlet Nalbandayan/Los Angeles Times)
- Gerardo Sanchez of San Gabriel suggested its smell and taste. a bacon-wrapped hot dog, Sometimes referred to as a dangerous dog. Like Lucero, he didn’t name a specific location, but while exiting clubs, bars and ballgames in Greater Los Angeles, Sanchez wrote, “You’re almost always greeted by a señora who serves sizzling bacon, grilled onions and offers an intoxicating combination of jalapeños. . In my experience, carnivores and vegetarians alike will have something to say about the sweet smell of onions wafting in the warm night air. Please excuse me, Mister Sanchez. I’m off to lunch now Need to take a break.
- Sanchez also recommends Retail Wonderland. Los Callejones (Santi Alley) In Downtown between Santee Street and Maple Avenue from Olympic Boulevard to 12th Street. “Anything can be found here,” wrote Sanchez, “including clothes, toys, accessories, pets, jewelry and surprises.” “If Caruso-built shopping complexes (like the Grove and Americana) were to return to mid-century small-town America, calljones Los Angeles’ tribute to the merchants of Latin America and the stall-filled arcades of Asia.
The Living Desert in Palm Desert is a combination zoo and garden, filled with plant and animal species found in the world’s deserts, including giraffes.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
- Craig Mackenhausen of Palm Desert wrote to praise it living desert, “An incredible zoo and garden experience in the middle of Palm Desert that we’ve seen in the 20 years we’ve lived here….The Giraffe Savannah is like no other.”
- Cynthia Orlando of Eugene, Ore. spoke for Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and “breathtaking views near the entrance.”
- Phil Arrow of San Francisco recommends Cape Canyon In Yolo County, “a ridiculously beautiful slice of ‘Lost California’, a long valley in farmland surrounded by low mountains on either side.” There is camping and river rafting on the canyon’s Cache Creek; lodging, gambling and golf at the Cache Creek Casino Resort; And the village of Guinda, Aaro pointed out, has a store and barbecue restaurant.
A hiker ascends Slot Canyon along the Amargosa River Trail near Tecopa, California.
(Brian van der Brugh / Los Angeles Times)
- Bill Neill of North Hollywood recommends hiking in the desert Amargosa Valley Near Tecopa, maybe followed by a $7 date shack at China Ranch. (But wait until fall, when it’s not so hot.)
- Hillary Steinman of Moraga nominated the surrounding area North Shattuck & Vine Streets in Berkeley,” a cultural epicenter of the modern farm-to-table food movement with notable institutions including Chez Panisse, Cheese Board Collective, and long ago Peet’s Coffee. It was here in the 1970s that Alice Waters (of Chez Panisse) pioneered locally sourced seasonal cooking, and combined with others, what we now call California cuisine. For decades the area was nicknamed the gourmet ghetto, but after a flurry of local controversy in 2019, The city’s tourism organization, Visit Berkeley, calls it the “North Shattuck Neighborhood” instead.
- John Karagozian of Los Angeles urged me to cross Golden Gate Bridge and “see views of San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz Island, downtown San Francisco, and ships passing under the bridge to and from ports around the world.” I included the Golden Gate Bridge as part of my mention of San Francisco’s waterfront, but clearly I didn’t say enough. Terry Colvin, also of San Gabriel, wrote about crossing the bridge, saying “you realize it is a very special place on earth and why so many people leave their hearts in San Francisco.”
Mount Whitney, on the east side of the Sierra Nevada, shown from Whitney Portal Road.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
- Recommended by Joseph Neeb of Sylmar Whitney Portal, Southern Sierra gathering point where hikers begin their ascent of Mount Whitney. But it is also a destination in itself. Nieve calls the drive from Highway 395 to Whitney Portal in Lone Pine “one of the most thrilling drives in California”. The waterfall at the top of the drive and past the Alabama Hills to reach the (seasonal) Portal Store is breathtaking. I believe that like all great experiences, it should activate all five senses. The smell of cedar and fire pits, the sights of granite cathedral walls, the sound of running water, and to top it all off, meeting sweet Arlene at The Portal Store for one of her famous pancakes.
- It’s just in: The people at the store say Arlene won’t be working there this summer, but the Portal store opens for the season on Saturday. Let the pancakes begin!
