California 2022
Exploring Los Angeles
In the crisp clear mountain air, the peaks and ridges of the surrounding ranges seem almost impossibly well defined against the unchanging backdrop of the cloudless blue sky, now and again one more prominent peak glistens with white snow. The setting is of one of rural remoteness, yet the giant sprawl of Los Angeles starts just a few miles away; it’s only forty minutes drive to downtown LA.
This is the small all-American community of Acton, founded by gold miners in the 1880s and a world away from the burgeoning metropolis we passed through en route here from the airport. It’s crisp and cold in the bright sunlight but the air is so clean and fresh as to be invigorating. Acton is as of just recently home to my daughter Lindsay and her wife Stacey, having moved out of the big city in December.
A hike around the spectacular landscape of Vasquez Rocks close to Acton brings home just how dry it is around here, jutting rocky outcrops punctuating desert like foliage and sandy trails. The elevated freeway which carriesa speeding interstate traffic way above the valleys is the one reminder that the city is nearby, otherwise we may as well be a thousand miles away.
Given that we are only here for a few days (this time anyway – we are planning a longer trip in the summer), Lindsay’s aim is to give us a whirlwind introduction to just how varied and diverse Los Angeles County is, and there’s certainly more than “just” the mountains and downtown, as adequately proved by our second day exploring the coastline.
A drive out through San Fernando Valley brings us to a huge stretch of open beach where the golden sands and rolling Pacific just seem to go on for ever. Cormorants and pelicans sit atop prominent rocks, patiently waiting for the turning tide to bring their next meal. Spending a couple of hours on Malibu beach in slightly warmer sunshine and out of the cold wind – it feels like a late Spring day in England – is very lovely, the windless day giving the stretch, normally a surfer’s paradise, uncharacteristically calm seas.
Connecting the seemingly endless chain of beaches, the Pacific highway boasts a ridiculous number of seafront restaurants, surf shops and gas stations: the whole strip is exactly how we pictured the California coastline before we arrived. Actually, so are the major freeways with their multiple lanes and huge amounts of traffic. Fish lunch at one such restaurant, sitting right above the beach next to the pier at Malibu, combines great food with great views.
Continuing along the highway through Santa Monica and back towards LA city, we wind up at Venice beach for sunset. Here, it seems, a different culture rules: body building, surfing, skateboard, basketball and other sports dominate, while colourful and unusual characters are much in evidence. This is a heavily commercialised and noisy seafront where the sunset is accompanied by the seriously heavy scent of cannabis and darkness brings security guards to restaurant doorways. It’s not a beach we’d be in a hurry to revisit, though one or two blocks inland there is a quieter, more attractive township huddled around the canals which presumably give Venice its name.
Sunset Boulevard, like many other LA thoroughfares, is an extremely long road, cutting through multiple city neighbourhoods as it fans its way out of the city. Standing by the “Don’t Walk” sign waiting to cross, traffic speeding by in both directions, palm trees swaying and the scents of coffee and food drifting through the air, is evocative enough, but glance up above all the activity and there, on the hillside, is the iconic Hollywood sign known world over.
Silverlake is one of those neighbourhoods, like a small city in its own right, glistening in the morning sun as we sip a decent but overpriced coffee and look upwards at that sign, and the hills surrounding it. A while later we are climbing the hill in Griffith Park, from the leafy suburb of Los Feliz and up towards the observatory standing proud at the top of the hill.
From up here by the Griffith Observatory the views across Los Angeles are truly amazing, the whole giant city laid out before us, capturing the high rises of downtown, the mountains curving around the metropolis, the green parks and, beyond it all, the Pacific Ocean shining silver in the midday sun. As if that’s not enough to satisfy even the most demanding of visitors, there’s then those white Hollywood letters amongst the trees on the very next hill.
Once more out of the city and into the arid mountains, our final day’s hike is amongst the dramatic scenery of Indian Canyon, close to the nearby town of Agua Dulce, where the trail takes us along ridges up to over 3,000 feet above sea level, views of the sweeping peaks and plunging gorges providing the most stunning of backdrops to the walk.
Colossal peaks point to the sky in every direction, hardy plants fight for any moisture, the air is still and warm leeside, chill and harsh windside. At one point a giant freight train over half a mile long ambles through the bottom of Soledad Canyon.
In both Acton and Agua Dulce, and no doubt elsewhere, buildings reminiscent of the Wild West stand proud amid the dust, looking for all the world as if they haven’t changed in a century. Acton’s best eatery, the 49er, is one of them.
What an introduction to California, and Los Angeles, this has been. We’ve seen the glorious beaches, hiked the spectacular mountains, seen Hollywood and travelled roads the names of which we’ve known since childhood. We’ve seen city, suburbs, rural villages and quintessential Western townships; we’ve eaten fresh seafood and mouthwatering sushi.
Plus of course, it’s been wonderful to spend time with my daughter after four years apart. She’s given us a terrific introduction to this iconic city – a taster for our longer trip here planned for this coming summer.
Seven weeks in Costa Rica, six days in California. This has been a fantastic trip.
