Author’s note: United States Highway 101 is one of the nation’s oldest and most historic roads. In the late 1700s, California settlers started a royal highway that would eventually link 21 mission churches and travel 905 miles (1457 km) from Baja to Oregon. In the Summer 2005 edition of California, we explored the route from San Diego to Los Angeles. This, the second in a three-part series, describes the central, 383 mile- (616 km) section of the El Camino Real between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Within a mile of it are some of California’s most storied locations.Â

As U.S. 101 travels north from the sprawling city of Los Angeles, one senses the excitement that Fr. Junipero Serra and his missionaries must have experienced in 1769 as they blazed this route to settle California.Â

Unlike Interstate 5, the state’s principal north/south commercial route which was carved from the landscape in great swaths, U.S. 101 hugs the terrain much as the native foot paths it followed must have. Motorists on 101 don’t pass by towns, they pass through them at a pace that invites exploration. Many of the towns along the way haven’t changed much over the years. So, for travelers seeking California as it was, taking the road less traveled means driving central U.S. 101.

As the Ventura Highway (one of several names given U.S. 101) approaches Ventura, the best preserved example of California’s primordial landscape is seen 14 miles offshore on the Channel Islands. These eight, large islands, reached by boat from Ventura and Oxnard, are the “American Galapagos,� populated by 2000 species of plants and animals, many of which are found nowhere else on Earth. The Channel Islands provide untrammeled refreshment and recreation that is timeless.

As timeless as the Channel Islands is the tiny community of Carpinteria. Old fences weather gracefully in the sea air, while garden flowers and herbs sprout near well-tended, well-loved homes. The Carpinteria Salt Marsh is a micro-glimpse of how the coast appeared when industrious Chumash Indians made tomols (sea canoes).

Though only minutes up U.S. 101 from low-key Carpinteria, Santa Barbara is a world apart. Much like France’s Cote d’Azure in landscape, climate and culture, this “American Rivieraâ€? provides a paradisiacal setting of the purple-hued Santa Ynez Mountains rising behind sun-drenched, south-facing beaches. This is so precious a place, that Santa Barbarans began protecting it more than a hundred years ago. Rigid regulations dictate that homes and public buildings adhere to the “Santa Barbara Styleâ€? of architecture, typified by white stucco or adobe walls, red tile roofs, and courtyards influenced by Spanish, Mediterranean and Morrocan design.Â

Santa Barbara’s downtown reflects this style with its pedestrian-friendly shops, many gardens and historic sites. Principal among the latter is Mission Santa Barbara, begun by Spanish friars in 1786 and rebuilt by Chumash Indians in 1815. Today, the well-worn tile floors confess the thousands of worshipers and travelers who have visited it. It is the only California mission to have been in continuous use since its founding. Many of the restored rooms and chapels include artifacts from the Spanish colonial era. Though visitors to Santa Barbara are as fascinated with the town’s near-history born of Hollywood.

Celebrities have long been attracted to Santa Barbara. It began in the 1920s, when Charlie Chaplin constructed the Spanish revival Montecito Inn to accommodate his Hollywood friends. Today, actor Kirk Douglas, singer Kenny Loggins, entertainer Michael Jackson, actor Tab Hunter and comic actor John Cleese are among many Hollywood celebrities who call Santa Barbara County their home. For guaranteed celebrity viewing, attend the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in February to catch a glimpse of such luminaries as Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger, Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Dustin Hoffman, Mimi Rodgers or Martin Scorsese.

Occasionally, movie makers turn their cameras on Santa Barbara County, as they did with the recent release of the movie, Sideways. Before then, Santa Barbara’s vintners made great wines in relative obscurity, but that changed after the motion picture revealed a secret known by California wine enthusiasts… Santa Barbara County’s big, buttery chardonnays and complex pinot noirs. Now that the word is out, tour guides lead travelers to the Firestone, Fess Parker, Sanford, Kalyra and Foxen wineries seen in Sideways. We’ll let you in on another secret… there are 82 other great wineries yet to be filmed, here. It was in Buellton where the movie’s principle characters, Miles and Jack, stayed and ate at the Clubhouse Sports Bar, though even before the film, the town was better known as the hometown of Andersen’s Restaurant, famous for its split pea soup.Â

Food is important to Californians and no where is that more evident than up 101 in Santa Maria, home of California barbecue. Formal barbecuing began here in the mid 1800s when rancheros would gather each spring to brand calves. The host would prepare a barbecue to thank his vaqueros (America’s first cowboys).  Santa Maria Barbecue grew out of this tradition. Either a top block sirloin or the triangular-shaped bottom sirloin, known as “tri tip,” is rolled in a mixture of salt, pepper and garlic salt just before roasting. It is then barbecued over red oak coals, giving the meat a hearty, smoky flavor. Several restaurants along Main and Broadway Streets in Santa Maria serve barbecued dishes, particularly on Friday and Saturday afternoons. Just follow your nose.

If Santa Maria is old California, then Pismo Beach is classic. 23 miles of flat beach (much of which can be driven on by off-road vehicles) and eight miles of sand dunes within the Oceano Beach State Vehicular Recreation Area make the Pismo Beach area the extreme-fun capital of the Central Coast. Any mode of transportation needed to be part of the fun is rented in Pismo Beach: from ATVs, to dune buggies, to Hummers, to riding horses, to mountain bikes, to ocean kayaks, to motorcycles, to kite surfboards, to biplane rides, to paragliders, to scuba gear, to…

It wasn’t long ago that folks visited Pismo Beach for what didn’t make much noise… digging for Pismo’s famous clams, fishing from shore, building a sand castle, hiking along ocean cliffs, sun bathing, touring art galleries, appreciating a Pacific sunset or – with its average annual temperature of 72 degrees [22º C] – just enjoying Pismo’s temperate climate.

As reliable as are Pismo Beach’s conditions, you can count on there being a Farmer’s Market each Thursday night in downtown San Luis Obispo. From six to nine p.m. (except Thanksgiving Day), area farmers, ranchers and artists bring their best to America’s best farmer’s market, a long-running celebration that’s seasoned with the aromas of barbecued ribs and freshly picked flowers. And, if you can tear yourself away from the fascinating displays of locally grown luffa sponge gourds, stop by “TASTE,� a wine bar and tasting room operated by the San Luis Obispo Vintners to test its “Enomatic� system which dispenses samplings of up to 41 different wines at a time!

After all that wine, you’ll need a place to stay and “SLOtown� is the home of the world’s first “motel.�  The original Mo-tel Inn is being renovated by the nearby Apple Farm Inn, an indulgent Victorian gem on Monterey Street. San Luis Obispo has more than its share of one-of-a-kind places to stay, the most outlandish of which is the Madonna Inn. There, each room is themed in ostentatious fashion, from the American Beauty room with its rose theme to the Yosemite Rock room whose walls are granite monoliths.  Each of the 108 guest rooms, bakery, restaurants and shops at the Madonna Inn is outrageous, but none creates a bigger fuss than the men’s restroom which gets a steady stream of escorted giggling women who enter to view the urinal, a rock waterfall that’s activated when you, ahem, break a beam of light.

Another must stop, at the halfway point between L.A. and San Francisco, is Paso Robles, which was originally called Agua Caliente for its mineral baths to which 20th century railroad passengers traveled to soak in their “mystical and curative powers.� Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner trains still stop in Paso, though their passengers are more likely to detrain to sample the area’s wines, than its hot baths.

Paso Robles has been making wines since 1797. It’s now California’s third-largest wine producing region. Yet, despite its size, the Paso Robles wine tasting experience remains personal. You might actually be served one of the region’s famous Zinfandels by one of its vintners or owners at any of Paso Robles’ more than 100 tasting rooms.Â

It’s that kind of welcoming, early California hospitality that makes the good life in Paso Robles as enduring as nearby San Miguel’s 1846-era Rios-Caledonia adobe and circa 1878 Estrella adobe church, off U.S. 101 at Mission St. Though made of the most fragile material (mud and straw bricks) and set upon a young land that is still growing, they are lovingly maintained, reflecting a brief period when Spanish colonial Dons and their ladies oversaw vast California ranchos.

Just off U.S. 101 north of Paso, the land looks much as it did 200 years ago. There you pass through Camp Roberts, an Army training facility whose museum tells the stories of the many infantry, tank and artillery units that trained there in World War II and the Korean War including actors Robert Mitchum, Van Heflin and Steve Reeves. You’ll see numerous tanks and displays of uniforms, historic photos and weapons.

Beyond Camp Roberts the highway travels northwest through the abundant Salinas Valley described by California novelist John Steinbeck in The Long Valley, East of Eden and others. On reaching Salinas, visit the Steinbeck Center with interactive exhibits and dioramas that retell Steinbeck’s accomplishments and bring his stories to life. Steinbeck would have demurred the elaborate attention given him here, as evidenced by what he said after winning the Nobel Prize, “This prize business is only different from the Lettuce Queen of Salinas in degree.�

Steinbeck’s similarly pungent descriptions of mid-20th century agricultural life resonate as you drive north along U.S. 101 past Mission San Juan Bautista and into the Santa Clara Valley where garlic perfumes the air. The strong scent declares your arrival in Gilroy, the self-proclaimed Garlic Capital of the World whose annual Garlic Festival draws hundreds of thousands to enjoy garlic-flavored delicacies, from calamari to ice cream. The nearby Bonfante Gardens family theme park even has a garlic themed children’s ride among many attractions set among fantastic topiaries, a greenhouse so massive that a train passes through it, spectacular floral displays, waterfalls, and the Circus Trees, bizarre sycamores that were grafted into shapes so bewildering that even the geniuses of Silicon Valley haven’t figured out how to duplicate them.

Silicon Valley begins here and flanks U.S. 101 north (50 mi/80 km) to Stanford University in Palo Alto. The business of the end of the valley has evolved over the years as landscaped industrial parks containing high tech engineering, design and manufacturing have replaced plum and apricot orchards. The highest number of high tech companies in the world is now concentrated here, generating equal concentrations of science and technology museums and sites. Among them, the Intel Museum (off U.S. 101 at Montague Expressway in Santa Clara) is the only one operated by a Silicon Valley high tech company. Computerized audio handsets, in seven languages, provide self-guided tours of brightly colored, interactive exhibits which describe how Intel silicon chips are made, how they function and how Intel technology has evolved.

Fortunes may be made in Silicon Valley, but they are spent on the San Francisco Peninsula, where tony communities have housed the region’s intellectual, commercial and cultural intelligencia, since the late 1800s. Polo grounds, riding stables and estate homes are hidden among the Peninsula’s wooded hills. Gentrified villages spur from 101 as the road nears its 400-mile journey to San Francisco. Travelers often speed past, not realizing that within a mile of the “Bayshore Freewayâ€? are many charming authentic villages, like Burlingame Avenue with its one-of-a-kind shops and excellent restaurants. But then, the stunning beauty of cosmopolitan San Francisco beckons. Glimpses of this glistening “City by the Bayâ€? are seen from U.S. 101 as it winds the last few miles through San Mateo County to San Francisco.Â

Many Californians drive the mother road in a day, though to truly appreciate its attractions, a week’s exploring would not be enough time. There are three parts of the route to explore: the south coast, central coast and north coast. This article only covered one of them, but each has different landscapes and diversions to be found within a mile of U.S. 101.

Linking 101 by 1
Visit these Web sites to find more information about traveling U.S. 101.

Andersen’s Restaurant – www.peasoupandersens.net
Apple Farm Inn – www.applefarm.com
Bonfante Gardens – www.bonfantegardens.com
Camp Roberts Museum – www.militarymuseum.org/CampRobertsMuseum.html
California Missions – www.californiamissions.com
Carpinteria – www.carpcofc.com
Channel Islands National Park – www.nps.gov/chis
Gilroy VB – www.gilroyvisitor.org Â
Gilroy Garlic Festival – www.gilroygarlicfestival.com
Intel Museum – www.intel.com/museum
Island Packers (boats to Channel Islands) – www.islandpackers.com
Madonna Inn – www.madonnainn.com
Mo-Tel Inn – www.historyinslocounty.com/Motel%20Inn.htm
Oxnard – www.oxnardtourism.com
John Steinbeck – www.steinbeck.org
Oceano Dunes – www.ohv.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=1207
Paso Robles – www.go2paso.com
Pismo Beach – www.classiccalifornia.com
San Francisco CVB – www.sfvisitor.org
San Luis Obispo County CVB – www.sanluisobispocounty.comÂ
San Luis Obispo County Wineries – www.slowine.com
San Mateo County CVB – www.sanmateocountycvb.com
Santa Barbara CVB – www.santabarbaraca.com
Santa Barbara County Vintners Association – www.sbcountywines.com
Santa Clara CVB – www.santaclara.org
Santa Maria Barbecue – www.santamaria.com/section_visitor/barbecue.html
Sideways Wine Tour Map – www.santabarbara.com/winecountry/images/sideways-tour-map.pdf
Tab Hunter – www.tabhunter.com
U.S. Highway 101 Web Site – gbcnet.com/ushighways/US101/index.html
Ventura CVB – www.ventura-usa.com
Ventura Highway Lyrics – www.kingbiscuit.com/america/song/song013.htm

Author’s Note: This is the first in a three-part series on interesting and fun things to do within a mile of United States Highway 101. It originally appeared in California magazine (in Europe, Asia and Oceania). This section begins in San Diego and travels to Los Angeles. Succeeding sections cover the Central Coast and North Coast.

 In 1769, Fr. Junipero Serra needed a wagon road to connect his mission churches, so with the establishment of Mission San Diego de Alcalá, his first in California, he also constructed California’s first highway. The road began humbly, but eventually strode 600 miles (966 km) connecting California’s 21 missions from San Diego north to Sonoma. The Spanish called the road a “camino real,â€? a term then used to describe primitive wagon roads, which also translates to “King’s Highway.â€?  For nearly two centuries this royal road, known officially as U.S. Highway 101, was the principal north-south route in California.Â

With the opening of the super highway Interstate 5 in the late 1960s, most of U.S. 101 was bypassed or assigned to other highways, leaving much of the original route lightly affected by California’s explosive growth. Because of this, Historic U.S. 101 is the route to take for those who’d like to see California much as it was during its first 150 years as a state. Although much of the south coast California portion of Historic U.S. 101 isn’t identified on California maps, just “connect the dotsâ€? between the California missions and look for roads named Camino or Coast Highway and you’ll likely be close to the original El Camino Real.Â

Within a mile of the old route are many historic and cultural treasures that make for entertaining diversions. This trip up “101 by 1â€? begins at Old Town San Diego State Historic Park (San Diego Avenue and Twiggs Street – Lat./Long.: 32.7542 / -117.1961). This was San Diego’s original downtown and as you enter the square, your senses are stimulated by the sounds of Spanish guitars and the spicy-sweet aromas of Mexican delicacies. Near several original adobe structures and the mission church that can be toured, old motels have been converted into a street scene reminiscent of early California with restaurants and shops featuring “South of the Borderâ€? dishes and goods so genuine that a visiting Mexican tourism official once complained to another about having to travel to San Diego in order to find an experience so authentic.

A must stop before you continue your trip up 101 is Sea World at San Diego’s Mission Bay. Within sight of Historic U.S. 101, this marine playground is surrounded by a necklace of resort hotels.  Sea World San Diego is where Shamu, a Killer Whale (Orca) performs in a million gallon (3.78 million liter) pool, much of which gets splashed onto the spectators in the 5,500-seat arena.  The difference at Sea World San Diego is that sea life is shown at its most spectacular, with its creatures appearing almost jewel like.

Another gem in the area is La Jolla, Spanish for “the jewel.â€? Just like its name, La Jolla is studded with charms including many posh boutiques, tantalizing restaurants and zen-retreats like the Hotel Parisi, considered to be one of the top 20 small hotels in America. Beyond La Jolla is the virginal beauty of Torrey Pines State Park Reserve and Black’s Beach above which paragliders soar like seagulls above the ocean spray.Â

Cultural jewels decorate the South Coast Highway, too. One of them is the La Jolla Playhouse, a regional theater with a national reputation (2910 La Jolla Village Dr.). Founded by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, the Playhouse is where Tony Award-winning plays and stars are born. The renowned Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography is one of San Diego County’s many prestigious scientific institutions. There, you can explore the Hall of Fishes or Hall of Oceanography, perusing exhibits and aquaria or venture into the ocean for guided snorkel and kayak trips. For a nature experience closer to shore, head to Seal Beach (Seal Beach Blvd. and Pacific Coast Highway) where, from the heights of a protected breakwater, you can watch the seals as they lounge and play in an aquamarine cove.

Continuing north, you reach Del Mar and its venerable Thoroughbred Club, which was founded by Bing Crosby and several Hollywood friends to indulge their passion to race horses by the sea. The racing still occurs each July to September. For a taste of the town’s favorite neighborhood restaurant, stop at Sbicca (215 15th St.) known for its fine wine list and new American bistro dishes or its sister restaurant, Meritage, on Historic Route 101 in Encinitas.

The refined tastes of the south coast are exemplified in Solana Beach, well known for its public art. Along its streets, you’ll find such notable works as “Starâ€? by internationally acclaimed modern artist Niki de Saint-Phalle (105 Cedros Ave.). One has to wonder though how an area best known for betting on ponies also became so committed to fine art. Perhaps it was the influence of The King’s Highway, as near U.S. 101 – along its entire length – are found several arts colonies and communities including Encinitas, Santa Barbara, Sausalito, Ukiah and Eureka… In Solana Beach, the Cedros Design District of brightly painted industrial buildings has attracted a vibrant community of merchants, fashion designers, importers and craftsmen. For a taste of the district, enjoy a salad of fresh greens with caramelized walnuts, blue cheese and balsamic vinaigrette at the Wild Note Café or belly up to the Belly-Up Tavern to hear some of America’s finest rock performances at what Rolling Stone magazine has called one of the hottest clubs on the West Coast.Â

It seems almost a civic obligation in California to attach superlatives like that to one’s business or community. Near U.S. 101, you’ll pass towns that call themselves the Avocado Capital of the World (Fallbrook), Garlic Capital of the World (Gilroy), the Lettuce Capital of the World (Salinas), The Artichoke Capital of the World (Castroville ), Broccoli Capital of the World (Greenfield), Flower Seed Capital of the World (Lompoc), Strawberry Capital of the World (Oxnard), Pear Capital of the World (Kelseyville) and Lily Capital of the World (Smith River), because they lead in production of those crops.

Encinitas, further north on U.S. 101, has a split personality. This quintessential beach town can’t decide whether to call itself the “surf capital of the worldâ€? or the “flower capital of the world.â€? Made famous by the Beach Boys’ hit song, “Sufin’ USA,â€? Encinitas’ Swami Beach is one of San Diego County’s prime surf spots. The town is so surf-conscious that it has even intalled distinctive road signs warning of surfer crossings. Yet, Encinitas’ salt air is also perfumed with the floral scents of many flowers that are grown there. A good place to see rare plants is at the Quail Botanical Gardens (230 Quail Gardens Drive) where endangered species from around the world are cultivated on 30 acres, including the largest bamboo plantation in the United States.Â

Flower lovers are also drawn to Carlsbad where from early March to early May they walk among nearly 50 acres of flowering Giant Tecolote Ranunculus that grow in spectacular crimson, yellow, white, orange, purple and burgundy bands across rolling hills set between the highway and Legoland California, a 128-acre theme park based on the creative play provided by Lego toys.

Carlsbad has been attracting attention since the late 1800s when former sea captain John Frazier dug a well and discovered mineral water very similar to the world-famous Karlsbad-Bohemia resort. The cool sips of mineral water that Frasier offered to thirsty train passengers soon became known for their healing properties. Within three years a 100-room hotel was built and touted as “the greatest seaside sanatorium on the Pacific coast–blessed with mineral wells which effect astonishing cures in remarkably brief periods.” While astonishing cures are no longer promised, astonishing relief from life’s stresses is found at three famous area spas: the Chopra Center at the La Costa Resort and Spa, the Four Seasons Aviara Resort, and the original Carlsbad Mineral Water Spa.

As you continue north along Historic U.S. 101 look for distinctive mission bells beside the road. They were first erected in 1906 to mark the route of the original El Camino Real. Some 400 bells were installed, with 600 planned… one for every mile along the route. Over the years, many of the mission bells have disappeared, though one stands in front of Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside. This mission earned the nickname “King of Missions,� for being the largest in California.

California architecture is a mix of periods and styles, from the graceful white adobe walls and red Spanish tile roofs of the missions, to whimsical space-age themed 1960s “googie� architecture. A classic example of Jetsonesque design is found at the Star Theater in Oceanside where live performances are still presented (402 N Coast Hwy). Another don’t-miss establishment typical of the highway is the 101 Café (631 S. Coast Hwy) that began as a 20-seat diner in 1928; it still serves breakfast all day to locals and road-weary travelers who enjoy an immediate sense of shared experience.

The same sense of community binds San Clemente, one of the picture-perfect places along the California coast. Each shop here is an original, packaged within Spanish Colonial Revival-styled structures that give the village a welcoming atmosphere. This is a perfect place to stroll the beach, as President Richard Nixon often did when he would stay at Casa Pacifica, his Western White House. Though, the residential jewel of San Clemente is Casa Romantica, a Spanish Colonial Revival classic that was completed in 1928 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Homes.

From San Clemente, the El Camino Real bends inward following I-5 to downtown Los Angeles. This section of the road enters Southern California’s vast suburban landscape, though it travels past enclaves of California’s past, such as the fabled and beautiful mission of San Juan Capistrano whose swallows magically return each year on St. Joseph’s day, March 19. Mission San Juan Capistrano typifies classic California Spanish Colonial architecture. Its bronze bells, suspended within arches, call villagers to prayer in what is one of California’s most elaborately decorated mission churches, while a riot of magenta Bougainvillea blossoms embrace the mission’s ancient walls.

San Clemente is timeless, while Los Angeles – the last stop on a tour up 101 along the south coast – is a leap forward in time. Only on Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles can the City of Angels’ origins as a humble and tiny pueblo be seen. Immediately east of downtown L.A., 27 historic structures dating from 1818 to 1930 are preserved. A colorful street market, shops, galleries and restaurants are alive with the vibrant tapestry and talents of Los Angelenos.

Not far from this part of old Los Angeles, the high rises of the new Los Angeles soar alongside performances at the luminescent Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, its silvery walls fluttering like sheet music in a Pacific breeze. Beneath downtown L.A., sleek Metro cars speed visitors to Hollywood Boulevard where they can find the star of their favorite celebrity among 2000 that line the boulevard, walk on the stage at the Kodak Theater where Oscars are presented, purchase a Hollywood collectible at the Larry Edmunds Book Store (6644 Hollywood Blvd.), or match their hand prints to those of celebrities that have been impressed on the concrete sidewalk in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater (6925 Hollywood Blvd.).

Beyond Los Angeles, Historic U.S. 101 continues north 750 miles to the Oregon border.  It passes through sweetly scented citrus groves, fruit-laden vineyards, Spanish-influenced towns and modern cities, over rolling grassy oak-populated hills and past towering forests of fog-shrouded Redwood trees before leaving California at Smith River.Â

There are three parts of the route to explore: the south coast, central coast and north coast. This article only covered one of them, but each has different landscapes and diversions to be found within a mile of U.S. 101.

Linking 101 by 1
Visit these Web sites to find more information about traveling U.S. 101.

Belly Up Tavern – www.bellyup.com
Birch Aquarium – www.aquarium.ucsd.edu
California Missions – www.missiontour.org
California Missions Foundation – www.missionsofcalifornia.org
Carlsbad – www.carlsbadca.org
Cedros Design District – www.cedrosdesigndistrict.com
El Camino Real – http://missiontour.org/related/elcaminoreal.htm
Encinitas – www.encinitaschamber.com
Encinitas MainStreet Association www.encinitas101.com/
Highway 101 Association www.drivethe101.com
Hollywood Tourism – www.visithollywood.org
Hollywood Walk of Fame – www.hollywoodchamber.net
La Jolla Playhouse – www.lajollaplayhouse.com
Legoland California – www.lego.com/legoland/california
Los Angeles Tourism – www.lacvb.com
Mission Bells – http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/paffairs/faq/faq62.htm
Mission San Juan Capistrano – www.missionsjc.com
Oceanside – www.oceansidechamber.com/
Old Town San Diego SHP – www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=663
Paragliding – www.flytorrey.com
Quail Botanical Gardens – www.qbgardens.com
San Diego North Tourism – www.sandiegonorth.com
San Diego Tourism – www.sandiego.org
Sea World San Diego – www.seaworld.com/seaworld/ca
Solana Beach – www.solanabeachchamber.com
The Flower Fields – www.theflowerfields.com
Torrey Pines State Park Reserve – www.torreypine.org
Walt Disney Concert Hall – www.musiccenter.org

When I told my twenty-something son that his mother and I would be traveling to Southern California to research a story on mid-century modern architecture, he snickered, “How can they call that modern?  It’s so old-fashioned.”

“How else would you describe linear homes of glass, stone and steel?” I asked.  “Whatever,” he replied, dismissing the topic.  And so, I drove south questioning whether the dream homes of my youth, promoted then as the houses of tomorrow, were yesterday’s story.

On arrival in Palm Springs, we checked into the Movie Colony Hotel, conceived by architectural pioneer Albert Frey in 1935.  We, in our 50s, were the oldest guests there.  Sweet revenge!  Our son’s contemporaries had discovered what he hadn’t and we soon would, that mid-century modern architecture is as hot today as when it was introduced, with a new generation of retro-focused X-gens embracing its austere beauty.  Modern?  You bet it is, and Palm Springs and Los Angeles are where the best examples can be found.

To the uninitiated, modern architecture seems to be one concept, but in fact it is layered with different styles: prairie, art deco, international, art moderne, roadside vernacular, mid-century, googie, modern builder, contemporary builder, shed, and contemporary folk.  All of these styles can be seen in California.

The zenith of restrained modernism and Zen-like livability occurred from the 1940s to 1960s; that’s when many of the most beautiful examples of modernist architecture were built.  Some were the result of limited budgets.  Others accommodated vacation life and were occupied only a few days each year, or were designed to provide exotic escapes for people from northern cities or represented their owners’ accomplishments.  Still, others were conceived as quickly erected housing for burgeoning post World War II families.  Then, too, architects found that modernist forms complemented desert and environmental aesthetics better than other styles or fulfilled new concepts about merging indoor and outdoor living.  Whatever the inspiration, the results were elegantly minimalist structures whose light forms particularly complemented California’s mild climate and plein-air life.

For commercial and public buildings modernist designs caught the eye, invited entry, entertained or represented government hopes to be perceived as forward thinking.  However, they were so evocative of their age that when designed on the cheap or not rigorously maintained in tasteful style, they appeared forever stuck in the past.

In any other part of the world, modernist architecture is the odd exception or is dismissed as being naively anachronistic, but in Southern California – particularly in Palm Springs and Los Angeles – its examples are maintained, restored, preserved and their importance elevated to cultural landmark status.  Support for modernism, there, is evidenced in countless ways.

Each February, Palm Springs holds a Modernism Show with a week of tours, lectures, symposia, parties and an exhibition hall filled with vendors.  As evidence of the town’s pride in its modernist heritage, the highlight of this year’s show was the addition of architectural photographer Julius Shulman to Palm Springs’ Walk of Stars along Palm Canyon Boulevard, an honor usually reserved for luminaries the likes of Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Sophia Loren and Ronald Reagan.

Appropriately, Palm Canyon Boulevard is the place to begin exploring mid-century modern architecture.  We began by walking the boulevard and were surprised by the many modernist furniture, design and curio shops along it.  One not accustomed to the style might mistake the pink and orange bead curtains, lime plastic furniture, and astro clocks displayed in store windows as representative of what the style is about.  Far from it.  All this is exaggerated eye candy for tourists and “Martini modernist” wannabees.  If you want to really understand the style, peruse Adèle Cygelman’s coffee table book, Palm Springs Modern or Alan Hess and Andrew Danish’s Palm Springs Weekend or Pierluigi Serraino & Julius Shulman’s Modernism Rediscovered.  Or better yet, join Robert Imber on an architectural tour of Palm Springs.

We met Mr. Imber’s “Palm Springs Modern Tour” at Starbuck’s on Palm Canyon Boulevard.  In our group were Rich and Liz, advertising executives from Chicago, and Pam a marketing executive from Northern California who lives in a mid-century modern home and carried her weathered copy of Palm Springs Modern.

“This is where it all began,” Mr. Imber intoned, while gesturing toward the remnants of Lloyd Wright’s (son of Frank Lloyd Wright) 1923 Oasis Hotel, now housing nondescript shops.  The Oasis was the country’s and, needless to say, Palm Springs’ first modernist resort.  Wright utilized the then-new, slip-form technique of concrete construction to create horizontal shadow lines upon the International modern structure, and then topped it all with an art deco-like crest of ornamental concrete block on the hotel’s tower, “four to six years before art deco architecture appeared elsewhere,” described Mr. Imber.

Later added to the Oasis, where its front office had existed, was a classic E. Stewart Williams’ Internationalist style office building, whose rectilinear simplicity has, over the years, been diminished by uncharacteristic “improvements.”  Still, Mr. Imber emphasized, Williams’ genius is apparent in: the building’s highly crafted aluminum and teak door pulls, how shadows play across corrugated metal siding and the symmetry of the building’s boxed facade.

Mr. Imber identified an important example of Spanish revival architecture across the boulevard, a precursor to today’s theater/shopping complexes, comparing it to the subtler beauty of John Porter Clark’s 1941 Wellwood Murray Library to its left… an elegantly restrained example of California mission revival architecture void of ornamentation, evidently influenced by Clark’s affection for modernism.  And so, introduced to the style, we were off in the van to explore mid-century modern architecture as it evolved in Palm Springs.

You need not be a student of architecture to enjoy this tour.  Anyone with an interest in design, history or celebrity will find it fascinating.  Mr. Imber’s van passes Palm Springs’ most significant modern architecture, stopping briefly (though tour goers never leave the van to take pictures or enter the homes).  Along the way, he provides an entertaining stream of anecdotes about how the style came to be established in Palm Springs, why certain styles were built, how the category evolved and who some of its more celebrated occupants were.  As we passed through Palm Springs’ tennis club district, Mr. Imber directed our attention to architect Albert Frey’s compact hillside home, describing Frey’s revolutionary use of materials, “creating his own vernacular of concrete block and corrugated metal.”

Modernist architects were often exploring new technologies and materials, almost as if the materials themselves demanded application.  In a way, these artist/builders were conceiving new ways of living from new materials.  Or, as in Richard Neutra’s case, applying new materials to new ways of living.  Neutra’s Miller House constructed in 1937 for an eccentric physical therapist was one of the early modernist homes in the Coachella Valley and, recently restored, remains as one of its best examples, with glass exterior walls and using thin steel support posts.  Everything about the home was minimal except its understated beauty.

Nearly 70 years later, images of the home’s original interiors (shown to us by Mr. Imber) seem as fresh and new as if the home had just been completed.  We ached to explore its compact spaces as we slowly passed the Miller House though were off to visit another of Neutra’s masterpieces, the 1946 Kauffman house.  Built for the same architecturally enlightened family that commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, Neutra’s Kauffman house with its aluminum, sandstone and glass exterior and luminescent Douglas fir interiors has been likened to a cubist machine rising from a “boulder-strewn desert plain.”

Remarkably, modern architecture – mechanical and industrial to the extreme and the physical opposite of nature in form – seems a better aesthetic complement to nature than all but a few truly organic styles (i.e., Pueblo Revival).  At the Palm Springs Tennis Club, Imber said Paul R. Williams and A. Quincy Jones were faced with the dilemma of how to squeeze a restaurant onto a rocky perch overlooking a swimming pool.  They did so by forming it to the hillside with glass walls seemingly rising out of a rocky slope.  This use of glass to eliminate the difference between being indoors or out was carried to the extreme by local architect William Cody, dubbed the “master of thin” who employed impossibly thin support columns and rooflines.  Cody’s glass walls would disappear.  Uncased, un-curtained windows became invisible walls, looking out upon golf courses and the ruddy Santa Rosa Mountains.  Modern architecture in the desert could do this because of Palm Springs’ unusually clement atmosphere (late fall through spring).

As you drive through Palm Springs’ various neighborhoods, despite the openness of these homes, their privacy impresses.  Houses rarely look outward toward the street, but inward, embracing a central, secluded courtyard containing a swimming pool, patio and endless parties.  “They built their homes for relaxation and cocktail parties.  When the owners of these homes came to Palm Springs for a weekend away or for the winter, they were in resort mode,” said Mr. Imber who numbered many of the hosts among Hollywood’s glitterati.

The Palm Springs Modern tour is, however, no Hollywood homes tour.  Mr. Imber’s greatest enthusiasm was not for its celebrity homes like Villa Nance – an ostentatious confection owned by Nancy Sinatra that is the architectural equivalent of a Chrysler Cordoba – or others occupied by Elvis Presley, Howard Hughes, Peter Lawford, Jack Benny or Frank Sinatra.  He seemed only to point them out to satisfy the curiosity of his passengers, as when we passed near Bob Hope’s monstrous turtle shell-like home sitting atop a ridge overlooking the Valley.  Imber mentioned that when Hope saw the model of the home he cracked, “Well, at least when they come down from Mars, they’ll know where to go.” Instead, Mr. Imber was energized by the ordinary places that have become extraordinary landmarks, like George and Bob Alexander’s development of tract homes at Twin Palms, so named because every new home included two palm trees. “Notice what’s common about all of them,” he encouraged, “Garage, breezeway, windows, wall (sigh) garage, breezeway, windows, and wall.  No matter what roof was put on them or which direction they were turned on their lots, the layout was almost always the same… garage, breezeway, windows, wall.”

Like the “Case Study Houses” of the late ‘40s, (see Eames p. XXX), many of Palm Springs’ most interesting homes were conceived to revolutionize home construction.  Seven all-steel houses designed by Donald Wexler and constructed by the Alexanders were planned as models for a development of thirty-plus all-steel homes (a plan later foiled by escalating steel prices).  Each could be erected in four to six hours on a concrete slab, the minimalist, modernist homes with flat roofs and interior floor plans that could – with some effort – be changed, sold in the early ‘60s for from $13,000 to $17,000, depending on interior detail and were offered in three roof styles including a stationary accordion roof that folded over the living room.  Today, they have been tastefully returned to their 1960s character.

Because these homes are privately owned, they aren’t open for tours except rarely during festivals.  One of the few exceptions is Los Angeles’ Schindler House an early modernist masterpiece that is open to the public Wednesdays through Sundays.  A protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright and contemporary of Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler designed the house for himself in 1921 to demonstrate ways of living that he espoused.  MAK Center Director Kimberli Meyer said Schindler “really took the idea of combining indoor and outdoor into one space.  Rooms flow inside, outside and extend into the garden to the point that the boundary between inside and out is forgotten.

“Frank Lloyd Wright started this idea, but Schindler took it much further with outdoor rooms and courtyards that were integral to the house,” Ms. Meyer explained.  Outdoor living rooms and outdoor fireplaces would have been impossible in Austria or Chicago from where Schindler came, but Southern California’s mild climate was the perfect place for Schindler and his wife, Pauline, to live their dream of indoor-outdoor living and openness to nature a philosophy shared by their friend and housemate, Richard Neutra.

Occasionally, the MAK Center is granted permission to escort tours through modernist homes, though Ms. Meyer cautions, “It’s difficult to get on one of these tours without a reservation.”  Limousine tours of Los Angeles architecture are an easier matter.  They’re offered daily by Architecture Tours L.A. or join one of the LA Conservancy’s many architectural tours or lecture programs.

For do-it-yourself tours, head to the Silver Lake district to see L.A.’s greatest concentration of mid-century modern homes.  They’re identified in guides available at the MAK Center or buy the Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles by David Gebhardt and Robert Winter.  A must stop for architecture-philes is Hennessey + Ingalls, California’s premiere architecture bookstore in Santa Monica.

Of course, the best way to experience mid-century modern architecture is from the inside.  There are few more idyllic experiences than to stay in a mid-century modern hotel room open to the balmy climes of the desert, to be lost in a good book while lounging around the flickering, warming flames of an outdoor gas fireplace, or to enjoy an orangey, tart-sweet, Sake-based “Dean Martini” at the Movie Colony Hotel’s wine bar with all those retro thirty-somethings.

So, maybe, I ought to set my son straight and tell him what I found in Southern California… that buildings conceived 60 years ago can still truly be modern.  Nah, let’s keep this to ourselves.

Linking Mid-Century Modern
Architecture Tours LA – www.architecturetoursla.com
Green Fairway Estates – www.desertmodernism.com/greenfairway.html
Hennessey & Ingalls – www.hennesseyingalls.com
John Lautner Foundation – www.johnlautner.org
Los Angeles Conservancy Modern Committee – www.modcom.org
Los Angeles Conservancy Tours – www.laconservancy.org/tours
Movie Colony Hotel – www.moviecolonyhotel.com
Palm Springs Modern Tours – psmoderntours@aol.com
Palm Springs Modern Committee – www.psmodcom.com
Palm Springs Modernism Week – www.palmspringsmodernism.com
Palm Springs Preservation Foundation – www.pspF.net
Palm Springs Visitors Bureau – www.palm-springs.org
Richard Neutra – www.neutra.org
Schindler House – www.makcenter.org
Swiss Miss – www.jetsetmodern.com/issue5/swissmiss.htm
University of Southern California Downtown Walking Tour – www.usc.edu/dept/geography/losangeles/lawalk/

Carmen Kozlowski carried a pot from her house to the farm store. As she passed, the grandmotherly figure stopped and chatted easily with visitors to her farm while they enjoyed a picnic lunch. Soon, the discussion about the genial winter day got around to how the Kozlowski Farm had become a travel destination.Like many other California farms, ranches, orchards and vineyards, the Kozlowski Farm in Sonoma County didn’t start out to be a tourist attraction, but economics and a taste for homemade products fresh from the farm transformed it into one of the state’s best places to stop.

Never in California’s – perhaps United States’ – history has a governor generated as much public and media excitement as has Arnold Schwarzenegger. This pumped-up popular figure is proving to be as formidable a chief executive of the most populace state in America, as he was a body builder, actor or businessman.

Since taking office in late 2003, he has surprised critics and supporters alike with his ability to wield his infectious personality to gain compromise and advance issues important to him. During the recall election of former Governor Gray Davis, Arnold Schwarzenegger telegraphed that he would be his own man, and he’s acted as such, frustrating opponents and members of his own Republican party with his independence.

What he does, that no other politician can do, is use his enormous popularity to bludgeon opponents into compromise. When the governor began his effort to pass two referenda that approved bonds to refinance over $22 billion in state debt, approval of the propositions was in question, but through the weight of his personality and with alliances with the Democratic State Controller, he got the referenda approved. After that success, he declared, “I love it when the people go to the polls and flex their muscle.” And as is evident when you meet this larger-than-life figure, there are few politicians who can flex their muscles as Schwarzenegger can. His willingness, in fact eagerness, to sidestep traditional politics and go directly to voters has intimidated old-school backroom politicians.

Governor Schwarzenegger uses his persuasive personality to cajole recalcitrant opponents just by hinting that if they don’t compromise he will go directly to the people with ballot measures. The approach worked, as no politician has succeeded, before. When asked how he was enjoying his new role as Governor, Schwarzenegger said that he’s never had as much fun in his life, and that’s saying a lot, considering his many accomplishments. He is not an administrator; he is an action figure. “I never want to be the governor that hangs (an American expression that means waiting for things to happen),” he is reported to have said before returning from a trip to Germany. “I like to do things. I have the energy and I have the enthusiasm.”

A San Diego Union-Tribune editorial opined that “Some lawmakers may not love it, but they certainly now respect the governor’s ability to connect with voters… The governor has dramatically changed the political landscape by becoming directly involved in advancing his reform agenda. Lawmakers would do well to take seriously his campaign promise to revamp the workers’ compensation system. Some of those who fail to do so could be looking for other jobs after the November (2004) election.â€?

Showman Turned Salesman

Throughout Governor Davis’ recall election, one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s key messages was that he was a natural born salesman and would use his enormous popularity to gain attention and interest in California. He’s been true to his word, having participated in out-of-state trips to New York, Washington, DC, Israel, Jordan, Germany and Japan in his first year as California’s governor. In comparison, Gray Davis – during his entire five-year term of office – only visited Europe, Israel and Mexico. Further, the San Diego Union-Tribune has reported that “aides indicate his (Schwarzenegger’s) overseas travels have just begun.�
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The governor’s eagerness to represent California in other countries is good for importers of California food products and wine and sellers of California travel, because Arnold Schwarzenegger is as popular overseas, as he is at home, perhaps even more so. The San Diego Union-Tribune wrote not long ago that “Schwarzenegger, as an international movie star, is one of the most recognized faces in the world, an asset at a time when celebrities sell everything from prescription drugs to soft drinks.â€?Â

Including a governor in a state’s advertising is usually more valuable to the politician than it is to what’s being promoted. Not so in Arnold’s case. He doesn’t need the exposure, he doesn’t diminish the commercial’s objective and his presence punctuates and lifts any message.  Everywhere he goes, people gather to see him, get a photo with him or an autograph. Because of his widespread recognition, screen persona as a tough guy who’s soft at heart, established talents as an actor, and screen presence, state marketers have asked him to appear in TV commercials for California agricultural products, tourism and economic development.

When a consortium of State agencies and private economic development groups announced a new advertising campaign to encourage business leaders in other states to invest in California, Schwarzenegger made the announcement in Las Vegas, as an “in-your-face� response to Nevada and other states that have “cherry-picked dozens of companies from California in recent years,� according to an Associated Press report. As the personification of “The Terminator,� his most famous motion picture role, this “Governator� does not shy away from conflict.

Selling the state’s business climate at that announcement, the Governor unveiled a billboard campaign in Las Vegas, Nevada that featured a large picture of himself wearing a t-shirt imprinted with the State bear flag on his pumped up chest, as the headline read, “Arnold Says California Wants Your Business.� Michael Blood of the Associated Press wrote that Governor Schwarzenegger told reporters, “he knew his celebrity was an important asset in marketing the state, and that he eagerly filled the role of promoter-in-chief.�

“It’s basically a publicity campaign,” Governor Schwarzenegger was reported as saying. ”That’s what gets the amount of (TV) cameras… Everyone always uses what their assets are… Me, I use my personality, my celebrity status, whatever it is, my knowledge, my vision.”

He is also using his bigger than life persona to promote “California Grown� farm products. At the premiere of a television commercial for the brand (which includes a cameo appearance by Governor Schwarzenegger), the governor arrived in a 1953, GMC, one-ton, flatbed truck loaded with fruits and vegetables. The campaign pokes fun at California stereotypes that include surfing, mud baths and having “my people call your people,� all in an effort to encourage viewers to buy California grown agricultural products. The California Grown commercial is shown only inside California for the moment, though program managers appear to be expanding the effort beyond California, as evidenced by their participation in Governor Schwarzenegger’s trade mission to Japan, last year.

Similar to his appearance in the California Grown campaign, the governor narrates part of a California Tourism commercials seen in western states. In it, he is joined by California celebrities Clint Eastwood and Jack Nicholson in encouraging viewers to believe they’ll find their travel dreams or interests in California.Â

Arnold Schwarzenegger is certainly at ease in front of a camera, but he’s proven he also likes pitching California directly to the people. Last May, when the Travel Industry Association held its International Pow Wow in Los Angeles, the Governator’s appearance was electric. Typically, many of the 5,000 U.S. and international buyers and suppliers at the trade show skip the programmed luncheons to attend private lunches or to avoid the often windy and repetitive programs presented by sponsoring airlines, attractions or hotel companies. That didn’t happen when it was announced that Governor Schwarzenegger would speak at one of Los Angeles show luncheons. Private off-site luncheons were cancelled or rearranged because sponsors knew none of the buyers they sought would miss a speech by Governor Schwarzenegger. Delegates left the trading floor early to be first at the banquet room door to get a good seat. When the doors were opened, they stampeded into the room, alarming the Governor’s staff who were settling last-minute details. Chairs were tilted up to reserve seats at tables nearest the stage. Where the banquet room is normally half full, every table in the vast hall was occupied and hardly a chicken salad went uneaten as the breathless crowd anxiously awaited his arrival.

At a theatrical moment, the Governor was introduced and a stunt look-alike wearing dark glasses and leathers like his character, The Terminator, rode a motorcycle into the hall and up to the stage. From a side, Schwarzenegger walked on stage in a highly tailored buttery suit that virtually glowed, dismissed the stunt double and addressed the enraptured and silent audience.

Caroline Beteta who has served under three California governors as state tourism director said she’d “never seen anything like� that at Pow Wow or the response to Governor Schwarzenegger’s trade mission to Japan. Absolutely “everyone in the country knew he was there to sell California,� she said. The media and trade response was overwhelming.

The difference, Ms. Beteta explained was in the interest expressed by top buyers. Typically, when you’re selling something the audience you’re selling it to is in the power position, deciding how much time they’ll give you and whether they’ll meet with you, but when Governor Schwarzenegger visited, that dynamic turned about. “He is truly a cultural icon in Japan,� said Ms. Beteta.  The people California was attempting to impress were “so personally interested in the Governor on a very deeply personal level,� according to Ms. Beteta, that they sought out opportunities to be in his presence and thus could not miss hearing California’s message. Attending the trade presentation were 200 members of the media including every top broadcast station in Japan, representing exposure California tourism and agriculture could never have afforded through advertising. That has proven to be critical to California;s fiscally-stressed agricultural and tourism marketers.

Salesman Turned Statesman

Governor Schwarzenegger gained office by promising to change “business as usual� in the statehouse. Previous runaway entitlements, excessive largesse to classes of government workers, and laws written to guarantee funding to certain government programs contributed to the State’s ballooning deficit. Since taking office, Governor Schwarzenegger reduced that deficit from $48 billion to $5 billion, but to accomplish that, the new governor had to implement cost cutting and borrowing beyond what his predecessor had done. State agencies that market California ag products and tourism overseas, no longer have the resources to promote California that they did in the past. In California Tourism’s case, private assessments approved by travel and tourism businesses in 1997 are the only tourism marketing funds available, as the previous governor had already eliminated the $7.5 million in State funds that operated the California Division of Tourism.

Governor Schwarzenegger made it clear in his “State of the Stateâ€? address in January that further austerity is needed to reduce the state’s deficit, but this lack of funding does not translate into a similar lack of enthusiasm or interest for promoting California on the part of the Governor. Quite the opposite, Governor Schwarzenegger’s actions and statements demonstrate that he is committed to promoting California agriculture and tourism, despite his government’s financial limitations. His comments at Pow Wow established him to the U.S. and world travel industries as California’s new tourism cheerleader, and in introducing his new Secretary of Food and Agriculture, A.G. Kawamura, he expressed similar enthusiasm for California agriculture, describing it as “crucial to California’s economic success,â€? and saying that the industry is “helping to lead the way in our recovery.â€?Â

Arnold Schwarzenegger sees agriculture as “a big part of the California experience.� and as a restaurant owner speaks from personal experience when he says California’s ag industry, “produces the best of everything… The best fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy products and let’s not forget the most incredible wines.� Schwarzenegger sees a healthy agricultural industry as essential to other services, stating, “When agriculture is healthy, everyone benefits… law enforcement, firefighters, teachers, everyone.� Speaking to Californians, he continued, “Everyone benefits when we buy California grown products. I say to everyone. Be Californian. Buy California Grown.�

“He’s the best salesman we have,� said Ms. Beteta who credits the Governor’s persona for multiplying the impact of her agency’s advertising and sales efforts. “He’s the quintessential pitch man. He’s spent his entire life promoting things, first himself, then products, then businesses, and now California. It’s where he is most comfortable,� Ms. Beteta explained.

Unlike previous “politicians� who hesitated at putting their personality on stage, for Governor Schwarzenegger it is second nature. “He’s open and willing to do anything. Look how many events he’s done in his first year in office,� said Ms. Beteta, and though California officials won’t say when their governor might travel abroad again, they are hopeful that he will lead a sales mission to Europe before his term ends in two years. These dreams are certainly reinforced by results being partially attributed to the Governor’s Japan trade mission, as travel industry observers say Japanese interest in visiting California in 2005 has risen since the Governor’s visit.

With results like that, the Austrian Oak can take satisfaction in his new role as “California’s Champion,� selling the state, its travel destinations, agricultural goods, wine and business climate as enthusiastically as he sold himself throughout his career.  It’s a performance that may win him something more than an Oscar… the opportunity to be remembered as the nation’s first action hero statesman.