Why Not Live the Southern California Dream This Summer?

Redondo Beach

People who've lived in Southern California most of their lives sometimes take it for granted, but we live in an amazing state, one that everyone should visit.

The weather along the coast in cities like San Diego, Laguna Beach, Malibu, Redondo Beach and Santa Barbara is perfect nearly year round, and you can do essentially anything you can imagine over the course of the year here.

I'd like to invite you to visit my amazing home state this summer and take a cruise.

Over the last couple of years, I have lamented the fact that cruise lines have pulled most of their ships from Southern California ports for summer to serve other markets, but the more I think about it, the better I understand.  Why cruise down to Cabo and Puerto Vallarta in the summer, when temperatures can get well above 90 down there while we stay comfortably in the seventies or low eighties from San Diego through Santa Barbara?

Carnival Imagination

The main reason to cruise is for the cruise ship experience itself, and you can definitely make a relaxing ocean voyage from Long Beach, with all the onboard excitement, delicious meals and terrific entertainment, the centerpiece of  your California vacation.  In fact, Carnival has two fun ships doing three and four night cruises to Ensenada all summer, with Imagination embarking on Thursdays and Sundays while Inspiration cruises from Long Beach on Fridays and Mondays.

For your summer vacation, I recommend the four night voyages, which give you a greater chance to enjoy cruising plus the bonus port of Santa Catalina Island. I've said this before, but I will repeat that if you enjoy having chips and cervezas at a Mexican Restaurant in your home town, you can enjoy the real thing in Ensenada. If you want something more exciting, go four wheeling in the desert while there.

It's always surprising to me how fully relaxed and rejuvenated I feel after one of these three or four night cruises.

However, for your family summer vacation, you should definitely enjoy Southern California, too. 

Knott's Independence Hall Replica

One obvious choice is a stay at Walt Disney Resorts in Anaheim.  While Orlando's amusement parks may have grown larger, the foundation really started in Southern California at the original Disneyland, and it is well worth seeing.  Right next door, Disney's California Adventure is a wonderful second park to visit while in town, and it is the perfect addition for a California Dream vacation.  Perhaps like me, you've been going to Disneyland since it opened, but have you ever stayed on resort at the beautiful Disney Grand Californian or one of the other great hotels in the area?  You know you would think about doing it if you went to Orlando, so why not do it in California?

I could go on and on about amusement parks like Universal Studios, Knott's Berry Farm, Magic Mountain, LEGOLAND, SeaWorld and San Diego Zoo, but that's only part of the California story.


For a tropical vacation, the big allure is our beaches, and you can find great hotels to enjoy a few days, including the Portofino in my home town of Redondo Beach, which is conveniently located between Los Angeles International Airport and the cruise port.



Wes demonstrates that almost anyone can kayak.

  Again, the choices of great beach cities could go on and on, but I don't think you can find a better place to stay for walking to different shoreside activities than Redondo Beach.  We have harbor activities like sailing, kayaking and paddle boarding, or walking a little further on you'll find wide beaches for boogie boarding or sunbathing.  There's great live music at Baleen Kitchen, a lounge at Portofino, or you can walk to the world famous Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach for jazz on Saturday or Sunday.  At Redondo Beach Pier, there are great bar bands with free admissions and reasonably priced drinks.  The many restaurant choices include Barney's Beanery, Kincaid's. or Tony's Fish on the pier, and numerous affordable sidewalk cafes on the piers in both Redondo and Hermosa as well as at the nearby Hollywood Riviera. 

If a cruise is to be the centerpiece of your vacation, you should consider Hotel Maya in Long Beach for at least the night before the cruise.  It has beautiful panoramic views of downtown Long Beach as well as the Queen Mary, which is permanently dry docked by the Long Beach cruise terminal.

By the time you spend a couple of nights in Anaheim, Redondo Beach and Long Beach, plus a cruise, you will have experienced the vacation of a lifetime. 

Wine tasting with friends in Temecula.

However, you definitely could do much more, including viewing world famous art at museums like the Getty and Huntington Gardens, attend sporting events like Angels or Dodgers baseball, Galaxy or Chivas soccer or L.A. Kiss Arena Football, visit L.A. Live or Hollywood, explore the mountains by Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead, go wine tasting in Temecula, attend classical music concerts at the Hollywood Bowl and rock or country shows at one of our many venues, attend Broadway quality plays (including at the beautiful Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center) and much, much more.  In fact, if you can do it anywhere, you can probably do it in Southern California.

Summer is a great time to visit California, and I can tell you how to do it while avoiding the pitfalls like unnecessarily wasting your vacation in traffic.  I've lived here most of my life, so allow me to help you get the most from each area you stay as well as choose the best locales for what you enjoy doing.

North of the Redondo Pier

The longer I live in Redondo Beach, the more I realize what a wonderful place this would be as a pre- or post-cruise stop when embarking from Long Beach or San Pedro. Or, with the lovely Portofino waterfront resort and other fine accommodations, this is definitely a worthy destination for an extended stay, too.



While I love our former hometown of Manhattan Beach, there really is only one restaurant with a commanding ocean view, The Strand (formerly called Beaches). Nothing wrong with that, and there are lots of great eateries with peeks at the ocean from some of their tables, but Redondo Beach has lots of waterfront restaurants.

Normally, Julie and I don't go out much for dinner. Happy hours with cheap food while we nurse a cheap drink, yes. Full on meals, very seldom. Since moving to Redondo Beach, we've had more people come visit us, primarily due to curiosity about where we moved, I assume, prompting us to browse menus of potential destinations while strolling around. Joe's Crab Shack quickly became a favorite, as it merits repeating regularly. We used to take our mothers to the one in the Long Beach Marina before they passed away, so we already harbored fond feelings toward this waterfront chain. The Redondo Beach branch has lived up to our expectations, with great food and friendly service in a relaxed setting. Joe's menu features huge buckets of crustaceans and  gourmet seafood entrees, but there are also lots of delicious, filling meals for about $10 to $13.

While entertaining guests like friends Mike and Linda Rood or our daughter Gina justifies a meal in a full service restaurant, Julie and I rarely go out to eat by outselves when not on vacation (unless you count breakfast on the road at McDonald's or lunch with In-and-Out), but Redondo Beach may change that, because we feel like we're on vacation all the time. With our proclivity for thrift, however, I doubt we'll be deigned the new F. Scott and Zelda among the Redondo high society set.

Walking home last night from dinner at Samba, looking at the lights of the nearby Palos Verdes Peninsula, I thought about a simlar nighttime stroll with Julie on Ka'anapali Beach, and while we were definitely more chilly than we've ever been in Hawaii, the sound of the waves breaking nearby and the beauty of the night helped Redondo hold its own.

I hope you'll excuse my self-indulgence in again praising my new home town, but if you've been here for any time at all and for some reason are incapable of taking in the beauty for yourself because you're too busy texting or exercising without noticing where you are (and I pity you if that is the case), then you will at least make a mental note of all the people stopping to take photos, whether with smart phones or 35 mm cameras sporting an assortment of lenses.  On the way to dinner, a woman stood at the gate of a residential complex snapping a photo, and hearing me comment to Julie about how many people I notice taking pictures, she turned to us and said, "I've been here 27 years, and I still keep taking pictures."

Many visitors to Redondo Beach hang out on the pier or the stretch of beach immediately south of it.  There's a grassy park above that beach where families hold ocean-view picnics, and the farmer's market winds down a path between the park and the beach on Thursdays.  South of there is where Julie and I prefer to go to the beach, boogie boarding or just strolling the strand.  When our oldest daughter Gina came for a recent stay while doing some research with USC, she joined us on several walks here, as well as up to Hollywood Riviera cafes and shops, which I'll most likely describe another time.

Immediately north of the pier is a stretch of waterfront bars which I can imagine breaking into donnybrooks of flying chairs and overturned tables should the wrong intent be inferred, which along with the fresh seafood vendors makes for a lively area that I call Poor Man's Marina (the boats are generally seaworthy but left in a rather rough state, presumably in a rush to hit the bars).

Once north of that area, you come to Rich Man's Marina, where pristine boats could easily compete for Prettiest In Show ribbons. This is where the gorgeous Portofino Hotel is located. 

Right at the crux of the two marina are Samba and Delzano's.  We haven't tried Delzano's yet, but taking advantage of a 2-for-1 promo we chanced upon, we indulged in Samba, a Brazilian churrascaria.




As Atkins Diet advocates (if not strict practitioners), we've been tempted by the promise of sabers full of charred meats in unlimited quantities brought to the tables, and Samba fulfills that promise. It was all delicious, including a wide variety of side dishes. On an episode of "No Reservations" set in South America, Anthony Bourdain chided his brother for the folly of eating any starches or veggies when so much great meat was available, but I have to say that the diverse side dishes really rounded out the meal. We were surprised to find a short line to be seated in this tough economy, although once we tasted the food we weren't surprised to see a much longer line when we left.

While we waited for our table, we sauntered into the lovely bar, where several large screens and one enormous screen showed the Sunday night football game. During games, domestic bottled beer is $2.50, so I went with a Michelob Ultra with a lime in it. In a world of imports and micro-brews, I'd forgotten how good this Atkins-friendly beer is. We enjoyed out wait for the table, ensconsed in the modern but comfortable, white leather sectional couch. Our "date night" proved to be thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish.

Sunset On Our Redondo Beach Era

Over the past three weeks, Julie and I experienced the angst of condensing our prized possessions in our Redondo Beach condo --- mostly old photographs, other memorobilia and clothing --- into twelve 18" x 18" x 16" boxes shipped off by UPS and giving away literally tons of other stuff including most of our furniture in order to turn over possession to the new owners on Monday at the close of escrow.

We also filled our Ford Escape to the gills with more fragile treasures including artwork and our television before driving off for the last time from our California home.

All was not forlorn, however.

First, the weather cooperated with pretty much perfect conditions, which may not be unexpected in a Southern California beach city but is always appreciated.  The climate skipped much of the "June Gloom" that can creep from morning into midday most years.

More importantly, we had some of our kids around much of the time.

Gina, Laszlo and Emma weren't there in person, as Emma finished up her elementary school career and prepared for summer camp, but they gave us support over the phone and Zoom.  Even more directly, they have been accepting those boxes as they arrived, holding them for us until escrow closes on our new house in Pennsylvania just four miles from their home. At about 37 pounds each, moving them around and storing them is no easy task!

Amy flew out to spend our last week in Redondo Beach with us while en route to an executive business meeting at Le Meridien in San Francisco.  She had asked for the week off, but her boss said they couldn't get by without her at this critical moment in their recent series of acquisitions, so she spent a lot of time on Zoom calls working remotely.

She had another big task, which was sorting out all the stuff we had moved from Manhattan Beach to Redondo Beach eight years earlier, right after she graduated from college.  She made many tough decisions herself, somehow cutting back to something less than two of our UPS boxes and a bit of room in the car for heavier items like yearbooks.

She also managed to find time to take a surfing lesson at Manhattan Beach's El Porto with her boyfriend Lukas, so they are now officially stand-up surfers. 

As always, Amy had lots of people to see while visiting, so it was far from Daddy-time around the clock, but we had a lot of laughs.

On Saturday, we took a break from all the packing to visit Jay and Sasha up in Brentwood Village, where we spent most of our time in their gorgeous pool area.

Something specific I will always remember laughing about in the pool with Jay and Amy was when I told them that the difference between them and me was that I knew what it was like to be their age and think like them.

Amy said, "But you're just so smug."

I replied, "I'm not smug.  I'm just right."

Jay, Sasha and JoJo also came up to help us, including picking up a day bed and file cabinet that Julie and I purchased before Jay was born for our first home together in Laguna Beach to bring to the new Venice home of Sasha's mother Libby.  

On separate trips, they carted off a desk that they will use in their own home office and our globe in a stand, which is the only piece of furniture we kept and which they will soon bring to us.  They returned Sunday morning to transport the mattresses for the day bed after Amy was done using them until flying out Sunday morning.

That happened to be Father's Day!

After filling Jay's Range Rover to take another big load of clothing and household goods to the Goodwill, which turned out to be the Salvation Army when Goodwill workers said they were too busy to accept donations and before loading the mattresses, Jay drove us over to Hermosa Beach to visit our old haunt, the Lighthouse, one more time.

We learned Gloria, the 90-something-year-old jazz programmer was no longer working in the venerable nightclub which had recently changed ownership, another vicitm of the pandemic...or was it a blood transfusion for a dying tradition?

Extra seating had been added on the Pier Avenue walkstreet in front, and we snagged a nice new table with comfortable chairs.  Jay, Sasha and JoJo treated Julie for delicious Lighthouse Burgers and fries, while they had vegan meals they also enjoyed.  

On Monday, we moved out the few pieces of furniture we'd held to use, shipped the twelfth box and thoroughly cleaned the condo in Redondo for the last time, hopefully creating some good karma when we move into our new house.

Our hearts were warmed by many neighbors who told us we would be deeply missed, and we will truly miss them...and the dolphins who swam by daily.

This week, however, we're back in Big Sky, ready to savor mountain life again.  

This was the Escape after removing some items.

Lots of precious memorobilia were reduced to photos for this move.

Oceanography 1964: Ka'anapali Beach

"Why would anyone take a vacation anywhere else?"

Julie asked that during our first visit to Maui over 30 years ago.

By that time, the "Polynesian Riviera" shown in this fascinating linked time capsule from 1964 had already attracted developers to line its beautiful three miles of beachfront with hotels, but the wide beach at Ka'anapali remained open to everyone, as promised.

As commercial developments go, Ka'anapali Beach has been a great one, opening a slice of paradise to generations of visitors who continue to thoroughly enjoy the experience, including Julie and me.

We were excited to have Maui as our first port upon awakening on the fifth morning of our cruise, though I must say the cruise days had been fantastic, a throwback to college days attending classes by day and going out to enjoy an active social life at night, managing to slip in a bit of work in between.

We've been to Maui eight times now, and each stay we've spent most of our time at Ka'anapali Beach.

Five of those times were on cruises when we chose to head directly to snorkel at Black Rock by the Sheraton and have lunch at Hula Grill, which for our taste is one of the best restaurants in the world.

True to form, after a great morning snorkel where we encountered a friendly green turtle and a slew of brightly colored fish at Black Rock, we split a Kapulu Joe BBQ pork sandwich at Hula Grill.

As we strolled back up the beach for more underwater adventures, who should we encounter but Mark Harris, our naturalist from Star Princess.

Having been raised in Iowa and lured to be a marine biologist by watching Flipper on TV as a boy, Mark brings a level-headed, middle American approach to Oceanography that's quite refreshing, obviously possessing deep love for the the natural world but also great empathy for human desire to experience nature firsthand.

While we don't like to bother performers or lecturers when they're off duty, Julie couldn't help but gush that we had seen the green turtle eating red algae at Black Rock.

In his onboard presentation about sea turtles, Mark had shared that green turtles naturally feed on sea grass.  As human encroachment on their habitat in Ka'anapali Beach had destroyed this food source, marine biologists like himself had worried that could spell the end for green turtles there.

However, the turtles have adapted, changing their diet to include red algae in more polluted lagoons like Black Rock, where they still return  By polluted, I don't mean the water has less than excellent crystal-clean, aqua-tinged visibility or that industrial sludge is oozing from corroded factory pipes there.

A lot of small things simply add up.

Sunscreen slathered on tourists gradually washes away.

Snorkelers stand on living coral to look around and find their bearings.

Food wrappers unintentionally blow away from family picnics.

For green turtles specifically, there apparently continue to be enough other positives about Black Rock to keep them coming back despite the lack of sea grass.

Incidentally, sea grass is plentiful around the Redondo Beach jetty, but the water temperature is simply too cold for green turtles, if they could survive the trans-Pacific swim for a good meal as easily as we can cruise the distance.  While we have a very temperate climate in California, it doesn't stay as consistently around 80 degrees as Maui does.

In his onboard lecture, Mark explained that beach temperature is particularly important for incubation of turtle eggs, because the sex of the hatchling is determined by temperature, with more females at higher temperatures.

At 91.4 degrees Fahrenheit, 100% of baby turtles will be female, with obvious repercussions for future procreation.

However, we didn't talk to Mark about turtle sex on the beach.

Instead, Mark pointed out what we had already noticed, that Ka'anapali Beach has lost much of its sandy shore.  I think he said 30%.

We've all heard horror stories of human-caused global warming causing sea levels to rise, endangering island nations and coastal cities.

While not a popular opinion with my children, I have often rebutted this by saying that is the nature of climate change and civilizations through the millennia, with the result sometimes being forced relocation of major population centers and occasional truly catastrophic natural events wiping out civilizations over night.  

And on the other hand, Big Sky Town Center in Montana is now over a mile above sea level, but eons ago it was the ocean floor.

Theoretical considerations of how natural any of this change might be fall aside when it becomes a place you know and love, and it is downright alarming for the impacted populations and civic leaders, who do not know what to do about it but feel compelled to do something.

Mark did mention global warming raising sea levels is one concern, but he said at least as significant was the fact that both Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii have been gradually sinking as the massive shield volcanoes that formed them have subsided with age.

In addition, Europe and America are gradually moving further apart, with the result so far being that the Atlantic Ocean level has dropped about 10 feet during our lifetimes.  This is caused by the natural movement of tectonic plates that has nothing to do with global warming.  Common sense says that as the Atlantic widens, the Pacific on the other side of the American and Eurasian plates is being compressed, forcing sea levels to rise.

In Redondo Beach right after we moved there, a huge engineering project pumped sand offshore and onto our beach, actions that surprised me based on past experience with the California Coastal Commission that seems to stand against protecting beach communities from natural coastal change.  Perhaps they're finally coming around to a more Dutch way of thinking.

We regularly witness smaller restoration projects using heavy earthmoving equipment to maintain our beach

To me, this is the most logical, justified and responsible action for governments to take to counteract climate change and other natural dangers.

In Maui, however, their efforts on this front have not proven to be sufficient so far.

Ka'anapali Beach has noticeably eroded since we began visiting Maui in the mid 1980's.  That's particularly clear at still gorgeous Black Rock, where little sand remains for beach towels to spread out.

Make no mistake.  Ka'anapali Beach is still one of the greatest places in the world, and Julie was already checking air fare to return as soon as we returned home.

In the long run, I think Maui will figure out how to save Ka'anapali Beach, because they understand what a rare jewel it is and have the support of not only the local residents and resorts but also the cruise industry and vacationers from throughout the world who would happily contribute to an effective policy to restore and protect this area for future generations.

"Better service leads to better trips!"

Mini-Vacation in Los Angeles

Too many people skip Los Angeles in conjunction with a cruise to Mexico, Hawaii, the Panama Canal or the California Coast.

Because the traffic is so terrible from LAX to downtown, it is understandable in a way, but there's so much to do without going north.

You can experience one of the best beaches in California just a short Uber ride south of LAX.

Redondo Beach happens to be where I live, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying mini-vacations there.

One of the best times to come to California is between Labor Day and Halloween, when the blue water is warm as well as sparkly, the skies are sunny with a few clouds, and the summer crowds have dissipated.

We've enjoyed some great boogie boarding waves this year, as usual, and if you're a surfer, you would be smiling too.

There's also kayaking, wind surfing and boating activities, not to mention swimming, bike rentals and about anything else you can think of doing on a perfect California day.

Whether you head to the sand to rest and warm up between sets or simply bask in the sun all day with a book and some iTunes, our beach is about the perfect width, with the surf not too far from the easy-access sidewalk and bike trail that border the sand on the other side.

A couple of days last week, the blue water became particularly calm, and no surfers were in sight of the jetty, so Julie and I donned mask and snorkel to explore the underwater world.  We saw lots of fish, most notably large, bright orange garibaldi, and some beautiful purplish coral.  Patches of long, green sea grass added eerie beauty as it swayed with the gentle currents.

No wonder we see so many scuba divers out there on weekends.  We thought they were just certification classes that didn't see all that much, although we definitely can see sand sharks (small, harmless singrays) and fish sometimes just standing in the clear water.

We're semi-regularly delighted by dolphin pods swimming by our place, which surprises a lot of people who would never guess they live here year round, and one day last week the dolphin were quite close in, frolicking in the breaking waves.

On the pier, there's everything from shacks to dive bars to Kincaid's upscale steak and seafood restaurant, but our favorite is Barney's Beanery, where the Happy Hour features half priced finger foods like taquitos and potato skins as well as $4 beers and other cheap drinks.  For $20, you can have dinner for two.

A short walk away are lots of other great choices, including Samba's Brazilian Churrascaria, Blue Water Grill, Cheesecake Factory and Joe's Crab Shack.

On the weekends, we like to walk two miles north to Hermosa Beach Pier, where live jazz starts at 11 AM at the Lighthouse.

We usually split a Lighthouse Burger for lunch, along with a couple of Diet Cokes, and again the tab comes in at under $20.

This past Sunday, we went to nearby Alpine Village for Oktoberfest.  It turned out to be German Heritage Day, with lots of great additional activities like slap dancers, parade and polka to go along with the usual great beer, bratwurst and oom-pah-pah live music.  Free admission before 1 PM was an added bonus of going that day.

Our son Jay met us there, and we enjoyed a great afternoon celebrating our October birthdays.

We ran into our German-American friend Norbert, who has lived in the condo where we live since it was built in 1974 but still has a strong German accent, so as Jay said, it was like having that interraction with a local as you might hope to get at the site of the original Oktoberfest in Munich.

Norbert said the Oktoberfest in Munich is not to be missed at least once in a lifetime, with about 25 tents similar to the one at Alpine Village except that each tent in Munich holds 10,000 people.  I don't know if that's hyperbole or not, but he said it is quite a vibrant atmosphere.

While Alpine Village may be small by comparison, it's an easy alternative to Munich if you happen to be in L.A. during October (or September).

Rounding out my mini-vacation in L.A., Norbert invited me to play golf at the public course in Harbor City the day after Oktoberfest, and we had a good time hitting the ball far and trying to find it (only lost one all day!).  I was the fifth joining Norbert's regular foursome of German-Americans, and while I didn't understand most of their conversations I enjoyed the sunny fairways.

After the game, Norbert and I went back to Alpine Village for a late lunch.  I enjoyed hearing more stories about his youth in Germany and his life in Canada as an immigrant in the 1950s following a tough transatlantic crossing.

Oh, and then I went boogie boarding again the next day, though the high tide had the six foot waves turning over so quickly that it was really pretty much just holding on to my board for dear life as I was slammed down on a quick ride to the shore.

After a dozen rides, I decided I better quit while I was ahead, as I have been crunched a few times as a younger man in similar waves and didn't want to risk neck injury before heading east to visit our daughters.

If you want to come to Redondo Beach as a tourist, the new Shade Hotel on King Harbor will be opening soon.  We walk past it on our regular Saturday trips to the Lighthouse, and they're finishing it up right now.

There's also the newly remodeled Redondo Beach Hotel, where our friend Karen works, as well as Portofino and a few other nice hotels in the area.

Make the most of your cruise from Los Angeles or Long Beach.

Better service leads to better trips!

My old friend Pete in Long Beach during his LA trip.
We took a boat ride from Long Beach Marina to Seaport Village,
where we had lunch at Famous Dave's BBQ, but that's
an entirely different adventure in L.A. County.