A.M. Murrow

Highway 1 through Big Sur is full of pullouts, and most of them hold your attention for about five minutes. One small spot under the redwoods tends to hold it much longer. It has books hanging from the eaves, poems tied to trees, a ping pong table, and dogs who seem to think they run […]

Some places in Southern California change their menus, their signs, and their owners every few years. Then there is a small seafood counter in Carson where people who first came as kids now show up in their 40s with their own children in tow. There are no tables, no fancy decor, and no reason to

By 9:30 on an ordinary morning in Solvang, a line is already forming at one small bakery, and nobody in it seems to mind. Solvang has been California’s little Denmark for generations, with windmills, timber-framed shops, and a deep love for Danish baking traditions like aebleskivers. One bakery in town has drawn crowds for decades

Thousands of Los Angeles drivers roll down Wilshire Boulevard every day without a second thought about the strange building on the corner. Behind that wild facade sit more than 100 vehicles spread across 25 galleries, plus a basement holding over 300 more. Some of these cars once carried presidents. Others starred in movies you probably

Some picnic spots come with a nice tree for shade. This one comes with a volcano. In the far northern corner of California, there is a small lake where you can unfold a blanket on the shore, open a cooler, and look straight up at a peak that last erupted about a century ago. Families

Small propeller planes roll down a coastal runway while a puffy pancake lands on a nearby table. That pairing happens every morning at a little cafe tucked beside an airfield just north of Half Moon Bay. Plenty of drivers on Highway 1 cruise right past it without a second look, which is a shame, because

Somewhere off a busy Auburn highway, riders walk in planning to grab one item and walk out with six. That happens often enough to be a running joke among the people who shop there. The racks hold English saddles, Western gear, riding boots, and brand names at prices that feel like a throwback to an

Some of the best ocean views in California do not come with a hotel bill. They come with a tent stake, a picnic table, and a campsite close enough to the water that the tide sets your alarm clock. This list covers ten beachfront campgrounds, from the foggy redwood coast near Orick to a sandy

There is a stretch of Big Sur coastline where the sand shows streaks of purple, and most drivers on Highway 1 roll right past the turnoff. No big sign points the way. A narrow road through the trees is the only clue, and it leads to giant rocks, a famous arch with a hole in

Some small towns stay quiet forever, and some get discovered. This little valley city in Ventura County got discovered, and the people who grew up here are still adjusting. Folks who once knew every face downtown now see new shops, new homes, and a steady stream of weekend guests from Los Angeles. The mountains are

Some lunch plans start with a simple question: is a two-lane coastal road worth an extra hour for a plate of oysters? For a lot of Bay Area drivers, the answer is a firm yes. They leave the freeway behind, follow the curves of Highway 1, and end up at a small waterfront shack in

Every quilter has a fabric stash, and every quilter has promised to stop adding to it. Then a new bolt shows up and the promise goes out the window. California still has a strong lineup of family-run fabric stores where the owners know their stock, the selection goes beyond the big-box basics, and the help

Ten dollars still buys a ticket to a brand-new movie in one corner of the California desert. There is no sticky floor, no tiny seat, and no stranger kicking the back of your chair. The screen sits outdoors, the sky does the ceiling work, and the sound plays through your own car radio. In Twentynine

Upper State Street in Santa Barbara does not shout about its best addresses. One of them sits in a plain strip mall right beside the post office, and plenty of drivers roll past it every day without a second glance. That is a shame, because inside is a small Italian kitchen with a loyal crowd

Some breakfast traditions start small and then refuse to quit. One diner in Whittier opened its doors in 1933, back when a cup of coffee cost about a nickel, and it has been feeding hungry crowds ever since. Today people drive in from across Los Angeles County and beyond just to claim a booth and

Less than two hours from Los Angeles, the freeway traffic gives way to pine forest and a mountain lake that seems far removed from city life. Up in the San Bernardino Mountains, a small lakeside village has been pulling Southern California families uphill for generations. People come for a few hours and end up staying

Every Saturday and Sunday morning in Costa Mesa, a college parking lot turns into an open-air market packed with tables of tools, toys, clothes, pet gear, and things nobody planned to buy until they spotted them. Entry costs nothing, parking costs nothing, and plenty of shoppers head home with a full back seat after spending

Somewhere in California, a real house with a real yard can still cost about the same as a new pickup truck. That sounds like a story from 1985, but listings in one small lakeside city keep proving it true today. The town sits on the shore of the largest natural freshwater lake located entirely inside

Every so often, a national study ranks the happiest cities in America, and one Bay Area name keeps landing near the very top. Residents of this East Bay city tend to shrug at the headlines, because they already know what makes the place work. It has a silent film museum in an old studio town,

Down on the coast, October can still look a lot like July, with shorts, sunscreen, and not a single orange leaf in sight. But drive east or north for an hour and the story changes fast. The highways start to twist, the air cools off, and the oaks finally get the memo that it is

Somewhere along Interstate 15, between the Inland Empire and the Nevada line, a giant ice cream cone rises out of the desert. Drivers spot it from the freeway, and plenty of them change lanes before they have even decided to stop. Behind that cone sits a gas station that has become a tradition for families

Some dinners are about the food, and some are about the view out the window. Along the Southern California coast, you can often get both at once, with the Pacific on one side and the mountains rising up behind you. The six restaurants on this list sit on harbors, wharfs, piers, and the edge of

Most coffee runs end with a dog left at home, staring at the door and wondering where everyone went. One little cafe in Eagle Rock decided that was a problem worth solving. Behind its counter sits a back patio and a gated play area where pups can roam off leash while their people sip a

Long before freeways and strip malls, a chain of missions stretched up the California coast, and many of them are still standing. You can walk their adobe halls, sit in their old churches, and stroll through gardens that date back to the 1700s. Most charge only a modest admission, which makes them one of the

A quick stop for groceries in Burbank can go sideways fast. One minute the plan is a loaf of bread and some sliced meat, and the next there is a gelato cup in one hand and a box of cannoli in the other. This old school Italian market and restaurant has been feeding locals for

Long before anyone drove to Yosemite for a weekend, gold seekers were pushing open a pair of heavy iron doors in a tiny Sierra foothill town. Those same doors still swing today, and the room behind them has kept its lights on since 1852. Groveland holds a piece of old California that has outlasted the

Some barbecue joints build a following over decades, but one new spot in downtown Oakland seems to be doing it in a matter of months. Folks line up before the doors open, and the ribs are big enough to earn comparisons to a certain cartoon caveman’s dinner. The cornbread is purple, and nobody seems quite

Plenty of us have a half-finished quilt top folded in a closet, waiting for the day we figure out the next step. The good news is that California still has independent quilt shops where patient staff, beginner classes, and longarm machines help new quilters cross the finish line. These are real neighborhood shops, from Gold

Most museums ask you not to touch the exhibits, and they certainly never start them up. Out in Chino, there is a place where a Korean War era MiG-15 can roll out, fire up, and take off while the crowd watches from the ground. The hangars hold World War II fighters, rare one-of-a-kind aircraft, and

Some bookstores want you in and out in ten minutes. This one in Pasadena seems to quietly hope you never leave. It first opened its doors in 1894, back when Pasadena was still a young town, and it has been selling stories ever since. Today it holds two big floors of books, a coffee shop,

Remember the weight of a pocket full of quarters and the thrill of seeing your initials on a high score list? Downtown Sacramento has a spot that hands that feeling back to grown-ups, minus the need to ask a parent for change. More than 40 classic arcade games line the room, pinball machines wait for

Some road trip stops are forgettable. This one comes with a bowl of bird food and a crowd of very tall, very hungry customers lined up at the fence. In the Santa Ynez Valley, just outside the Danish-style town of Solvang, there is a ranch where giant birds walk around and people are invited to

Some towns put up a few lights in December and call it a day. Others look like a film crew showed up, built a set, and forgot to leave. Up in the Sierra Nevada foothills sits a small place with roughly 3,000 residents, a Gold Rush past, and a downtown full of old storefronts that

Some people drive hundreds of miles for a theme park. Others load up the car, clear the trunk, and head to downtown Los Angeles for fabric. In the city’s busy Fashion District sits a warehouse-style shop so stocked with bolts, buttons, zippers, and trims that shoppers sometimes struggle to make up their minds. Former design

Seven dollars does not buy much lunch these days, yet one small shop in Pasadena keeps proving that rule wrong every single morning. Its famous sandwich has no menu, no mayo, no mustard, and no custom orders. Bakers and deli hands turn out hundreds of them daily, stack them by the register, and watch them

Some souvenirs come off a shelf, while others come out of a 2,000-degree furnace with your fingerprints all over the story. On a quiet stretch of the Central Coast, a tiny town keeps a working hot shop where beginners leave holding a vase they shaped themselves. Families book lessons here, couples mark anniversaries here, and