“Best way to live in California is to be from somewheres else.”
― Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/california
Twice I have been to California now. I had constructed an image of the state in my mind long before going: endless blue skies, an expanse of golden beaches, cool smiley American teenagers and young adults spending their days surfing and hanging at the mall with friends. Throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s, I was immersed in the advertising campaign featuring countless recognisable celebrities using reverse psychology. They were talking about how ‘California was definitely not all that’, whilst posing next to the beach, outdoor swimming pools, Los Angeles itself – it clearly had its intended impact on my parents, who years later organised the dream holiday by the Pacific coastline. And indeed, California possessed everything the adverts had promised. But they had also left out some disturbing truths about the area.
The first time we visited California, we mainly stuck to destinations on the Pacific Coast Highway – locations including Malibu, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, and briefly Laguna Beach. We only weren’t at one of these coastal cities when we rode over to Anaheim to check out Disneyland. We were too wrapped up in the novelty of the Californian locations to notice any negatives; we were transfixed by the artistic streets and skyscrapers of Los Angeles, and by the shade of turquoise blue of the ocean. We held a very rose-tinted perception of anywhere we went, because we were frankly in awe of having places we had dreamt about seeing for years in front of our very two eyes. It was also Christmas, and when every mall or city you visited was covered head to toe in exuberant Christmas decorations, you were bound to leave with a fantastic impression made. The effort locals went to to celebrate Christmas was especially evident where we were staying. Our home for ten days was the small city of Newport Beach, and our hotel was near the lovely harbourside community Balboa Island. Along the harbour front, almost every single house was covered with expensive, extravagant decorations, and they were themed too. The house that has always stuck out in my mind was one which was surrounded by huge teddy bears! This community and their lifestyle helped reaffirm our love of the state, and once we arrived back in the UK, we had not a bad word to say about California, only fondness of our time there.
The second time we visited arrived a lot sooner than we originally anticipated when we were on the plane home the first time around. Our plans were to wait two years time and save up in the meantime, so when we went back we would not just stick to one state, but potentially explore more. An offer made by the travel agents was too irresistible, and we moved forward our holiday by a year, to 2019. That was the impact California had made on us, and just how keen we were to get back there as soon as we could! It was almost like we had a sixth sense to know not to delay the trip by more time – if it had been booked for this year like it should have, the likelihood is we would not have even made it onto the plane, due to the current global epidemic.
The first time we really noticed that not everything was the perfect haziness we thought it to be, was the hazy air in the state itself. Despite observing the amount of smog signs along the Pacific Coast Highway the year before, I never realised how severe the problem just was. You could not clearly see the view in the distance at times, even if it was impeccable weather. Los Angeles and its surrounding districts are desperately polluted, and it would not surprise me if the air quality is substantial enough to lower life expectancies by months, if not years. Los Angeles is rife with other problems too: homelessness, wealth disparities, and congestion. We ventured into LA for what was meant to make my 23rd birthday memorable, but it became memorable for all the wrong reasons: we were stuck on the freeways for hours. California is a densely populated area, so traffic building up even on the widest roads is a frequent issue. Car-pool lanes exist to try and alleviate the pressure on the roads, yet even these pay-to-use features sometimes become completely blocked. Freeways and triple-carriage roads may typically save miles when travelling to a destination, but constant traffic signals not allowing you to travel more than a mile at a time mean they are very slow. Some days, you cannot win.
The second time around we travelled further eastwards and north-westwards through California, the latter to reach Nevada and Las Vegas. We also drove through two other states: Arizona and Utah. What we discovered is it is practically only the tightly-populated coastal parts of California which are polluted and road blocked – away from the coastal line much of the state consists of untouched, expanses of land. This was especially evident on the drive between Barstow (a city in Northern California with an eerie abandoned premium outlets on the side of the freeway), and Las Vegas. Between the two places you barely pass any other settlements – I’d say 95% of the route was a sparse, but stunning mix of dusty mountains, and desert land. Any towns we did happen to pass by were small and only had housing, shops, and casinos. Standalone gigantic casinos are rare in the UK and are discretely advertised; in this part of the world everyone wants you to know they are there, and billboards for them line the roads, even when nothing else is about. I am still unsure whether I find they add some character to the area, or if they are a ghastly, ugly distraction from the natural beauty of the route.
Other freeways and highways we took were also refreshingly quiet, but with the added bonus of having less tack and novelty, and more unique scenery. There were so many surprises along the way – from shows I watched as a kid, I had convinced myself Arizona was a hot, dry state, with deserts and not much else. There was of course all that – especially in the place that we had travelled to Arizona/Utah to see, Monument Valley – but there was also luscious forests and lakes. It was a complete surprise – it was like going through numerous countries in one day. Whilst it was so different in many respects, Arizona felt the most similar to home in some areas too. The style of housing in settlements in the state, with their gardens and verandas, and the layout of streets felt more akin to a British place; the grid layout of the houses and avenues in Central California started to feel predictable and boring, and it was tricky to gage the personality of each individual city. Places in Arizona and Utah which we saw strongly possessed their own unique feel. It was a shame this time around we did not have enough time to thoroughly explore them, but at least these will be the towns and cities we will come back to.
There are also other problems with California; the natural beauty of the coves, shores and beaches has been jeopardised by decisions to build manufacturing plants and factories too close to comfort from the coastline. I am no environmental expert, but even I am sure some of the fumes produced from them inevitably blow over into the sea, polluting it in the process. This will be unhealthy for both the sea creatures which know the ocean as their home, and the hundreds of thousands of tourists who swim/surf in it annually. Not to mention how unsightly they are to look at as you drive past them on the PCH. It is beyond bizarre to drive along the highway and have miles of miles of beaches, suddenly interrupted by a junction of smokey factories and electric lines. I can’t speak for what the rest of the PCH is like beyond Malibu, but the quality of the environment around this section of the highway could be improved vastly.
We saw the grandest properties in the fanciest neighbourhoods, a stone’s throw away from boutiques and expensive brands. LA is famously regarded as the home of the rich and famous, and from first-hand experience, Rodeo Drive is exactly this: it and the surrounding areas are a playground for the rich. The wealth is not just confined to Los Angeles; most of the cities around the city and Orange County are very visibly wealthy. The money has been used more tastefully outside of LA; malls are elaborately decorated and the streets are pristine, but the wealth is nowhere near as in-your-face as it is in Rodeo Drive, it just enhances your experience of visiting the beach-side cities. My resentment is not with these places predominantly, although they aren’t angelic either – I do not like how parts of LA can be so hideously wealthy, when other suburbs are dangerously rough. There were certain streets even my dad and brother refused to walk through, in fear of being mobbed for money, or worse. It was not that they saw people which made them feel threatened, but rather the piles of stinking rubbish uncollected for weeks and the drug needles on the floor was enough to tell them no one cared about those streets. Even more distressingly, we spotted dozens upon dozens of homeless people risking their lives by standing roadside, and begging people for money as they stopped for traffic signals. Others had their whole life piled up in a shopping trolly, their only form of shelter and storage. If they had any empathetic bone in their body, how could the rich folks up in Hollywood and beyond go about with their daily life, and not feel for the thousands who struggle to survive every day? It is repulsive how people can live in mansions they definitely do not need to survive, whilst innocent homeless do not even have a bed to sleep in once in a while. This issue is wide-scale as well, albeit not as common in the PCH cities. I pray one day people will wake up and changes will begin to be made, as the problem had only seemed to worsen in between the times we were in California.
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I tried to make a push when I first started this blog to interact with anyone who reads these posts, and I want to bring this back! I am curious to hear your opinions on the places I write about, and where you have travelled to – social interaction is more important than ever right now, for positive well-being and metal health. So, my questions for this article are:
– Do you agree with my sentiments about California? Or do you still believe it is the epitome of paradise?
– Which place you have visited in the past has most lived up to your expectations, and/or least lived up to them? And why?
Either drop your replies in the comments section ⬇️, or send a direct message to me. Stay safe everyone (by staying at home!)💕.
All photos used in the article taken by myself☺️🌿.
– The Ginger Globetrotter🌍
The Ginger Globetrotter🌍 