Southern California - December 2025

The week before Christmas our friends Richard and Jeannie invited Diana and I and another couple to join them in Southern California;  Newport Shore to be precise, where they had a week in a time-share.  It wasn't going to be anything too memorable, but, as usual, interesting things popped up along the way.

Hearst Castle and the Santa Lucia Hills

We started by driving from a foggy Sacramento (where we hadn't seen the sun in 25 or more days) and driving south on I-5 and then from Kettleman City over to the coast via Paso Robles (where the sun finally made an appearance).  We wanted to visit Hearst Castle in San Simeon.  I have visited several times before but Diana hadn't.  Hearst Castle is the most beautiful location for a home, let alone a castle - on top of the Santa Lucia hills, overlooking the ocean, and at this time of year, the hills are covered with a new growth of green grass.

Hearst Castle

After buying tickets, you are taken in a bus up to the top of the hill where you are met by a guide for your tour.  There are several tours but we took the "Grand Rooms" tour.  We were led up to the house where we learned a little about the location and the building of the home.  It was an epic project that took many years to achieve, in fact it was never really finished during W.R. Hearst's lifetime.  The architect for the project was Julia Morgan, the most famous female architect in California.  She designed so many wonderful buildings in California, including the Goethe house right here in Sacramento.

The Neptune Pool, Hearst Castle

The outdoor pool area, the Neptune Pool is a spectacular swimming pool surrounded by sculptures and fountains and an ancient Roman Temple that Hearst acquired from somewhere in Europe.  It appeared in Kubrick's 1960 film, Spartacus and then much later in 20214 Lady Gaga persuaded them to allow her to film a music video there (a deal sweetened by a 0.5 million donation to castle). 

Interior Hearst Castle

We went inside the house and saw the main lounge area that was all decked out for Christmas.  The room was full of sculptures and tapestries and other artifacts that were collected in Europe.  Unlike other collectors of the time, Hearst did not travel around Europe buying things himself.  He purchased most items from auction catalogues in New York and had them shipped to California.

The Dining Room, Hearst Castle

The dining room had beautiful European tapestries hanging on the walls and a long table that could seat 30 or 40 people.  Apparently as new guests arrived they took seats towards the middle of the table next to Hearst and then as they stayed longer they were displaced down the table as new guests arrived.  It must have been quite an interesting crowd for dinner - Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, Buster Keaton, Errol Flynn, Winston Churchill, Charles Lindbergh, Bernard Shaw, Howard Hughes, Gary Cooper, Douglas Fairbanks, etc.  The guide told us that the guests were all mined for gossip that would later appear in Hearst's newspapers.

The Roman Swimming Pool, Hearst Castle

The beautifully ornate Roman Swimming Pool, an indoor pool, was now fully restored and it looked amazing, with blue and gold tiles, statues of Roman Gods, marble lamps.  A thing of great beauty.

Aoudad

On the way down the hill, we saw the enclosures where Hearst kept polar bears (he had a fairly extensive zoo on the site).  The only animals left these days are zebras, sambar deer (which we did not see) and barbary sheep or aoudad (which we did see).  They roam freely on the ranch and they have successfully bred.

We continued in the evening down to Santa Barbara where we stayed for the evening.  The next morning we drove through LA to Orange County and arrived at our destination, a Marriott resort in Newport Coast.  Orange Country has changed a lot since I was there in the mid 80's.  There has been even more development and it all looks even more uniformly affluent and manicured.

Sunset at Laguna Coast

In the late afternoon we took a walk down to the beach.  It was a little foggy but not too cold and the sunset was lovely.

The next day, Tuesday, I made an early morning run to the beach and along to Crystal Cove - an interesting State Park.  We lounged around most of the morning and then went for a late lunch followed by a trip to Balboa Island.  Balboa Island is a small island in Newport Bay entirely filled with small old homes.  Most of the homes have been renovated and look seriously expensive.  They have a thing there for Christmas decorations and most houses had inflatable santas and snowmen along with lots of Christmas lights.  The Christmas decorations extend to the boats in the Bay and during Christmas week there is a parade of boats around the island, eah displaying a fine display of lights.

Christmas at Crystal Cove State Park

The next morning, Wednesday, we went for breakfast in Crystal Cove at the Beachcomber Cafe.  This little State Park was created to preserve a unique beach house community built in the 1920's and 30's.  The area was always owned by the Irvine Company and the houses were only leased to their owners.  In 1979 the Coastal Commision bought the property and slowly converted it to a State Park.  The houses are all historically renovated and they are available to rent from the State.  You cannot drive to the houses but must park up top on the PCH and walk or catch a bus down to the beach.  

Crystal Cove Beach

There is only one restaurant in Crystal Cove, the Beachcomber Cafe and we had a fine late breakfast there.  We then wandered around the beach for a while, checking out the tide pools and birds.  There have been several movies shot in Crystal Cove from the silent era to the present day - the most recent one being Beaches with Bette Midler.   

The next day, Thursday, we left for our drive north back to Sacramento.  We made a few diversions along the way.  The first being a stop in LA to visit an art gallery (The Broad) and look at a building (the Bradbury Building).  

The Bradbury Building

We stopped at the Bradbury Building first.  This is a late 1800's building with a rather plain exterior but inside it is a real gem.  There is a lot of wrought iron work and the elevators are very old and require an operator to ride them.  The building has appeared in several films and tv shows, the most famous being the original Blade Runner.  At street level, the Blue Bottle Coffee shop on the ground floor makes a most excellent cup of coffee and there is a cutlery shop that was the location where O.J. Simpson bought a stiletto blade that featured in his murder trial.

The Million Dollar Theater

Across the street is the Million Dollar Theater. one of the first movie palaces in Los Angeles.  It has now fallen on hard times but the facade of the building is wonderful.  We couldn't go inside so we don't know how the inside looks.   Hopefully something has been preserved from its original grandeur.

The Central Market, Los Angeles

Next door is the Grand Central Market.  Once upon a time it was a wonderful market featuring only the finest of foods.  Nowadays, it didn't feel that great - just a lot of food counters with places to eat.

The Angel's Flight Funicular, Los Angeles

Above the Grand Central Market is Angel's Flight, a funicular railway that moves people up and down between Hill Street and Grand Avenue, a distance of around 300 ft for a gain of only 100 ft.  It is a small funicular for sure.

Anthony Quinn Mural

There was a very nice mural of the actor, Anthony Quinn on a nearby building.  

We next drove over to The Broad art gallery on Grand Avenue.  This is a newish gallery in Los Angeles named after the philanthropist Ely Broad (of home builder Kaufman and Broad fame).  It is housed in a beautiful building and it is a superb collection.  The gallery is free to enter as all art should be.

I'm Sorry - Roy Lichtenstein

While most other galleries have a Warhol, a Koons, a Lichtenstein, a Basquiat, etc, this gallery has a room full of Warhols, a roomful of Koons, of Lichtenstein's, of Basquiat's.

Kusama's Infinity Room

It was a splendid gallery with some wonderful pieces.  I am a big fan of Kusama's work and there was an installation of one of her Infinity Rooms.  We ququed for a short while to allowed into the room for a timed 60 seconds.  Lights flash and change colors and with a complex array of mirrors it appears that you are looking into infinity.  A great experience piece.

The Disney Concert Hall

While the Broad gallery building is itself quite beautiful and impressive it is overshadowed by the Disney Concert Hall next door.  This Frank Gehry building is just so beautiful - so many metallic curves.  We didn;t get to go inside but I am sure it is a thing of great beauty on the inside too.

Leaving LA we drove over the Grapevine to the San Joaquin Valley and Bakersfield.  We were heading towards Sequoia National Park.  As it was dark we stopped for the night just outside the park in Three Rivers in the Sequoia Village Inn - a bit of a primitive hotel room but quite adequate.

Sequoia National Park Entry

The next morning we drove into the park.  It was a beautiful day and the road, winding up into the higher Sierras, was quite impressive - switchbacks and curves rising up to 6,000 ft or more and, of course, the occasional giant sequoia tree.  

Sequoiadendron Giganteum

The sequoias are magnificent trees with their enormous trunks and their enormous branches way up high at the tops of the trees.  I always thought that the Giant Sequoias in the Sierras were a close cousin of the Coastal Redwoods, the Sequoia Sempervirens, but I was wrong.  The  Sierra Redwoods are from the genus, Sequoiadendron and the Coastal Redwoods are from the genus Sequoia.  

General Sherman

We stopped at a few groves to marvel at the trees - especially the General Sherman, one of the larger examples - truly magnificent. 

We also learned about the name Sequoia.  Obviously a Native American name, but I didn't realize it was from a specific person.  Sequoyah was a Cherokee born in 1770 who died in 1843.  He was quite the polymath and he created the first writing system for a Native American language.  He developed the alphabet that allowed the Cherokee language to be written on the page.  It was hugely successful and led to books and newspapers being published and allowed more effective communication among the tribe.

Kings Canyon

From Sequoia we drove into the adjacent Kings Canyon National Park.  Access to this park was fairly limited as we were well into December and the road deep into King's Canyon was already closed.  Nevertheless there were some nice overlooks where you could look over into the impressive glacial valley of the King River.

Leaving Kings Canyon we drove down into the valley near Fresno and continued north on Highway 99 to Sacramento and home.  A nice short trip in California that revealed some interesting places that I hadn't visited before.