S California* (Ojai, Santa Barbara, Malibu, Hermosa Beach, Los Angeles, Santa Monica)

[Centropolis]

southern california, taken by me, october 2016



hermosa beach























los angeles/santa monica/malibu

































































santa barbara





































ojai

[Coldrsx]

Beautiful.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Nice!

[dktshb]

Very nice! Looks like it was a little damp at the beginning of your trip. Hope you had a good visit.

[xzmattzx]

Nice pictures! Where is that amazing Fox Theater?

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Nice pictures! Where is that amazing Fox Theater?

westwood village, which is sort of down the hill a bit from UCLA. maybe someone can correct me, but it's sort of like a college town for UCLA, just north of wilshire. i was staying in this area, it's kind of a sleepy area later at night. like lots of areas of los angeles, it was pretty walkable with nice sidewalks, with busier main drags and quieter side streets. i took some photos after an evening drinking beer at a barneys beanery up there, but most of them are pretty blurry.

for people/midwesterners familiar with the country club plaza in kansas city, this neighborhood is very much like its los angeles doppleganger in form and development, but with more practical things like grocery stores and things for UCLA students. lots of mid century-ish apartments, lush landscaping, and 1920s/30s/40s generiously sized homes.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by dktshb

Very nice! Looks like it was a little damp at the beginning of your trip. Hope you had a good visit.

it was pouring down rain when i landed at LAX, haha. things rapidly cleared the next morning. another rainy front came in and then rapidly cleared out. it was clear from driving around the mountains northwest of LA how terrible the drought was, so i certainly didn't mind a little rain. it was extremely dry and clear up in ojai the entire time, and the sun is so warm in southern california of course that i even went swimming in the sea a few times in santa barbara and malibu without a wetsuit even though the actual air temps were pretty mild.

[ChrisLA]

Originally Posted by Centropolis

westwood village, which is sort of down the hill a bit from UCLA. maybe someone can correct me, but it's sort of like a college town for UCLA, just north of wilshire. i was staying in this area, it's kind of a sleepy area later at night..

Westwood Village used to be frat central, and it was quite popular back in the 80's. The area had become too popular for its own good. The weekend crowds were so large, many of the streets were closed off to car traffic, and the pedestrian traffic probably rivaled parts of Manhatten.

What killed it was when there was at least two incidents that captured national attention. I believe it was either a German, or Japanese tourist killed during a rival between two opposing gangs and shots fired and the innocent bystander was the victim. After that Wesswood never recovered to the destination it once was.

As you probably noticed it's pretty busy during the day but the nightlife in the area is pretty dead now. There have been so many other districts around LA to have taken over such as 3rd street promenade in Santa Monica, Pasadena old town, downtown Glendale and downtown Burbank, plus dozens of other districts, Hollywood, North Hollywood, Studio Ciy, and Sherman Oaks.

Westwood had all the glory back in the day, but now with all the competition around the LA metro, it has never recovered as a nighttime destination.

[Centropolis]

thanks for the background. santa monica, on the other hand, was busier at night than i thought it would be. i ended up meeting friends over there, probably will stay over there next time, or west hollywood.

[Centropolis]

a few more (unedited) santa monica shots...that california light, tho...jesus...

[SLO]

Great shots, I'd agree with Chris on Westwood, primarily UCLA students now. We are having a real SoCal winter this year, cooler and rainier...