Frommer's California 2005
Chapter One
The Best of California
by Harry Basch, Erika Lenkert, Matthew Richard Poole & David Swanson
California's allure is understandable. It really is warm and sunny most of the
year, movie stars do abound in Los Angeles, and you can't swing a cat by its tail
without hitting a rollerblading babe in Venice Beach. This part of the California
mystique-however exaggerated it may be-does exist, and it's not hard to find.
But there's more-a lot more-to California that isn't scripted, sanitized, and
broadcast to the world's mesmerized masses. Beyond the glitter and glamour is
an incredibly diverse state that, if it ever seceded from the Union, would be a
productive and powerful nation. We've got it all: redwood forests, an incredibly
verdant Central Valley, the Sierra Nevada, deserts, a host of world-renowned
cities, and hundreds of miles of stunning coastline.
And despite the crime, pollution, traffic, and earthquakes for which California
is famous, we're still the golden child of the United States: America's spoiled
rich kid everyone else either loves or loathes. (Neighboring Oregon, for example,
sells lots of license-plate rims that proudly state, "I hate California.") But, ... read full excerpt from Frommer's California 2005 ebook
