Best Beach in CA! and why...

[usregimechange]

Love to visit.

[The Sheik]

1. Saaaaaaaaan Gregooooooorio. South of Half Moon Bay.

Dont let no latte-drinking southern californian tell you their trashy, crowded beaches are good.

[tyedyeto]

23. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.......

you are taking me back down memory lane.

I've made sand candles there, spent days just relaxing on the beach there. Such a nice place in this world of ours.

[RadicalMom]

2. Pfeifer Beach in Big Sur. Hard to find because the locals have

been taking the signs down for years. Make sure you go to that very one, in your travels. Pretty much everything else in Big Sur is gorgeous, too, but that place is another world. And it really isn't necessary to slam the Southern Californians. I'm really tired of the cliches. Many of us like living here because it allows us to go to places like Big Sur when we can, and leave their beauty intact. We can't help geography, you know. This beats living anyplace that doesn't have an ocean nearby, if you are addicted to being near them. The most amazing place on this coast is the Olympic penninsula in Washington, which California can't compare to, as much as I love it here. If one can't leave southern CA for a while, we have some really lovely beaches in Ventura county, one in particular near the Channel Islands Visitor Center in Ventura. Then the beaches near Newport are very lovely, too.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. The wild beaches are certainly tops, but...

Many of us don't live and can't get to those places except on special trips. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the beaches here on Santa Monica Bay. I especially like them in the winter, when the sun's out, the wind's crisp and sharp off the ocean, and Santa Catalina Island stands out in the bright, metallic blue ocean. And when there's NO-ONE on the sand!

[RadicalMom]

7. Come to think of it, I am extremely fond of the little tiny beach at

Paradise Cove, but the parking fee is astronomical, unless you have lunch at the restaurant, which is right next to where they parked Rockford's trailer on "The Rockford Files." If you walk about a block to the right of the parking lot, it is quite private, and full of starfish. And I completely forgot about Westward Beach, home of Pirates Cove, where gazillions of things have been filmed, and is just east of Zuma, and Free Zuma. It has its own admission, in the summer, and not bad last time I checked, and is rarely crowded. It's the tip of Point Dume. It's a joy and not that well known. It feels more like the wild beaches there. All of these are in Malibu.

[SoonerShankle]

15. Ditto

I live in Hermosa Beach. I love walks on the strand and sand, the sound of the waves crashing at night, and slogging through the knee-deep sand among other things. SaMo Bay may not have the beauty of a rugged coastline (except maybe along the Palos Verdes peninsula), but it has it's own charm and character too. I mean, you gotta love the eclectic mix at Venice!!!

[BrotherBuzz]

4. Glass Beach at the mouth of Pudding Creek in Fort Bragg

Glass Beach is one of the most unique beaches in the world, not because nature created it that way, but because time and the pounding surf have corrected one of man's mistakes.

Beginning in 1949, the area around Glass Beach became a public dump. It is hard to believe these days, but back then people dumped all kinds of refuse straight into the ocean, including old cars, and their household garbage, which of course included lots of glass. By the early sixties, some attempts were made to control what was dumped, and dumping of any toxic items was banned. Finally in 1967, the North Coast Water Quality Board realized what a mistake it was and plans were begun for a new dump away from the ocean.

Now, over 30 years later, Mother Nature has reclaimed this beach. Years of pounding wave action have deposited tons of polished glass onto the beach. You'll still see the occasional reminder of it earlier life, such as a rusted spark plug, but for the most part what you'll see is millions of pieces of glass sparkling in the sun.

I was introduced to this small wonder in the late sixties and was totally amazed. For many years I was willing to admit my enthusiasm for the beach might have been caused by a drug induced euphoria until Huell Hauser (California Gold) visited it and was every bit as amazed as I was.

[okawari22]

18. Speaking of Dog Beach, how about its environ?

Ocean Beach! San Diego's best-kept secret, last of the California coast's backwater villages, if only ten minutes from downtown. Lots of greenspace, even a skateboard park. Shares Point Loma's schools etc, absent that neighbohood's yachtclub passers-through, mudslides and perennial rush-hour. OB rules.

[newyawker99]

19. Hi okawari22!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[lazarus]

24. OB rocks

I love that bohemian oasis in the midst of Red San Diego.

[cyclezealot]

5. Love the beauty of Big Sur beach..

But in terms of the quality of the white, fine grain sand- I think the public beach at Carmel fits that mold...Just the sand could be on Maui, but you need a wet suit...

[Blue_State_Elitist]

6. None

Go to Mexico unless you don't mind swimming in liquid shit.

[RadicalMom]

8. That was just special! I'm so glad that Mexico has such terrific water

quality, and is a model for the rest of the world in the way they address pollution. When one is swimming to Mexico, they might as well swim down the Rio Grande on the way, noting all the raw sewage dumping straight in, pure and unfiltered, as nature intended.

[Blue_State_Elitist]

10. Resorts in Mexico

California should be the model for how pollution is addressed? haha

[usregimechange]

17. The ocean water is suppose to be clear on the gulf side.

[Capn Sunshine]

12. where are you talking about?

Marina Del Rey at the sewage/harbor outfall?

[tjwash]

13. All that "liquid shit" comes here from Mexico

nt

[lazarus]

9. Dog Beach in San Diego

Because that's where we take our dog, so she's voted for it.

None of the beaches here can come close to the beaches on the Gulf Coast, esp. the Florida panhandle region.

[Capn Sunshine]

11. Free Zuma

hands down. Large expansive sand , rock free bottom, mostly clean water, and great waves.

[NCN007]

14. Limantour in Point Reyes

not even close

[RadiDem]

16. In Socal my favorite is El Matador >

in West Malibu. seen in hundreds of ads, photo shoots, etc.

http://www.rockcitynews.com/pages/california/labeaches/beachesrobertmeyer.html

[jdots]

20. Big Sur

please don't bring boom boxes and pick up your trash .

[caligirl]

21. China Beach, Monterrey Sate Park sits in a cove below the picnic tables

and down some stairs. Small and just beautiful. White sand, beautiful rock formation in the water.

[bemildred]

22. I'm not telling. nt