Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Coastal California Today
Coastal California is today the creative culmination of generations of big
dreamers. The fantasies spun by Hollywood and the cutting-edge tech of Sil-
icon Valley have come to dominate the digital transmissions and cultural
trends of the entire planet. Meanwhile, the state's iconic images of tanned
surfers and sunny sands endure, never mind thornier real-life questions
about how to manage a burgeoning human population and its accompanying
challenges of never-ending traffic gridlock, housing shortages and a sky-
high cost of living.
People & Politics
Even if you've seen it in the movies or on TV, coastal California may still come as a shock
to the system. Venice Beach skateboarders, Humboldt hippies, Marin County wild-mush-
room hunters, 'Bezerkely' professors and Silicon Valley millionaires aren't on different
channels. They all live here, a place where tolerance for other people's beliefs, be they con-
servative, liberal or wacky, is the necessary social glue.
The most divisive political hot potato of recent years was same-sex marriage, until a
voter-approved state constitutional amendment to ban it was struck down for good by the
US Supreme Court in 2013. Still controversial elsewhere in the USA, medical marijuana is
old news for Californians, who approved a state proposition allowing its use back in 1996 -
although the proliferation of raids on MMJ dispensaries and rumors of Mexican cartel inter-
vention have raised eyebrows. Now the burning question is: will California follow Color-
ado's lead in legalizing marijuana for recreational use? Whoa, dude.
Environmental Roots
There's no denying that California's culture of conspicuous consumption is exported via
Hollywood flicks and reality TV (hello,
Real Housewives of Orange County
). But since the
1960s, Californians have trailblazed another, 'greener' way by choosing more sustainable
foods and low-impact lifestyles, preserving old-growth forests with tree-sitting activism,
declaring urban nuclear-free zones, pushing for environmentally progressive legislation and
