There's nothing more Californian than the Santa Monica Pier
In London you learned to always stand to the right on the subway escalators, at the risk of getting a good push if you don't. In Rome to cross the street like a brave and force the traffic to stop in front of you. In Paris to have picnics in public parks and take you to the bottle of wine or the most complicated dishes to eat. And in New York to walk at an ultra-fast pace, dodging oncoming foot traffic and never looking anyone in the eye. Naturally you consider yourself a full-fledged urbanite. Not necessarily.
If you want to explore one of the big Californian cities, you're going to have to forget (almost) everything you've learned so far. Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland or even San Francisco are not the easiest cities for European travelers to navigate accustomed to walking a lot, taking public transport and getting lost in some alley where you can find the perfect charming cafe. Practice these tips, and you will have no problem:
1. Walking tours are limited to specific and well-defined areas.
In San Diego you can stroll through the Gaslamp Quarter, Little Italy, the boardwalk to Seaport Village, or stroll through Balboa Park. In The Angels you have Third Street in West Hollywood, the two or three blocks of Robertson Boulevard above Third, The Grove open-air mall, the **Hollywood Walk of Fame** (if kitsch is your thing), Rodeo and Little Santa Monica Boulevards in Beverly Hills, the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and Abbot Kinney in venice beach . In most cases sections full of restaurants and shops. Move a little away from these well-defined areas and the foot traffic will almost completely disappear and you will feel strange walking down the street.
Venice Beach, perfect for strolling
two. You go shopping (or visiting) by car.
Precisely because the shopping and pedestrian areas are so clear and well defined, it is best to go from one to the other by car. Distances from one place to another can be unsuitable for pedestrians And it's not like public transportation options abound. If despite everything you want to take a walk through an "atypical" area, do it. Most likely, you will end up in some residential neighborhood, with low houses with a garden in the middle of the city and that you will run into a neighbor walking the dog who greets you on the street. Either that or suddenly a highway interrupts the street and the sidewalk disappears.
3. Always keep in mind where you will park.
Parking on residential streets is usually relatively easy, but always read the signs to make sure that you do not need a parking permit or that the hours you can leave your car are not restricted. Most areas and shopping centers have parking at reasonable prices or even free. if they stamp your parking ticket in one of their establishments. Learn the value of the phrase: “Do you validate?” (If I bought or consumed something from you, would you stamp my parking ticket so that it would be free or cheaper?) .
Always keep in mind where you will park
Four. Watch out downtown.
Not only is it usually where it is most difficult (and expensive) to park, it can also be the place where you run into the least pleasant side of these cities. Oakland It has a historic center full of charm and in full expansion, but it is still an area of contrasts where you can go for tapas or buy a trendy t-shirt and turn a corner to see something that reminds you of the not necessarily pleasant reality that some of its neighbours. The Angels For years he has been trying to rehabilitate his center, with projects such as the Walt Disney Music Hall or the recently refurbished Grand Central Market on the very angelic Broadway street. But just a couple of blocks away you can end up on Skid Row , where a good part of the city's homeless live in tents and makeshift shacks in the middle of the street.
San Francisco is not short. Walking through its central Market Street and right next to the city hall you will find the Tenderloin neighborhood, another area that is responsible for reminding visitors and residents on a daily basis of the many contrasts that exist between the different residents of this city and the difficult as life here can be for some of them.
Walt Disney Music Hall, Los Angeles
5. Plan well what you want to do.
Unfortunately, improvisation is not a very Californian characteristic. As laid back as everyone is, leaving work and calling friends to hang out for a beer somewhere random doesn't take much. It would be quite reckless! Before making any type of plan, you should always shuffle: the state of the traffic, the need to make a reservation in the place where we want to go (very common) and the exact geographical area in which the people are located with whomever we want to meet (crossing the city at rush hour is quite reckless).
6. And never, ever under any circumstances underestimate how chaotic (and miserable) rush hour can be.
Use apps like Google Maps or Waze to see how the traffic is and find alternative routes in case of congestion. avoid highway and taking residential streets can be a working solution, but only sometimes.
Traffic, the worst of Californian cities
7. Practice the California roll, the U-Turn and the left turn with ease.
All of them mandatory to drive like a Californian more. The California roll is the common name given to the right turn, despite having a red light. It can be done only after coming to a complete stop and yielding to pedestrians, bicyclists and other vehicles. Much more fun (and practical) is the u turn or 180 degree turn but it takes a bit of practice if you don't want your co-driver to end up squashed against the window. Regarding left turns, it is best to read the traffic literature and, if you are not clear, choose only streets whose traffic lights also regulate left turns . It is good that you do not let yourself be intimidated on the highways, even if they have six, seven and even eight lanes in each direction.
8. San Francisco is the exception, but only partially.
It is true that it has a public transport network that makes it easy to explore its center and some neighborhoods such as the Mission or Haight-Ashbury, but the best kept secret of any self-respecting San Franciscan (and who insists on how much they take the bus and the bike to go everywhere and how much he walks) is his car, which he will not hesitate to unpark often. The other not-so-well-kept secret of San Francisco natives is their bank accounts. Uber . Something that they will not hesitate to use on a typical Friday night when they have gone out to dinner and have a few drinks and of course they do not feel like waiting for the Muni to go home.
In San Francisco streetcars, but also a lot of cars
9. Never limit yourself to the city.
The gastronomic offer is endless , the number of places where you can spend your money going shopping is almost infinite and museums like the LACMA or the Young don't have much to envy the Moma or the Tate either. But the best thing when you visit Californian cities is that you act like their residents and do not limit yourself to the asphalt. Getting out of them is incredibly easy and they are surrounded by endless beaches, mountains, forests and sun, lots of sun.
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Santa Monica Beach, Los Angeles