Standing at the Sausalito waterfront along Bridgeway and looking afar, you will find the city of San Francisco pops up in the background. Of course, this requires a clear day, before Karl the Fog rolls in with force. The name Sausalito came from the willow trees that once clustered along the creek banks here; Spanish…
Menlo Park’s name suggests office parks and tech campuses, if not quiet residential streets. There’s a shopping center right next to town too. That’s what makes stumbling onto Allied Arts Guild such a pleasant surprise: red tile roofs, wrought iron gates, and courtyards thick with wisteria and old roses. It’s Spanish Colonial Revival and artsy,…
As you walk the cobblestone paths past cottages with thatched roofs that are surrounded by cypress trees, it’s easy to mistake Carmel-by-the-Sea for a page out of a storybook. That charm did not happen by accident. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, artists and writers fled the wreckage and found cheap lots and open skies…
Ojai is one of those towns that asks you to take it slow. The name itself comes from the Chumash word for “moon,” carried forward from the valley’s original inhabitants. After a 1917 fire leveled downtown, glass manufacturer Edward Drummond Libbey saw an opportunity: he brought in an architect, rebuilt the whole block in Spanish…
Nevada City is a town that speaks history at every turn, the place where miners settled after striking gold along Deer Creek in 1849. A stroll along its downtown is like a trip back in time. The streets are lined with Victorian storefronts and Greek Revival homes, thanks to a 1968 ordinance that preserved the…
Endless rows of lettuce stretch toward the horizon, framed by rolling hills and a sky wide enough to swallow you whole. This is the Salinas Valley, California’s Salad Bowl of the World, where the soil once made this small city one of the wealthiest in America per capita. Those fields didn’t grow themselves. Waves of…
As the seventh mission founded in California, Mission San Juan Capistrano is often called the “Jewel of the Missions”, a title born from both its splendor and sorrows. Established in 1776, it rose to prominence with the construction of the Great Stone Church, a baroque-inspired masterpiece and the largest structure in Alta California. A a…
Strolling through Santa Barbara transports you to the winding streets of Andalusia. Each corner greets you with whitewashed walls, colorful tiles, and elegant archways along California’s coast. After its dramatic rebirth following the 1925 earthquake, much of downtown was rebuilt in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, creating a timeless cohesion that still enchants visitors today….
Red-tiled rooftops lead the eye toward the ocean, framed by the distant Santa Ynez Mountains—a scene that feels Andalusian, though this is nowhere in Spain. It is the view from El Mirador, the clock tower of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse. Completed in 1929, this Spanish Colonial Revival masterpiece invites you inside to marvel at…
It was California’s first capital under Spanish and Mexican rule. It was also where California’s first constitution was drafted for admission into the U.S. as its 31st state. This is Monterey, a city of firsts—California’s first theater, public library, printing press, and many more. Aside from these pioneering events, Monterey also saw the boom and…
When residents of Eucalyptus Ave in San Carlos put up holiday lights each December, they mean business. The result? This might be one of the most over-the-top Christmas displays you will ever see. First started by the Liner Family as a holiday tradition, the dazzling lights and festive decorations are now an annual community affair. …
Promise and despair—these are not uncommon themes throughout California’s history and the establishment of Spanish missions across the state. Of the 21 missions founded from San Diego to Sonoma, perhaps no other mission stands witness to such intricate tales better than Carmel Mission. At the height of its time, the mission once served as headquarters…