Explore the best of the West with these extraordinary experiences (2024)

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Saturday, May 18. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:

• See why the West Coast is the best coast.
• Wildfire weather is increasing in California and much of the U.S.
• The 15 movies you need to see this summer.
• And here’s today’s e-newspaper.

Why the West Coast is the best coast

Long sandy beaches, expansive deserts, theme parks, snowcapped peaks, Chinatowns, hot springs, seals that bask on cityside piers, glacial lakes, tacos and forests that stay green all year long.

Those are just a few things that make the West Coast the best coast.

There’s something for everybody here, but only if you know where to look. And in the expansive (and expensive) thousands of miles from British Columbia down to Baja California, it can be overwhelming to start.

Until now.

My colleague Christopher Reynolds and contributor Elisa Parhad put together a list of 101 best West Coast experiences to help you make the most of this coast.

You won’t find the usual Southland suspects on the list (Disneyland, the Getty or Santa Monica Pier, for example).

Instead, you will learn about destinations you’ve always wanted to visit or revisit, such as Carpinteria, where you can nuzzle an alpaca, or Seattle, where you can zip to the top of the Space Needle. Plus dozens you’ve never heard of.

Alpacas, originally from South America, are stars of the tour at Canzelle Alpaca Farm in Carpinteria. Tour guide Karen Putnam shows the animals’ gentle side.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Christopher and Elisa included a helpful map to go along with the list. You can filter experiences by neighborhoods and categories (including entertainment, parks and trails, restaurants, shopping and travel). You can even sort by distance based on your location to find what perfectly meets your needs.

Ready to hit the road? Our features team created a downloadable checklist so you can keep track of your adventures. And in case you have a favorite adventure that didn’t make the list, we’d love to hear about it.

If the map and list are still too overwhelming, we’ve got a cheat code for you: start your journey with Christopher’s top 10 list of the best of the West.

But wait, there’s more.

Add our 36-page zine “West Coast 101” to your library. You’ll find recommendations for the most inspiring and fascinating things to do on the West Coast. It’s the perfect size to pack in your travel bag and includes a checklist to mark off your adventures.

Here are just a few experiences to look forward to on our list:

• Commune with whales in a Baja lagoon.
• Thumb through pages at Bart’s Books under an open sky in Ojai.
• Roam the electric superbloom that is Sensorio in Paso Robles.
• Stand on a rim of a sleeping volcano at Crater Lake.
• Soak in a floating hot tub in Seattle.
• Tiptoe high above a misty forest on the Capilano Suspension Bridge in Vancouver.

The week’s biggest stories

Climate and environment

• Flu season is over, but there is a viral surge in California wastewater. Is it avian flu?
• Gavin Newsom, during his speech at the Vatican on climate change, accuses “Trump of ‘open corruption.”
• Wildfire weather is increasing in California and much of the U.S., a report finds.

Campus protests

• Police arrest 47 at UC Irvine after sweeping protest camp, clearing barricaded building.
• UC Santa Cruz academic workers to strike Monday, angered over treatment of pro-Palestinian protesters.
• UCLA academic senate rejects censure and ‘no confidence’ vote on Chancellor Gene Block.
• Pro-Palestinian group takes over UC Berkeley building; university calls it ‘crime scene.’
• UC officials charge that academic workers strike over pro-Palestinian protests is illegal.

Crime and courts

• David DePape has been sentenced to 30 years in the attempted Nancy Pelosi kidnapping and the hammer attack on her husband.
• Federal judge orders ICE to end ‘knock and talk’ arrests of immigrants in Southern California.
• D.A. removes Rebecca Grossman’s prosecutors, outraging parents of murdered boys.
• A Tesla going more than 100 mph. A suspended license. Three young lives cut short. Inside the Pasadena crash.
• Brass knuckles, body cams and bad behavior: LAPD probe links troubled Valley gang units.
• After the Assembly issues an apology for California’s role in slavery, some reparations bills die in the Senate.
• Sean “Diddy” Combs seen on video assaulting ex-girlfriend Cassie in an L.A. hotel.
• ‘I blew it big time.’ Former Facebook DEI head gets 5 years in prison for stealing millions.

More big stories

• Red Lobster offered customers all-you-can-eat shrimp. That was a mistake.
• Migrants from around the world have made this stretch of California the top place to enter the U.S. illegally.
• Newsom boosted California’s public health spending during COVID. Now he wants to cut it.
• This anesthesiologist is L.A. County’s highest-paid employee. He works 94 hours a week.
• SoCal district to pay $360K to teacher who was fired after refusing to follow transgender policies.
• California exodus left a gaping population hole. Can the Golden State finally bounce back?
• We checked in with Hollywood writers a year after the strike. They’re not OK.
• A woman makes history with a shark-infested swim to a remote California island.
• As job growth in California falls back, unemployment rate remains the highest in the country.
• Troubled EV maker Fisker closing Manhattan Beach headquarters.
• From Baja to British Columbia, these are the 101 best West Coast experiences.

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Column One

Column One is The Times’ home for narrative and long-form journalism. Here’s a great piece from this week:

The shocking state of the restaurant industry: ‘We can’t afford to be open. We can’t afford to be closed.’ The industry is facing a crisis as new legislation, inflation, higher wages and pandemic fallout have chefs and owners worried for the future of mom-and-pop restaurants.

More great reads

• A lonely desert fire station, the only lifeline for millions of Vegas travelers.
• On a Hollywood studio lot, a new New York comes to life.
• “I relive it every night”: Jeremy Renner reflects on the day he almost died, and why he’s alive.

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

For your weekend

Going out

• 🍴Celebrate graduation or move-out day at the best restaurants near L.A.’s college campuses.
• 🌮🍣 Ten favorite ways to eat through the wondrous Mercado González.

Staying in

• 🎥The 15 movies you need to see this summer.
• 🧑‍🍳 Here’s a recipe for date and lemon bars with sesame.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.

How well did you follow the news this week? Take our quiz.

Which summer was the hottest in 2,000 years? Plus nine other questions from our weekly news quiz.

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Christian Orozco, assistant editor
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

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