Southern California
California, USA · Los Angeles · Orange County · Palm Springs
4 places pinned — click any one for its story.
The place
Southern California is sun, sprawl, and a hundred worlds in one — Los Angeles and Hollywood, the beaches and Balboa Park of San Diego, the theme parks of Anaheim, the desert resort of Palm Springs, and Joshua Tree beyond. We've been down south many times, usually for the parks and the coast.
Places I visited
History & facts for each spot — with a “then & now” archival photo where one exists. Every one has its own page; open it for the full write-up and all the photos.
Orange groves until 1955, when Walt Disney built the first Disneyland here — and the whole idea of a theme park with it. The park has its own page in this log.
Full history & photos →
A hundred neighbourhoods in search of a city — oil, aerospace and the movies built it, and the light is still the reason everyone films here.
Full history & photos →Read more on Wikipedia →Archival photo: Toward Los Angeles, California LOC 3549663710 — Wikimedia Commons
A Hollywood weekend hideaway in the desert under Mount San Jacinto — mid-century modern houses, palm canyons, and sun three hundred days a year.
Full history & photos →Read more on Wikipedia →Archival photo: Palm Canyon near Palm Springs, showing palm trees over a creek, ca.1901 (CHS-2104) — Wikimedia Commons
Where California started — the first Spanish mission in 1769, an enormous natural harbour, and the Navy that has been sitting in it ever since.
Full history & photos →Read more on Wikipedia →Archival photo: 17. Dates and olives from the Mission San Diego — Wikimedia Commons