On Saturdays, we feature other areas – click on the Where To Move category (above) for the whole collection!
“I suddenly realised I was in California. Warm, balmy air – air you can kiss – and palms.”
I thought about these words Jack Kerouac wrote in 1951 as I turned off the state’s famous Highway 1 and followed the road around, the gleaming Pacific Ocean in sight. Everything around me was tinted pastel pink in the early evening light. A liquor store’s neon flickered, sun-faded motel signs promised vacancies, a couple walking arm-in-arm crossed the wide street framed by the rolling Irish Hills. If the perfect sleepy beach town still exists in California, I wondered if I’d found it.
“The secret is out and there’s a bit of gentrification, but it’s still the same as it’s been for 30-odd years,” said Ryan Fortini, born and raised in the area and owner of the boutique Pacific Motel, my base for two nights.
I was in Cayucos, a hidden surf town in San Luis Obispo County on California’s crowd-free central coast – or SLO-CAL as it’s known. Exactly halfway between San Francisco and LA, this peaceful paradise is home to world-class surf, glorious wine country, seal colonies, Michelin-starred restaurants, the kitschiest hotel in the world, and even an opulent castle.
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It’s also home to big-ass Sharks that will eat you.