Issue #35: Is It the Magic Southern California Light?

Palm Springs, San Diego, Los Angeles... they all feel like a time capsule

Alright, indulge me just a bit today. I’ve been thinking about warm weather destinations quite a bit lately as I wait for summer temperatures to return. The only places that I really think about when it comes to warm-weather getaways are Palm Springs and the Baja Peninsula.

Today, I want to share more of my thoughts and love for Southern California. So grab a cold beverage and see why I think these places are caught in a time warp or manipulation of some sort (fear not, this is not a weird sci-fi fiction piece.)

First, a little background…

Living in San Diego for the first year of the pandemic was an accident. We were only meant to be there for three weeks as part of a dog-sitting gig before heading north up the coast. We were jobless, houseless, and trying to figure out where to land next settle. With a plan to visit San Francisco, Bend, Portland, Seattle, and eventually Alaska, we were sure we’d find someplace that felt like home. But on March 13, California started shutting everything down.

We got a call from the dog owners stating that the airports were closing in Panama and that they were returning early. They offered us their downstairs guest room (with a twin bed) until we could figure something out. With grocery store shelves already clearing out, we knew we’d rather find something a little more private to get through this two-week lockdown. An Airbnb was available, and the host gave us an excellent price.

So, for one whole year, we lived in a comfortable, furnished backyard cottage. We quickly made friends with the owners and the neighbors. Our pod had formed. We played games outside and watched movies in the backyard each night. These people became our family. Our luck was obvious. We could have been stuck anywhere to ride out the pandemic, but it happened while we were in sunny San Diego.

San Diego Discoveries

It took me a while to understand why my daily neighborhood walks in San Diego felt like I was visiting a movie scene. There’s something about the never-changing weather that makes the entire region feel like it’s stuck in time. Each street is lined with palm trees and pastel-colored bungalows. The passing of time happens differently there. Even if modern apartments are in front of my face, I don’t seem to see them.

Each day, I watched the same palm trees sway in the wind outside of my window, and it felt surreal. I’ve always lived in places where the changing of seasons helps mark time. The first cold breeze of autumn with the changing of the leaves, the snow flurries that signal the end of stick season, and the brightness of the nights with the ground covered in white. Southern California blooms like spring and summer all year round. There are subtle differences, but you have to search for them. And everything is shrouded in that golden light.

The lack of significant change really made me think about being frozen in time. They say salt corrodes materials faster, but I think the opposite is happening in this coastal city. Time seems to just crawl in a beautiful way. Dipping my feet into the Pacific Ocean once a week helped me stay present and grateful in a time that was pretty horrific in the world. It made things less bad.

The Palm Springs Time Warp

This wasn’t the first time I fell in love with this time warp. I noticed it in Palm Springs when we visited. I knew right away that I had found a spot I would return over and over. Palm Springs has the same feeling of time pausing but even more intense. I can’t tell if it’s the sunshine and consistent warmth that makes these places age slower.

When I close my eyes, I can instantly transport there in my mind. The taste of date shakes and tropical cocktails, the smell of sunscreen, the sound of bicycle bells, the bright colored doors on mid-century houses, and all the pastel tracksuits of the people shopping the Thursday market. It felt like not only a geographical destination but a destination in time.

Don’t Worry Darling is a movie set in the 1950s, but they could have filmed it in multiple neighborhoods today throughout the southern part of the Golden State and just had to hide the cars behind garage doors. It’s not a great movie, but who can resist Harry Styles and a setting like this? Palm Springs is another film that is literally about time travel and finds the characters in a time warp that feels weirdly possible here. Even films capture this phenomenon of manipulated time.

The golf courses and gardens are meticulously kept, everything perfectly in place, and the only real change is the snow on the surrounding peaks, which melts in the hottest parts of the year. It’s hard to put my finger on exactly what makes me love it so much—the colors, the desert, the heat, the unique history. It just feels like the perfect getaway.

It Might Have Just Been the Time…

While I love the idea of spending time in Palm Springs and San Diego, I learned quickly during 2020 that I am not cut out to live in a place without obvious seasons. Things already felt a little like Groundhog Day, with the pandemic lockdowns keeping us in a loop at home for safety, but with the views staying the same out the window, I felt a little crazy.

Maybe the timewarp feeling was something everyone experienced during the pandemic lockdown when I ended up living there, but I still feel it clearly when I return. I felt it on my first adult trip to LA almost a decade ago. There’s just something about the clothes, the people, the landscape, the color palette, and the sunshine that feels like I’m stepping into a different universe.

The entire aesthetic has become one of my great obsessions. I follow countless photographers and artists who capture this Southern California nostalgia. If you are struggling to see the vibe I’m talking about, do a little browsing through these artists:

• Slim Aarons—This was the artist who planted the seed to write this newsletter. Whenever I need a little escape, I just scroll through his photography. Many of his photos feel like still frames from a Wes Anderson movie. He moved to California after WWII. Being fed up with seeing so much conflict and struggle, he wanted to capture attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places. There were never stylists or make-up, just beautiful scenes of life. It’s a wonderful form of escapism. Browse some of his West Coast photos in this Getty Gallery.

• Arielle Vey —If you want a beautiful Instagram account to follow or some stunning SoCal prints to hang in your home, look no further than this wonderful lady. I’ve been following her for years and took many of her San Diego County recs when we lived there. I love her color palettes and ability to transform simple daily photos into art.

• Josh Agle —Shop colorful pieces at the Shag Store in downtown Palm Springs. This artist has a unique style and puts together colorful art that takes me to a different place and time (this might be my Jetson’s reference from earlier.)

• Gray Malin—This modern photographer can quickly transport you on vacation with some of the most beautiful drone shots I’ve ever seen. He captures ski mountains, big cities, and the Mediterranean, but his California pieces perfectly match this colorful vision I’m trying to explain.

• Stephen Willard—In the early 1900s, he captured Southern California on film and had a photography studio in Palm Springs. The Palm Springs Art Museum has an online exhibit of his work.

I’m not completely oblivious to the fact that there are plenty of places in Southern California that don’t really fit into this, but it’s still something I think about often. But if you’re searching for some of this special golden light and a weird timewarp feeling, save this list for your next trip.

• Lafayette Hotel, San Diego - Lounge by the pool and sip on cocktails in this boutique hotel near North Park (our old neighborhood in the city.)

• Sunset Cliffs and Ocean Beach, San Diego - Perfect at sunset with surfers and rooftop tacos, plus it’s much less busy than nearby Pacific Beach.

• Normal Heights, San Diego - It’s a little less busy than nearby North Park, but there are great antique stores and restaurants. South Park is another great neighborhood that’s perfect for wandering.

• Balboa Park, San Diego - Museums, gardens, art shops, and more can be found at this city park that has gorgeous architecture and a million places to stop and sit for a bit.

• Encinitas - Just walk the whole downtown strip of this beachside town. Stop at Modern Times for a beer and some food at Raul’s Shack.

• Pioneertown, Near Joshua Tree - This little old western town was used to film movies almost one hundred years ago, and now you can visit and take photos.

• Palm Springs Art Museum - I’m not usually an art museum person, but I could return to this spot over and over. It’s an interesting collection and gives you plenty to wonder about as you make your way through the exhibits.

• Vista Las Palmas and Deepwell Neighborhoods, Palm Springs—These neighborhoods are perfect for biking or walking and for taking in the beautiful mid-century modern homes and their architectural features.

• Cholla Cactus Garden, Joshua Tree National Park - There are plenty of cool views and hikes throughout the park, but this little prickly garden was one of my favorite spots.

• Anywhere with a view in Los Angeles - From Griffith Observatory to Runyon Canyon, get out anywhere you can to hike a bit, and enjoy the views of the hills around L.A.

• Neptune’s Net, Malibu—If you are cruising up the Pacific Coast Highway, this stop is perfect for fueling up before you head north and into a different beautiful section of this giant state.

If you want to read more about how we got “stuck” in San Diego, read This Wasn’t The Plan and It’s Official. I also wrote individual love letters to San Diego and to Palm Springs (I told you, I’m obsessed.) We have a full guide for exploring Joshua Tree and one of my favorite National Parks, Death Valley. We haven’t checked everything off our California Bucket List yet, and some of our favorite people let us visit anytime we want, so we will just keep going back.

Read more about Slim Aarons in this Vanity Fair piece. Try the Fifty Dollar Martini (pictured below) at the Villa Royale that I peeped in a recent Seattle Met piece. Good news: California’s otters might be saving the coast from erosion. And if you want more of these vibes, throw this playlist on and find a sunbeam to soak in for a few minutes.

Let me know if you agree with me about the magical timewarp of Southern California. Could you live in a spot where the seasons don’t make themselves known? Do you have a destination that you can’t stop thinking about? Thanks for allowing me to have my own mental spring break this week and pretend I’m poolside in the desert.

Cheers!

Steph