South Coast and Peninsular Ranges

It may have been Carey McWilliams who, in his seminal publication “Southern California: An Island on the Land” said that “Southern California is California only more so.” Indeed, what America is to the world and what California is to America, so Southern California is to the rest of the Golden State; a legendary place that more often than not lives up to its own hype.

Almost everything that can be found within California either exists outsized or in miniature within this sunkissed corner of the state. Here you will find the largest urban conglomeration in the state. Nearly half of California’s population resides in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Statistical Area. And that population is diverse. For instance, some 92 different languages are reported to be spoken in the homes of students enrolled in the Los Angeles Unified School district.

Here too is a freakish land where it is possible to swim in the ocean and ski in the mountains all within the same day. It is no accident that the fledgling film industry chose Hollywood as the pace to set up shop. Within a few hours drive in any direction you can can find landscapes that resemble places on every continent but Antartica.

Point Loma

A statue of the 16th Century explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo guards the entrance to San Diego Harbor while an armada of modern pleasure craft sail by.

Regeneration

In recent years, the downtown and waterfront areas of San Diego have seen startling transformations through regeneration and the gentrification of older neighborhoods.

San Diego Sprawl?

Residents of San Diego pride themselves in not being Los Angeles, a reference to the sprawl and congestion the latter city has been associated with. But "America's Finest City" continues to swallow up undeveloped land as it grows at a healthy clip.

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