There are several songs that come to mind that capture the essence of Southern California. Here are the 9 quintessential songs to add to your SoCal playlist that will take you back to a perfect day in Southern California. Sit back, relax, and turn up the sound on your speakers, as these songs will bring a big smile to your face. Enjoy!
1. Ventura Highway by America
Ventura Highway is the ultimate summer song best listened to with windows rolled down and the cool SoCal breeze tickling your cheeks. Love this tune!
2. Hotel California by The Eagles
Who doesn't love Hotel California??! I promise I won't tell if you start doing an air guitar solo while listening to this song. You know you want to!
3. California Sun by The Ramones
This peppy song is a nice ode to the warm sunny days we all know and love in Southern California.
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4. Hollywood Nights by Bob Seger
Hollywood Nights is one of those songs that instantly takes you back to 1970s California. How perfect that Bob Seger is playing this song live in Southern California in this video. It may not be in Hollywood, but San Diego will have to do.
5. California by Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell sure knows how to make us fall in love with Cali. It's hard not to listen to this song over and over again. Such a great classic!
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6. It Never Rains In Southern California by Albert Hammond
If this SoCal song isn't already in your playlist, you're sure missing out.
7. California Girls by The Beach Boys
A Southern California playlist wouldn't be complete without adding something from The Beach Boys. Grab your sunscreen and a beach towel as you will be ready for a day in the sand after hearing this song.
8. I Love LA by Randy Newman
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Even if you don't love LA, it's hard not to love this classic tune from the early 80s by Randy Newman. It's pure happiness in a song.
9. Disneyland by Five for Fighting
Here's something a bit more contemporary to add to your list of SoCal tunes. This isn't an oldie, but it sure is a goodie. Warning: You may feel the need to take a trip to Disneyland after listening to this song. Just sayin'!
Hope you've enjoyed this Southern California playlist. Isn't it amazing how songs can transport us back to the exact moment when we were listening to them? Which ones are your favorites on this list?
The Most Iconic View in Northern California Is Also a Stunning Slice of History
It's hard to argue that there's a more iconic Northern Californian view than that of the Golden Gate Bridge. But do you know the history of this landmark?
Spanning the one-mile strait between the Pacific Ocean and busy San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge is easily one of California’s most iconic landmarks, symbolizing the state’s innovative spirit and enduring beauty. Still, despite its ubiquity, many Californians aren’t familiar with the history of this famous structure.
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What can the Golden Gate Bridge tell us about our past?
For many years, the thought of bridging the stormy Golden Gate Strait seemed laughable. Up until the 20th century, San Francisco and present-day Marin County were connected through schools of private water taxis and, later, an official ferry service. Still, as the city grew, boat travel became an obstacle to break-neck regional development. Despite the prevailing belief that the waterway’s treacherous currents and blinding fog would make construction impossible, ambitious engineers were unable to resist the challenge. In 1916, a student named James Wilkins published his proposal in the San Francisco Bulletin.
Though many industry professionals dismissed his idea out of hand, San Francisco officials disseminated a public request for bids. One of the many responders was young Joseph Strauss, who'd made a name for himself by designing a hypothetical railroad bridge across the Bering Strait in his graduate thesis. Over the following decade, Strauss devoted himself to drumming up support for the project. He faced significant pushback, including from the U.S. Navy — who raised potential security concerns — and the Southern Pacific Railroad who owned the ferry fleets that a bridge would make redundant. It wasn't until 1924 that his efforts paid off and construction was approved.
The proposal was finalized through Strauss' collaborative efforts with other top engineers and architects, including luminaries like Leon Moisseiff, Irving Morrow, and Charles Alton Ellis. Despite this network of talent, Strauss positioned himself as the project's undisputed leader. While cynical, his media strategy was effective. Strauss was upheld as the man who gave San Francisco its iconic bridge. Though his team is now credited as responsible for the final design, they were largely erased from history.
Construction began in 1933, in the thick of the Great Depression. Despite the dire economic times, the project was not part of any federal work programs. Strauss may have stolen the spotlight from his collaborators but he headed the project, championing innovations like the movable safety netting that would save countless lives. Despite precautions, eleven men lost their lives building the Golden Gate Bridge. Tragically, ten of these workers were killed just three months before the bridge opened in 1937 when a scaffold plunged through the net into the water below.
Whether you're a local or just visiting San Francisco, we all recognize the Golden Gate Bridge as one of the state's most iconic landmarks and views. While it's beautiful regardless, I believe we can appreciate this breathtaking structure even more when we're made aware of its complicated history: the ingenuity, determination, steely ambition, and human cost that were required to build the world's most photographed bridge.
I have always heard people who don’t live in California talk about it as if it’s paradise. It is the Golden State, after all. But we all know how easy it is to take familiar things for granted. When you grow up in one place, it’s natural to feel like you need to go somewhere far away to see something amazing. I have gone far away, and I have seen amazing things – things that don’t look like anything else in the world. The truth is, though, that we have some pretty spectacular things right here that don’t look like anything else in the world. And somehow, in some ways, leaving home is what made me realize that. They say you learn a lot about yourself when you travel, and that’s true. But I never expected to have a new perspective on my own state.
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Don’t get me wrong, I will never not be in love with discovering new places. I will always be driven to travel internationally, and some of my favorite spots on the planet are outside the country. But reflecting on my experiences, I realize they’ve changed my view of my most familiar surroundings in ways I didn’t see coming.
I actually find it ironic the way travel has made me look at my home. So many places I’ve been to have made me think, “This is so much better, or prettier, or more… whatever, than California.” It would almost make it hard to come home, back to “normal.” But then something happened. I began to appreciate things at home I didn’t seem to be affected by before. I have been to lush, tropical landscapes that made me never want to see the suburbs again. But then, it seemed like my eye was suddenly trained on trees. Even small pockets of greenery in the city would catch my attention and make me smile – not to mention our magnificent forests like Muir Woods and Sequoia National Park, which I became even more proud of – and obsessed with!
Growing up near the coast, I have always been a beach baby; it’s my happy place. In my travels abroad, I have been to some of the most stunning and pristine beaches in the world, with breathtakingly blue water, incredible coastlines, and awe-inspiring rock formations, all of which made me adore the beach even more.
Back at home, I started to see the California coast I have known my entire life like I’ve never seen it before. No, our water doesn’t look quite like the photos I have on my bedroom wall, but when I drive down the Pacific Coast Highway on a day when the water looks turquoise and sapphire, and the light shining through the breaking waves turns them into a crystal aqua green, I have a new appreciation for the Pacific Ocean.
And have you ever been to Catalina Island? The gorgeous teal water looks oh-so-much like those beaches that make me long to travel. The spectacular rock formations in Malibu and the carved cliffs along the Central Coast really do rival those I marveled at abroad.
Even the people I connected with in other countries helped change my perspective. A friend I made in Singapore came to stay with me and wanted to visit national parks like Yosemite. I had always wanted to go, of course, but I never made it a priority until she was here. Seeing it for the first time, with someone who was as awed as I was, was something I will never forget – an experience as unique and thrilling as any I have had beyond California, and it is just a few hours’ drive from my house. That's another thing I've come to treasure about where I live – the array of wildly different sights, landscapes, and experiences that exist within such a relatively small geographic space.
And then there are the matters of food and culture. Travel opens your figurative eyes – and literal taste buds – in so many ways, you know? I have to say that, being raised in the Los Angeles area, cultural diversity has always been my reality, and the availability of a massive range of ethnic foods was not lost on me. This is where I became obsessed with Indian and Middle Eastern food, and where my Russian grandmother and friends from all over the world cooked and took me on culinary adventures at home. I’ve tried authentic cuisines from places I have never been to, like Morocco and Ethiopia.
Still, travel heightened my appreciation for SoCal, even in this arena. For example, when I moved back from living in Indonesia, I missed it terribly. It wasn’t long before I found an Indonesian restaurant that made my favorite dishes and had a shop next door where I bought some of my favorite staples. I thought, wow, we really do have everything here! The Golden State itself helped fill a little void and ease a bit of homesickness.
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I have even come to appreciate the weather more. Everyone says, “It never rains in sunny Southern California,” which, of course, is not actually true. We have some crazy rain – flooding even – and yes, enough snow in our mountains for skiing and snowboarding. On the other end of the spectrum, I grew up where the summers were always triple digits. I didn't love that. Then again, never having lived back east where shoveling snow and tire chains are part of life every year or in the south with its intense humidity, I didn’t have much to compare our weather to.
I visited New York once when Niagara Falls was frozen (I have never felt so cold in my life), spent two hot and sticky summer weeks in North Carolina, and then actually traveled and lived along the equator where we only experienced two seasons – hot with high humidity and hot with torrential rains. I finally appreciated why everyone thinks SoCal has perfect weather. I mean, it isn’t actually perfect (though in some parts of the state, it is pretty close!), but we are quite spoiled here.
I could go on and on, but the bottom line, after all is said and done, is that I am truly grateful. I’m grateful for the amazing things I have been able to see and experience in other parts of the world, grateful for the way those things have changed me, and grateful to live in the beautiful state of California. What about you? How has travel, whether to the next town or a distant country, changed your perspective? We would love to hear your thoughts!