Prior to Boarding Royale at San Pedro - are beaches around LA worth visiting

[pink845]

It has been years since we last visited LA.  At that time, we drove from San Francisco all the way down to San Diego and I do recall many nice beaches and a spectacular drive on #1.   But that was a good dozen years ago.   I have been reading that a lot of the beaches are totally awful now, graffiti on sidewalks, drunks everywhere, spent needles on the beaches, garbage everywhere and that the piers Malibu, Venice, Ventura, etc.  all fall apart and full of useless junkie little cabanas selling overpriced trinkets and am wondering if renting a car and doing the drive is really worth it.  Years ago, we stayed in Huntington Beach and took some fab photos of that pier.  Is that pier still in good shape?   

[CruiserBruce]

Sounds like you have believed everything you read...and your mind is made up.

[bondgirl007]

Huntington Beach is a good choice.  A little further south is Crystal Cove State Park(beach) that is pretty.  I like the areas south of Long Beach as opposed to the L.A. area beaches.  There is so much traffic and human congestion that it is not enjoyable for me personally.

[Bruin Steve]

10 hours ago, pink845 said:

It has been years since we last visited LA.  At that time, we drove from San Francisco all the way down to San Diego and I do recall many nice beaches and a spectacular drive on #1.   But that was a good dozen years ago.   I have been reading that a lot of the beaches are totally awful now, graffiti on sidewalks, drunks everywhere, spent needles on the beaches, garbage everywhere and that the piers Malibu, Venice, Ventura, etc.  all fall apart and full of useless junkie little cabanas selling overpriced trinkets and am wondering if renting a car and doing the drive is really worth it.  Years ago, we stayed in Huntington Beach and took some fab photos of that pier.  Is that pier still in good shape?   

Wow!  Someone has painted you an awful picture...that is absolutely untrue.  Perhaps there are some places among the many beaches that span the entire coastline of Southern California that exhibit a little bit of what someone might find as undesirable--there are some incidences of graffiti at some of the beaches in more urban areas...and there are, no doubt, some homeless people to be found in certain beach areas...But, OTOH, some of those areas have some of the most fascinating and worth visiting beach areas...Santa Monica and Venice have always had a little of that--but far much more on the other side of things to make them attractive to tourists.  I don't know of any of the many piers that dot the coastline as having fallen apart...and many of the beaches are well maintained and beautiful...Most. if not all, of the beach towns from Malibu to South Orange County are upscale and charming...

If there is a legit knock on SoCal beaches, it's that the water isn't particularly warm--the currents move from the north...but that hasn't changed in, well, forever...

[riffatsea]

I am shocked at the awful picture you have painted of California beaches!

I cannot imagine where you got your information??

Whether you visit a beach or not will depend on when you are coming and how much time you have before your cruise.

[pink845]

I have personally not painted any  awful "picture" of California West Coast beaches. What I did do is have gone through quite a few of the posts on Trip Advisor of the various touristic spots along the West Coast, Venice Beach, Santa Monica, etc.. and other people have left posts that state that all is not the beauty of yesteryear.  And, I was just looking for other responses.  We are in California three days prior to our cruise in January and I remember visiting beaches 15 years prior from San Francisco to San Diego and we quite enjoyed our trip then  and was gathering some "intel" on what piers and beaches are like today and trying to decide whether I should do the drive from LAX up to Ventura or not.    Was going to stay up in Ventura (or Oxnard) at the Hilton Mandalay Bay a couple of nights and then venture back to Los Angeles and  was in no way putting down California beaches!!!    Not interested in Disney any more.  And have seen all the Hollywood sites, seen the sign, done Mullholand Drive, stayed at the Beverley Hills Hilton, etc. etc.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

On 10/25/2019 at 5:07 PM, pink845 said:

I have been reading that a lot of the beaches are totally awful now, graffiti on sidewalks, drunks everywhere, spent needles on the beaches, garbage everywhere and that the piers Malibu, Venice, Ventura, etc.  all fall apart and full of useless junkie little cabanas selling overpriced trinkets

 

I think you are getting the information on CA beaches and piers as you are on drop off fees.

 

Venice has always been a mess, but I've never in my life seen "spent needles on the beaches, garbage everywhere". That is ridiculous. I am on the beach in CA (Coronado to Newport Beach) probably 200 days a year, maybe more.

 

I was at the Malibu Pier not long ago, it was fine; Santa Monica Pier is fine as are Manhattan Beach Pier, Hermosa Beach Pier, Santa Barbara Wharf, Redondo Pier, Newport Pier, Balboa Pier, Seal Beach Pier, Belmont Pier, San Clemente Pier, Oceanside Pier, and so on.

[GradUT]

We have a son that lives in LA and our "go to"  beach is Zuma Beach near Malibu.  It's a long, wide beach with plenty of clean bathrooms/changing rooms.  And if you don't want to pay for parking, you can find free street parking on weekdays.