My Favorite Things to do in Laguna Beach

[Listen to an audio version of this blog here.]

Southern California is a sprawling metropolis of freeways and strip malls with mountains, desert, and the ocean tearing at its edges. This place was built for cars and runs on Botox and unnamable drugs. Among the ordinary people keeping this place afloat, there plenty of the self-obsessed and halfway famous. For all the glitz and glamor, there is just as much poverty here as anywhere else in the U.S. Just as much political division, just as much consternation. Except here, we can watch the sunset over the pacific ocean at night, whether we’re watching from a multi-million dollar home or from a van parked on the beach. Sometimes, friends or colleagues will mention, off-handedly, that I live in L.A. To an outsider, Southern California can look and feel the same. I’ve never lived in Los Angeles proper, and have never even visited most of its neighborhoods. When I go to L.A., I may as well be a tourist from another state; a visitor with one-day, prepaid parking and a sincere desire to not stay.

I live in Laguna Beach, in a nice apartment I rent with my boyfriend on a street called Cedar, a few blocks from downtown. I am not poor, but I am many millions away from being able to buy a house here. Last I checked, a fancy South Laguna mobile home costs no less than half a million, plus a $4,000 monthly land…