Did you know it was International Surfing Day? I didn't either, until I got in the water down in Sunset Beach. Not the one near Gladstone's, the one in Orange County.
There were only two guys in the water, a far cry from the mobs up here. (Look closely you can see them.) One of them told me we were surfing right in front of his house. I thought about mean locals and such, but he was friendly and proceeded to tell me it was International Surfing Day. The waves were nicely shaped but not too large. The water was noticeably free of the trash one normally encounters at Santa Monica. It was also FREEZING, for this time of year anyway, which is weird as it's further south.
The guy must have had great local knowledge, because the second he and his buddy got out, the waves stopped, like someone had turned off the power. However while they were in, the three of us had plenty of waves to share.
Sunset is a tiny little town, one of the few places around here where the houses are on the sand without a bike path or something in front of you. There are also cool sand dunes which remind me more of the east coast.
The beach is very large and on weekdays unpopulated. Perfect for flying kites.
They still have Sesame Street style trash cans; this is sort of the archetypal "trash can" in my opinion.
Sunset also features this huge tower, which I remember at one point was for sale for A MILLION DOLLARS, which seemed outrageous at the time.
In Santa Monica, a welcome sign like this would have a modern looking silhouette of a lifeguard, a life guard stand, or a tilted umbrella. It would feature a stylistic font, and it would scream cool and hip.
In Sunset, the welcome to the beach sign has a cartoon crab.
