Young tourists love Cali wine country — for everything but the booze

Young tourists love Cali wine country — for everything but the booze

If Central California’s Santa Ynez Valley, in Santa Barbara County, is known for anything, it’s wine. It’s nowhere near as famous as Napa or Bordeaux, of course, but this bucolic region of rolling hills dotted with stately oak trees produces excellent pinot noirs and chardonnays and syrahs. Remember the movie “Sideways,” about two sad sacks … Read more

Bad but not so bougie: How to have a lowbrow ball in ritzy coastal Cali

Bad but not so bougie: How to have a lowbrow ball in ritzy coastal Cali

The Golden State’s coast is often typecast by outsiders as a privileged commune of high-income hippies, decadent dot-commers, sun-spoiled surfers and limousine liberals. For good reason: California is the land of haughty, avocado toast-munching utopists. Except, that’s not the whole story. Despite its coddling climate, geography and ritzy neighborhoods, surfside Cali is not just a … Read more