Southern California Off the Beaten Path features the things travelers and locals want to see and experience––if only they knew about them. From the best in local dining to quirky cultural tidbits to hidden attractions, unique finds, and unusual locales, Southern California Off the Beaten Path takes the reader down the road less traveled and reveals a side of Southern California that other guidebooks just don't offer.

Take the roads less traveled in Southern California to find historic gems, Hollywood haunts, Indian canyons, gold mines, and many more hard-to-find destinations.

A People’s Guide to Los Angeles offers an assortment of eye-opening alternatives to L.A.’s usual tourist destinations. It documents 115 little-known sites in the City of Angels where struggles related to race, class, gender, and sexuality have occurred. They introduce us to people and events usually ignored by mainstream media and, in the process, create a fresh history of Los Angeles. Roughly dividing the city into six regions—North Los Angeles, the Eastside and San Gabriel Valley, South Los Angeles, Long Beach and the Harbor, the Westside, and the San Fernando Valley—this illuminating guide shows how power operates in the shaping of places, and how it remains embedded in the landscape.

The ghost towns of Southern California-some dramatic and nearly intact, others devastated-are well worth visiting. Most are remnants of once-colorful mining towns, though there are also railroad towns, a World War II relocation center, a promoter's swindle, and a failed socialist colony. Some excellent attractions remain. One of the best-preserved stamp mills in the West is in Skidoo. Smelters, homes, stores, and the remarkable wooden American Hotel can be found in Cerro Gordo, which the author calls "California's best true ghost town." Seasoned back-roads traveler Philip Varney, who has visited nearly a hundred ghost towns in the area, provides a down-to-earth and helpful guide to more than sixty of the best in Southern California and nearby Inyo and Kern counties. He defines a ghost town as a town with a population markedly decreased from its peak, one whose initial reason for settlement no longer keeps people there. It can be completely deserted, have a resident or two, or retain genuine signs of vitality, but Varney has eliminated those towns he considers either too populated or too empty of significant remains. The sites are grouped in four chapters in Inyo County, Death Valley, the Mojave Desert and Kern River, and the regions surrounding Los Angeles and San Diego. Each chapter provides a map of the region, a ranking of sites as "major," "secondary," and "minor," information on road conditions, trip suggestions, and tips on the use of particular topographic maps for readers interested in more detailed exploration. Each entry includes directions to a town, a brief history of that town, and notes on its special points of interest. Current photographs provide a valuable record of the sometimes fragile sites. Southern California's Best Ghost Towns will be welcomed both by those who enjoy traveling off the beaten path and by those who enjoy the history of the American West.

Go beyond the theme parks and crowded beaches of Southern California to discover a cliffside house sculpted from garbage, the Museum of Latin American Art, or a covered wagon tour through the desert.

Go on the ultimate West Coast road trip this summer with The Best Coast—a full-color illustrated travel guide to all the must-visit roadside attractions, beloved landmarks, hidden histories, and offbeat delights on Washington, Oregon, and California’s historic highways, include the Pacific Coast Highway! From San Diego, California, all the way up to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, you'll find unusual facts, hidden history, epic Americana, and off-the-beaten-path adventures up and down the coast. This Road Trip Atlas Includes: Route Maps - the coastal route via historic Highways 101 and 1 (the PCH) and an inland route up Highway 99 City Guides - San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Portland, and Seattle 30+ Itineraries and Side Trips - Catalina Island, Joshua Tree National Park, Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks, wine country, Crater Lake National Park, the Columbia River Gorge, Mount Rainier National Park, the San Juan Islands, and Vancouver, BC. Travel Tips - safety, rules of the road, wise planning, and packing lists (for the traveler and for the car) Wildlife Checklists Index of places, parks and attractions Resources - navigational aids, travel information, passes and permits, books, websites and films Hit the road with this one-of-a-kind road trip travel guide through California, Oregon, and Washington that tells the story of the diversity and depth that created the West Coast we know and love today!

Get close to tigers, pandas, and gorillas at a world-famous zoo, cling to the cliffs on a drive along the Pacific, redefine your idea of Asian food at a Pasadena favorite, or jump on a surfboard and catch hairy waves--Fodor's Southern California, 2nd Edition offers all these experiences and more! Our local writers have traveled throughout the area, including the Central coast, Yosemite and San Diego to find the best hotels, restaurants, attractions and activities to prepare you for a journey of stunning variety. Before you leave for your trip be sure to pack your Fodor's guide to ensure you don't miss a thing. The San Francisco Chronicle sums it up best --"Fodor's guides are saturated with information." - We frequently update our Southern California guide, and we make every effort to bring you the most accurate and thorough book. Plus we provide timely updates about the area to Fodors.com. - Unlike other travel books, Fodor's guides rely heavily on local experts who know the territory best--so you know you're seeing the real Southern California. - We give you the planning tools you need to tailor your trip. We give options for all budgets. You make the choices. ----------------------------------- With Fodor's you get much more than a guidebook-we make it easy for you to customize your dream vacation. Visit www.fodors.com to find up-to-date travel bargains, mini-guides to worldwide destinations, information on local festivals, dazzling drives, maps, vacation planning tips and much more! And, for more insider secrets, visit "Travel Talk" and "Rants and Raves" online at www.fodors.com/forums to get advice from other travelers like you.