A few beaches in California are located in the equivalent to a town square with stores, restaurants and people congregating in open air plazas just feet or inches from the sand. Two such cities that provide gathering points for beach-goers are Hermosa Beach in Los Angeles County, and Pismo Beach in San Luis Obispo County. When you visit either of these cities and their beaches, you'll discover that both feature open space where bikes, skates and people can pass through paved areas.  Benches for sitting are another feature they share, and when visiting, you'll most often find someone on a bench talking or relaxing and watching people go by.

A bevy of restaurants, some rental shops with beach supplies such as body boards, bicycles and sun block, and  souvenir stores with affordable tourist gifts such as shot glasses emblazoned with the beach name, postcards, and seashells, often are staples contained in these beach mini-malls.

For the over 1000 miles of beaches that exist in California, there are only a few such configurations.  Piers and wharfs provide similar gathering spots in places such as Redondo Beach King Harbor, Fisherman's Wharf San Francisco, Santa Cruz Wharf, and Santa Monica Pier, where people actually gather on platforms or structures extending into the water.

When you're traveling the California coast, the cities that also combine these experiences with hotels include  Redondo Beach and Crowne Plaza; Santa Cruz and the Coast Santa Cruz Hotel,  joie de vivre contemporary hotel;  San Francisco (Fisherman's Wharf) and Radisson Hotel; Santa Monica with Hotel Casa del Mar on the beach; and at San Diego beaches, Mission Beach and Pacific Beach also offer mini-communities of residential and commercial such as restaurants and shopping right at the beach. Hotels abound at the beach here and include Pacific Terrace, Surfer Beach Hotel, and Catamaran Resort Hotel. These are the places wher you can park your car during your stay and be entertained without driving around. Now that's a vacation!