Coffee Cartel★★★★★Offbeat local coffee house with atmosphere that makes you want to hang out there.
The Comic Bug★★★★★Open, inviting, and kid-friendly, with friendly staff and a wide selection. Frequent artist/writer signings.
The Dough Connection★★★★★Cookie dough you can eat, in a tiny shop hidden in th eback of a building along Morro Bay’s Embarcadero. Plus baked cookies and brownies.
Madrona Marsh Preserve★★★★★One of my favorite places to walk in the South Bay, the preserve is the last remnant of seasonal marshes that once covered the western part of the LA basin.
Natureba★★★★★Tiny small business, great smoothies and tropical juices, plus Brazilian-style grilled sandwiches and Açaí bowls.
Point Vicente★★★★★Easy trails run through scrub brush along the tops of the coastal bluffs, the lighthouse almost always in view. Shade only in the picnic shelters, but plenty of ocean breezes. On a clear day you can see from Catalina Island to Malibu.
South Coast Botanic Garden★★★★★Big enough to feel like you could get lost (but not big enough to get lost), packed with trails that feel like walking through nature, surrounded by more structured gardens. Great for events, families or just getting out for a walk.
Two Guns Espresso★★★★★Serious coffee. Small chain in LA’s South Bay that introduced the Flat White to the region in the early 2010s.
Wanderlust Creamery★★★★★Incredibly good ice cream with flavors and combinations not usually found here in the US. Of their regular flavors, the Ube malted crunch and Vietnamese coffee rocky road are my favorites.
White Point Nature Preserve★★★★☆Mostly flat, with hills along the inland edge. Views of the ocean and Catalina. Not much shade except for one stand of trees at the foot of the hills, the garden around the visitor center, and the bunkers remaining from a military site decommissioned in the 1970s.
