Cruisin’ California’s Coast in Style 

Text by Brian McManus
Images by Blake Abes
Styled by Angelique Salzmann

Should you ever feel the need to take a crash course in how to talk to strangers—a real trial by fire—we suggest driving a classic car up the PCH. (Added bonus if it’s a convertible.) You’ll find any time you pull over to fuel up or grab a bite or stop at a light, people will come swarming, asking myriad questions about the type of engine you’ve got under the hood, where you got it, or how long you’ve had it. Better yet, they’ll offer their own anecdotes about classic cars they once drove, or similar makes and models of years past they had any kind of proximity to. “A kid in my high school used to drive a car just like that, only it was fire engine red”—that kind of thing.

This may be true of any place in the U.S., but it’s particularly acute in Los Angeles, a car town through and through. In Los Angeles, cars are not just transportation, they’re embedded in the city’s DNA. The “car scene” in LA is legendary.

And there aren’t many things that scream California Cool like driving a mustard yellow ‘71 Mustang up the coast during golden hour light. In this fashion pictorial, we did just that, and were gobsmacked at the number of hoots, hollers and general shouts of approval we got along the way. (All the extracurricular conversations added some time onto our trip!)

We started at Hotel Casa del Mar and Shutters on the Beach. First stop was The Getty Villa, which truly has to be seen to be believed—like stepping into a posh timewarp. (There’s no cell service up there, so it’s a really great place to get away should you need to.) From there we headed up to Malibu and back, stopping to take in a couple binocular-assisted views along the way. 

We suggest you do the same. But only on days you’re not feeling anti-social.

Nothing beats cruisin’ California’s coast in a classic car.