10 Picture-Perfect Main Streets In California
California dreaming typically manifests in the form of a windows-down drive past sunny beaches, or possibly touching the trunk of a towering redwood as you hike past. But we mustn't forget that the quaint, historic, and/or hip towns throughout The Golden State shine just as brightly. Whether they're centered around an old Spanish mission, a bumpin' surf beach, or an overlooked Victorian village, the main streets of these 10 Californian communities are nothing short of picture perfect. Let me show you what I mean.
Ferndale
Ferndale's fairytale Main Street District, the entirety of which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, merges Victorian architecture with Norman Rockwell-esque nostalgia. This Humboldt County gem, which is ideally situated between the accessible redwood groves of the North Coast and the isolated shorelines of the Lost Coast, blossomed as a dairy town. Main Street strollers should note the ornate mansions that the most successful farmers erected just one block over. Also adding ambience are the spires of several historic churches.
But enough about the periphery. Lining the four-block commercial core are retro coffee shops, pizza joints, anachronistic inns, engaging art outlets, and adorable boutique and trinket shops. Stepping into the Golden Gait Mercantile, for instance, is to instantly jump back a century or so, and to patronize The Farmer's Daughter is to experience, first-hand, Ferndale's tried-and-true dairy heritage, with local cheese adn milk products, as well as quality home goods and gifts or souvenirs.
Joshua Tree
This world-famous national park's namesake base camp isn't classically pretty, but it is still picture-perfect in an off-beat kind of way. Built around the 29 Palms Highway, which slows to become its "Main Street" on the north side of Joshua Tree National Park, the town of Joshua Tree is equal parts transit town and edgy bohemian hub. Arid mountain ranges of the Mojave Desert intersect in its background, accenting the rusty, weathered look of Joshua Tree's infrastructure. There are wooden, Old West-style buildings interspersed with modern (yet still dusty and sun-scorched) installations, plus metallic sculptures, antiquitous wagons, cacti, and decommissioned vehicles all kicking around for artistic flair.
Before dashing down to the coveted park, spend some time patronizing the one-off establishments of Joshua Tree's main drag. Whet your whistle at the Joshua Tree Saloon, where you're sure to find some live music. Puruse the JT Trading Post, where you'll find hand-crafted goods both inside and amongst the pop-up vendors on the sidewalk outside. Or, spend some time absorbing the quirky art galleries and installations. There's even a Crochet Museum. Joshua Tree has many faces, and this eccentric main street perfectly complements the raw, high-desert beauty of the adjacent national park.
San Juan Bautista
San Juan Bautista also plays with that old-fashioned, dusty-in-a-charming-way vibe. Like Joshua Tree, the small city of San Juan Bautista acts as a base for one of California's pristine playgrounds - in this case, Pinnacles National Park. But unlike JT, this Spanish camino town is all about serenity. Though it might be tempting to beeline straight for the late 18th-century mission complex within San Juan Bautista State Historic Park, I encourage you to take the circuitous route along Third Street.
San Juan Bautista's pedestrian-friendly commercial strip combines the most aesthetically-pleasing parts of an American frontier town with the tiendas, adobes, and restaurantes of a Latin American pueblo. There's even a Peruvian store tucked amongst the boardwalk shops. At the bookends of each block, you'll find a string of oak barrels that not only act as pots for succulents, but control the flow of traffic. So take your time, absorb the history, and enjoy the sights and smells of this curious cultural enclave.
Pismo Beach
We can't go too deep into our California journey without checking off a fun-loving beach town. Pismo Beach is a Central Coast surf and tourist magnet with wineries, golf courses, and even a monarch butterfly sanctuary in its periphery for good measure. And while there is a designated Main Street that runs from Highway 101 down to Pismo Beach, Pomeroy Avenue, which runs parallel to Main, is clearly the prime strip.
On its way down to Pismo Beach Pier Plaza, Pomeroy introduces visitors to a plethora of gift and beach-shack-style gear shops, bowling alleys and arcades, and cheat-day summer grub joints, be it burgers, ice cream, taffy, or the local specialty, sourdough breadbowl clam chowder. If the latter is what you crave, be sure to check out Splash Cafe. Cap off your downtown wander with a venture out onto the Pismo Beach Pier, where, with the salty Pacific Ocean breeze in your hair, you're likely to spot a few more pop-up vendors, fellow coastal roadtrippers, and surfers tearing it up on curling waves.
Carmel-by-the-Sea
Carmel-by-the-Sea is another of California's 21 historic Spanish Mission towns that, while respecting its legacy, has since transformed into an opulent getaway. This one-square-mile storybook village specializes in high-end shopping, personable accommodations, wining and dining (there are over a dozen tasting rooms within a few blocks of each other), and art galleries galore.
Ocean Avenue, which juts west off the Pacific Coast Highway further concentrates this microcosm as it trends gently downhill, naturally funneling pedestrians toward the beach, where you can catch some of the best sunsets in California, if not the world. If you weren't sucked into one of the many unique shops and boutiques en route, this is where you'll experience intermittent mists teasing not only the expansive sandy beach and white-capped ocean, but also the world-famous PGA course, Pebble Beach, to the north.
Mendocino
If Pismo Beach taps into the vibrant vibes, and Carmel-By-The-Sea adopts a bougier approach, then Mendocino settles somewhere in the Goldilocks zone in between. Classy but approachable, quaint but invigorating, and seamlessly marrying nature with tasteful amenities, Mendocino, and in particular, Mendocino's Main Street, is quintessential coastal California.
The bespoke businesses and other pastel-siding establishments west of the Ford House Visitor Center & Museum all sit on the north side of the street, leaving unobstructed views of the wispy fields and cliffside trails of Mendocino Headlands State Park and healthy blue waters of Mendocino Bay to the south. All the while, the turn-of-the-19th-century water towers speckle the low-lying skyline, hinting at a not-quite bygone era. After you've snapped a few pictures, poke your head inside some of the shops, where you'll find gourmet jams, California wines, your next favorite book, and other delightfully random treasures.
Stinson Beach
This short and sweet main street is seriously popular during the summer, and for good reason, but becomes rather serene as the shoulder season descends. Stinson Beach sits within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, fixed between the verdant slopes of Mount Tamalpais and the namesake sands that stretch far along Bolinas Bay. Cutting through the middle is a reduced-speed section of the Shoreline Highway, where you'll find the limited but targeted businesses.
You've got a couple of surf shops, a mom n' pop supermarket, an independent bookstore, a cottage-style cafe, and a women's boutique store spliced betwixt a few low-key lodges and community buildings. What more could the heart of a traveller desire? Granted, the beach is undoubtedly the primary draw for this unincorporated community, but this cutesy main street chips in some vacation-appropriate essentials and grid-worthy photo ops.
Sausalito
On the other side of Mount Tamalpais, one of the Bay Area's most magnetic communities awaits. Sausalito sits immediately north of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge and stares across at not only San Francisco's skyline, but the infamous Alcatraz. Sausalito isn't just a place for looking outward, however; its safe and spritely downtown core (which offers ample and affordable parking, I might add) deserves anywhere from a focused afternoon to a casual weekend.
Bridgeway is where all the action takes place. This lengthy thoroughfare, and by far the longest on this list, hugs Richardson Bay, which, in turn, opens into San Francisco Bay, where marinas, parks, high-brow cafes, and waterfront restaurants can all be found in spades. Continue heading southeast and you'll end up on the Sausalito Boardwalk, which brings the community's characteristic colorful hillside homes ever closer into view.
Eureka
This California Cultural District City is the oldest in Humboldt County and heart of the Redwood Coast. And while Eureka, dubbed the "Victorian Seaport," is a bit of a fixer-upper in some parts, its Nationally Registered Old Town District, through which 2nd Street cuts, certainly checks the box as picture perfect. With the red-bricked Plaza de California at its core, where Eureka's Friday Night Markets and Tuesday morning Farmers' Markets are held), 2nd is a haven for consumers heading either east or west.
Whether its records and books (there are multiple stores for each), galleries and fancy cafes, or wine bars and cocktail joints, Eureka has you thoroughly covered. What's even better is that said establishments occupy restored Victorian structures. The best examples of such ornate architecture can be found at 2nd Street's eastern terminus, where the elegant Pinc Lady Mansion looks across at the grand and mysterious Ingomar Club.
San Luis Obispo
Let's end with one more inland gem, and one more example of a compelling Franciscan missionary town. San Luis Obispo (aka "SLO") boasts another one of those downtowns that arguably has multiple main streets. And though some authorities would highlight Higuera, where the Farmers' Market takes over every Thursday evening, I actually think Monterey Street has more going for it.
Monterey cruises past the Fremont Theatre with its weathered and alluring marquee, Antigua Brewing, and the Visitor Center, before getting into all of the street patio establishments. Eventually, it arrives at the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, circa 1772, and its pedestrian plaza, where free summer concerts kick off every Friday. The Mission shares the plaza with the SLO Museum of Art and History Center of SLO County. The overall result is a tanned, tree-and-tent-lined strip that appeals to window shoppers and history buffs as much as sippy socializers and quiet strollers.
Main Takeaways
From toasting craft pints on a sun-kissed patio, to patronizing boutique shops and gazing upon the historic structures of the 18th and 19th centuries (and even 20th - those old theatres are pretty cool, too) these ten California main streets will have you constantly reaching for your camera. It doesn't matter if you're a desert dweller or a beach bum; if you're looking to re-create a fairytale or recreate in the forever-fair weather, having personally toured each destination, I'm confident this list will have something for each and every California dreamer.
