Seaside dreams: Southern California's beachfront hotels range from glitzy and grand to funky and fun - Directory

Sunset, Feb, 2002 by Matthew Jaffe

There's no valet parking at the Crystal Pier Hotel & Cottages on San Diego's Pacific Beach. Instead, you drive beneath an archway, rumble down the 1927 wood pier, and pull up right in front of your very own white, wood-framed cottage with blue shutters, each set bearing a different nautical design.

There's no swimming pool either. Instead, you have the Pacific, endlessly rolling onto the beach, sending tremors through the floorboards of the pier's vintage buildings and, with every vibration, a little flutter through the hearts of hotel guests.

The sunsets do that too. Like the parking, they come with the price of the cottage. And so I sit back and take this one in.

Usually after a beach sunset, you hang on for a bit, hoping that the day will last longer. But the sun doesn't do encores. And inevitably the time comes to leave it all behind. I'm here for a few nights, though, and can linger on the chaise, savoring the sights and sounds.

Few life pleasures are sweeter than overnighting along the beach, and Southern California has a rich selection of oceanfront lodging.

Beach hotel beginnings

From the 1870s into the early 1900s, as the beach began to be touted as a fun zone and health destination, elaborate, towered structures arose in coastal towns. Only one Southern California hotel survives from this era, and fortunately for us, it happens to be the grandest of them all.

The Hotel del Coronado's builders, Elisha Babcock and H.L. Story, set out to make the Del "the talk of the Western world." They certainly achieved their goal. After a visit in 1931, author and critic Edmund Wilson proclaimed it "the most magnificent example extant of the American seaside hotel."

Seventy years and a recent $55 million restoration later, Wilson's assessment is truer than ever. He likened the Del to a ship, and certainly arriving here for a stay is a bit like embarking on a voyage aboard a great historic ocean liner: the Titanic, hold the ice.

Another beachside classic, the Santa Barbara Biltmore, is unmistakably a product of Southern California. A booklet issued for the hotel's opening, in 1927, rhapsodizes, "Incorporated into the Santa Barbara Biltmore architecture is the simplicity of the Padres, the hospitality and patience of the sore-footed followers of El Camino Real, the gaiety of former fiestas, and the very soul of California."

No doubt, glamorous beachfront lodgings in the Biltmore tradition have experienced a resurgence: Witness the reopening of a onetime Santa Monica beach club as the luxurious Hotel Casa Del Mar and the opening of the swanky Bacara Resort & Spa outside Santa Barbara. But at the same time, a funkier

tradition--more in tune with the surf guitar of Dick Dale than the violins of a ballroom orchestra--lives on along the coast.

At the Beachcomber Motel in San Clemente, bougainvillea drapes from red-tiled roofs and a surfboard is propped up beside a doorway. There's a map filled with pushpins showing the hometowns of the motel's guests. Just as at Crystal Pier, you won't find the accoutrements of a luxury hotel here. There's a soda machine instead of a minibar, and a kitchenette, not room service. But the turn-down service is hard to beat. No wafer mints--just a cool breeze and the sound of the waves rolling onto the beach and into your memories.

RELATED ARTICLE: Shore bets

Santa Barbara County

* Bacara Resort & Spa. Santa Barbara style meets Hollywood glamour. From $395. 8301 Hollister Ave. Santa Barbara (805) 968-0100.

* Four Seasons Biltmore Santa Barbara Deservedly famous. From $465. 1260 Channel Dr. Santa Barbara (805) 969-2261.

Ventura County

* Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach Resort A Mediterranean-style resort ideal for families. From $174. 2101 Mandalay Beach Rd. Oxnard (800) 362-2779 or (805) 984-2500.

Los Angeles County

* Beach House at Hermosa. Stylish rooms with kitchenettes and private balconies. From $209. 1300 The Strand Hermosa Beach (888) 895-4559 or (310) 374-3001.

* Casa Malibu Inn on the Beach. Like having your very own beach house. From $99. 22752 Pacific Coast Hwy. Malibu (800) 831-0858 or (310) 456-2219.

* Hotel Casa Del Mar. Built in 1926 as the Santa Monica beach club. From $360. 1910 Ocean Way Santa Monica (310) 581-5533.

* Malibu Beach Inn. Mediterranean-style overlooking Malibu Pier. From $199. 22878 Pacific Coast Hwy. Malibu (800) 462-5428 or (310) 456-6444.

* Shutters on the Beach Relaxed elegance recalls classic beach resorts. From $380. 1 Pico Blvd. Santa Monica (800) 334-9000 or (310) 458-0030.

Orange County

* Beachcomber Motel. Built in 1940. Overlooks the San Clemente Pier. From $100. 533 Avenida Victoria San Clemente (949) 492-5457.

* Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel Commands a promontory near Dana Point. From $375. 1 Ritz-Carlton Dr. Dana Point (800) 241-3333 or (949) 240-2000.

* Surf & Sand Resort Sleek California stylings make this the top of the Laguna Beach oceanfront hotels. From $290. 1555 South Coast Hwy. Laguna Beach (800) 524-8621 or (949) 497-4477.