In case you missed it, GayTravel.com teamed up this summer with Advantage Rent A Car and Greystone Hotels to send our friend Adam of popular gay travel blog Travels of Adam on the gay California road trip of a lifetime. This trip was the perfect chance for us and our partners to show our support for the LGBT community and celebrate Pride month with the thing we love most: travel! You can get the scoop on this trip and follow Adam’s itinerary here.
Adam’s weeklong road trip through California was filled with stops through some of SoCal’s most beloved beach towns, including La Jolla, a gay-friendly seaside destination just north of San Diego. Below, he recounts what made his La Jolla trip and his stay at the gay-friendly Empress Hotel so memorable.
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By Travels of Adam
DAY 1: Stunning SoCal views and stylish digs
After a gay weekend in Los Angeles, my #GayRoadTrip took me down the Pacific Coast Highway through some of California’s most beautiful coastline. From Los Angeles to San Diego, there are numerous cities to stop in, from the surfer town of Huntington Beach and the hippie hangout of Laguna to the pristine nature of Crystal Cove State Park and the luxury living of Newport. California is a big and diverse state, and even on a relatively short road trip through Southern California, you’ll find a bit of everything.
Like any good road trip, it makes sense to stop frequently and spontaneously. That’s how you discover those hidden gems!
While on the way from Los Angeles to La Jolla, I stopped in Dana Point. This town’s large marina sits within a cove, and the headlands around Dana Point offer some of the most scenic panoramic views over the Pacific. The best view? It’s at Cannons Seafood Restaurant and Grill — a perfect stopover on the Southern California road trip route (and the food is excellent, too!).
I arrived to La Jolla late in the evening; there were just too many sights to see along the way! My hotel, the Empress Hotel (part of the Greystone Hotels group) is right in the center of the town, walking distance to the main shopping street along Girard Avenue.
Rooms at the Empress Hotel are spacious, and with La Jolla being a beach town, everything’s got a beachy theme. Rather than big curtains in every room, the windows are adorned with wood-slatted shades, bringing to mind a beach cottage. And with mini-fridges and microwaves, the rooms are well-equipped for a proper beach holiday. It’s comfy and sweet, and just the kind of accommodation you’d want for a beach trip near La Jolla.
The lobby at Empress Hotel is compact and stylish, and there’s a spacious garden terrace on the 2nd floor.
DAY 2: La Jolla's fascinating wildlife and marine sanctuaries
In addition to its proximity to San Diego, La Jolla is famous for its abundant wildlife. Just a brief walk down to the coast from Empress Hotel is La Jolla Cove, a small, picturesque cove and beach surrounded by rocky cliffs that many sea animals call home. La Jolla Cove is a protected marine reserve, with underwater reefs and caves, making it especially popular with snorkelers, scuba divers, and kayakers.
Besides all the water activities, what makes the La Jolla Cove so special are the seals and sea lions that use the rocky shore as a place to rest. Alongside all the kayakers and swimmers, the wild animals sit on the wet stones with the waves crashing behind them. You can walk right up to them and see young baby seals and sea lions just resting from their days in the ocean. It’s really special to see that kind of wildlife right up close and in person. Nature is truly majestic.
To get closer to the other aquatic animals that call the area home, visit the Birch Aquarium at Scripps. Part of the University of California – San Diego, the public aquarium houses hundreds of species, including a world-renowned exhibit on seahorses and sea-dragons! It’s located pretty high up along the coast, so from the outdoor terrace, the aquarium also has a really beautiful view over the shoreline.
Back at the Empress Hotel, the lobby restauarant, Manhattan, attracts a crowd of locals, especially on Wednesdays when live music is performed. Serving steak, seafood, and Italian food classics, it’s an intimate and inviting atmosphere with plush booths that make you feel as if you’re actually in a Manhattan steakhouse.
DAY 3: Relaxing at Black's Beach and exploring La Jolla
Also in La Jolla, and a short drive from the Empress Hotel, is famous Black’s Beach. While it’s not explicitly a gay beach, it is popular with a lot of gay locals from Southern California. That’s due to its picturesque location at the bottom of a seaside cliff, its relative exclusivity, and the fact that it’s unofficially a nude beach.
Getting to Black’s Beach can be a bit tricky. It requires a climb down the cliff to reach the beach, but truthfully, it’s not too much of a challenge. The cliffside hike can be done in under 20 minutes, in flip-flops, and it’s well traveled. Just make sure to bring plenty of water because there are no amenities down on the beach!
Going back up the cliff when leaving the beach is the challenging part; it can be exhausting, especially if you’re dehydrated or tired from sitting in the sun all afternoon. But the beach is beautiful and definitely worth the trek.
After a sun-filled day out by the beach, coming home to the Empress Hotel for a refreshing shower and drink on the terrace was the perfect way to end the day. And nearby the hotel, a number of cool shops, restaurants, and cafes come alive around sunset. The Brick & Bell Café has a sweet little terrace where you’ll almost certainly see some dogs out, and the pastries and sweets inside are delicious!
For shopping in La Jolla, there are a mix of high-end retail chains and local boutiques. Many are located on the main shopping street of Girard Avenue, with shops like lululemon alongside more local beachwear stores. Don’t miss Girard Gourmet, a cute bakery and sandwich shop that sells cookies in the shape of Trump dressed as a baby!
At the end of Girard Avenue, ocean-view Living Room Café operates as a coffee shop during the day, but a bar in the evening, and it serves wine from an upstairs balcony. It’s the perfect spot to end a relaxing weekend in La Jolla!
Adam Groffman is a freelance writer, marketer, and gay travel blogger based in NYC, where he covers city trips around the world, expat life, LGBT issues, festivals, and nightlife on his blog, Travels of Adam. His writing has been featured in Thrillist, The Guardian, AFAR, Fodor’s Travel Guides, Condé Nast Traveler, and countless online publications. Additional travel tips (and embarrassing stories!) are shared in real-time through his fun and engaging social media @travelsofadam.
