Easy Living in Santa Monica

Santa Monica is young, upbeat and carefree. A long weekend on the outskirts of Los Angeles is the perfect way to get in the mood for California.

Even before the Los Angeles highways sink into the first traffic jam, the morning in Santa Monica begins with a silvery glow. The sun is low over the Pacific, a light breeze blows in a pinch of fresh sea air, and joggers run their laps on the narrow strip of asphalt along the shore.
Anyone arriving here quickly realizes that Santa Monica is more than just a suburb of Los Angeles: Santa Monica is the Californian lifestyle, friendly, open, tolerant. Somewhere between the vastness of the ocean and urban coolness.

The legendary Santa Monica Pier is the tourist heart of the town. While in the early hours of the morning it is quiet except for sportsmen and the occasional fisherman, the wooden structure with its artists, stalls and bars becomes a fairground during the day and in the evening. Pure entertainment: the colorful lights of the Ferris wheel thrill young and old, seagulls screech as they make their rounds, cell phones are pulled out: in front of the "End of the Trail" sign, Harley Davidson riders and techno-nerds, couples in love and entire school classes with cotton candy remember that this is where the historic Route 66 ends - and for many travelers, the feeling of having arrived in California begins. Dogtown Coffee on Main Street in the former Z-Boys district, a trendy meeting place for the surfing and skateboarding community, smells of freshly roasted espresso and salty sea air. Breakfast all day long. Surfers in wetsuits quickly grab a breakfast burrito or a healthy acai bowl before heading into the water.



At the other end of the city, on fashionable Montana Avenue, specialty restaurants, high-end boutiques, epicurean discoveries and small galleries are lined up one after the other. The Primo Passo coffee shop serves the best espresso in town; Andrew's Cheese Shop is the master of over 200 types of cheese - a gourmet empire in the smallest of spaces. You can taste, buy and take away - just like at the appetizing Farmers Market Downtown, where healthy and good things are added to the shopping basket twice a week. In Santa Monica, healthy and good also means above all: exercise. But without the pressure to perform. Yoga in the park or on the beach, cycling along the coast, running at any time of day or night, surfing in the morning light: if you're not exercising here, you've done something wrong. On the historic Muscle Beach, an open-air fitness area dating back to the 1930s, acrobats perform skills and there are countless bars, loungers and equipment for gymnastics, dancing and lots of laughter.

Exercise is not an obligation here, but an expression of joie de vivre.

If you want to keep up at a leisurely pace, take a walk or hire an e-bike and follow the cycle path to Venice Beach, past street artists, musicians and life artists of all stripes. Neighboring Venice is wilder, more eccentric and brightly colored. Santa Monica, on the other hand, cultivates casual elegance. Luxury is not a big deal here. The art is to enjoy the moment: Because a sunset over the Pacific is worth more than stiff collars and fat purses could ever buy.

As already mentioned, good, healthy food is part of the inner attitude and friendly hedonism. Few places embody this better than Michael's on 3rd Street, a classic of California cuisine. Oysters, the best pizzas in town, classics such as roasted cauliflower with goat cheese and caramelized honey or octopus, finely mixed with hearty sausage from Spain, are served here under lemon trees in the courtyard. Seasonal, light, creative: just a few steps away is the Blue Plate Oysterette, a small maritime brasserie with a view of the ocean. The interior: white wood paneling, azure blue tiles, open kitchen - and a wonderful terrace with a view of the lively Ocean Avenue. The clientele: film producers at lunch alongside curious tourists, oyster connoisseurs
from the nearby metropolis and the finest in sporty outfits. The specialty: oysters from Morro Bay, served on ice with lime and mint. Accompanied by a cool white wine from the mountains around Malibu - and you understand why California loves to eat the way it lives: with sun, style and substance.



In the evening, the chic scene is drawn to the elegant wine bar Wally's. There are over a thousand wines to choose from here; to enjoy by the bottle in the bar or simply take away from one of the shelves on the walls of the huge restaurant. There is also a menu that alternates between wagyu tartare and truffle pasta. If you want to get a taste of California wine country, neighboring Malibu is now almost as good a place as the far more famous Napa Valley.



Just half an hour from Santa Monica is Aja Vineyards, a family-run winery overlooking the ocean. The vineyards here nestle on the slopes of the Santa Monica Mountains, and winemaker Amanda Greenbaum serves the region's best wines in her wine boutique on 2nd Street. Greenbaum's wine tastings are a familiar address for wine connoisseurs from all over the USA - the winemaker has become an important new voice in Californian viticulture. Her characterful wines are the family's trademark. AJA Vineyards was founded by Todd and Heather Greenbaum, who began planting their first vines on the slopes above Malibu in 2007. The name AJA is a family cipher - made up of the first names of the children Alec, Jack and Amanda.



Warm, sunny days alternating with cool, sometimes foggy nights and the barren, volcanic soils allowed vines to ripen that made us forget that the region was famous for stars and beaches, but not for viticulture.
In her "Tasting Flight Estate" - although there are also other, smaller samples to taste - the young winemaker serves five wines from the Malibu coast: a 2023 Sauvignon Blanc for take-off, a Cabernet Sauvignon from 2019, her already well-known FIVE - a cuvée as the winemaker's signature variety -, a 2016 Syrah, and a 2012 Syrah for landing. Greenbaum's creation FIVE has a very special history: when a devastating fire ravaged large parts of the region in 2018, it spared the family's estate. Since then, the vineyard has been called Miracle Vineyard - in memory of the miracle of having survived. Malibu's vineyards are clearly visible when the evening dinner at The Penthouse is served to accompany the Hollywood-worthy sunset (see next page: The Huntley Hotel Santa Monica Beach). The journey continues in the city's hippest luxury restaurant on the top floor of the hotel. Easy living. Here, California is completely at home: with the luxury of serenity and without stiff poses.

Aesthetic and comfortable

THE HUNTLEY HOTEL SANTA MONICA BEACH PROVIDES LUXURIOUS LUXURY.

An excellent hotel in one of the city's quietest districts guarantees high-class accommodation: The Huntley is a meeting place for creative people and design fans - not a classic beach hotel like the rather cold Regent or the lovable but ageing Shutters On The Beach, but an exciting, urban alternative and yet only minutes away from the coast. Built in the 1960s and lavishly modernized into an unobtrusively beautiful design object, the lobby of this "place to be" is already a statement: high ceilings, cool stone floors, walls of brushed metal and glass, in between soft sofas in sandy tones.

Manju Raman, the charismatic General Manager of the Huntley Hotel in Santa Monica, sees her hotel as an ambassador for a modern interpretation of luxury. Under her many years of management, the Huntley Hotel has developed into an iconic lifestyle meeting place where cosmopolitan travelers, locals and creatives alike celebrate the ease of West Coast living.
The hotel's best rooms, decorated in bright natural colors, offer a view of the Pacific Ocean - the sun dances on the water outside the window. The heart of the hotel beats at the very top: The Penthouse, restaurant and rooftop lounge, is currently the hottest address for connoisseurs. While the ambience skilfully plays with light and color - lots of white, soft sand and sea tones, plus subtle nautical details - The Penthouse is the big stage for one of California's great chefs: Chef Manny.

On his plates are not only perfectly prepared trendy dishes such as seared scallops with cauliflower puree, filet mignon with truffle jus or vegan bowls with quinoa and beet, but also a very special meat delicacy: Beef from Creekstone.

The company from Arkansas City breeds Black Angus and Duroc cattle, which are known for their quality and marbling. The animals come exclusively from family-run farms in the Midwest, where they are raised on open pastures and later fed a natural, plant-based grain mixture - guaranteed without hormones or antibiotics. The feed is crucial: Creekstone only uses varieties that ensure an incomparably fine marbling - and thus serve as the key to a juicy taste and soft texture. This has also been noticed by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, who regularly shops at Creekstone.

www.thehuntleyhotel.com