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Californicated: The 17 Mile Drive

Yes, there is a lot to see during the upcoming Monterey Car Week in Pebble Beach. Especially cars and people. But our recommendation is: 17 Mile Drive, very early in the morning with sunrise.

  • Text und Bilder:
    Matthias Mederer · ramp.pictures

Roads. Who invented them? This person must have been a genius. There are beautiful roads, there are almost endless roads, there are curved roads, there are longing roads, there are charming roads, there are famous roads, there are dangerous roads, infamous roads, but there are also broken roads, ugly roads. Roads that no longer work, there are dead ends that lead nowhere. Roads are like people.

And there's 17 Mile Drive in California. The road, if you will. Whether it's really 17 miles long is of no interest. Drive this road in the morning at sunrise. The car, motorbike or bicycle plays only a minor role. Unless it's Monterey Car Week in Pebble Beach, in which case we recommend a Ferrari 250 LM. Just kidding.

If you really want to feel californicated, that is, if you want to understand this attitude to life about which so many songs have been written and so many films made, if you want to understand that you can go through life far better and healthier without deadlines or heavy thoughts with a certain self-deprecating distance from yourself, you understand anyway that you can basically drive this road, with whatever. (And if it has to be a rental car, at least take a convertible).

Because the last thing that matters is the performance of the car.
Instead: stop. Get out.
Look. For the love of God, take a selfie. (But don't post it!)

The best spots for us:

- Shepherd’s Knoll: a viewpoint over Monterey Bay and the Santa Cruz Mountains.

- Spanish Bay: a viewpoint over Monterey Bay and the Santa Cruz Mountains.

- China Rock: hinese fishermen once built their shelters on the rocks here.


- Bird Rock: in spring and summer, the rock is populated by countless cormorants, gulls and pelicans.

- Cypress Point Overlook: this has been the spot for a view of the Pacific for 100 years.

- The Lone Cypress: Supposedly this lone cypress has stood on this rock for about 250 years, braving every storm. It is the symbol of the Bebble Beach Company.

Matthias Mederer

Matthias Mederer

Editor & Photographer
One car. One camera. A driver. The location? Gladly a city like New York, Cape Town, Berlin or Tokyo. If, on top of that, a typhoon passes through, the conditions are almost ideal. Matthias Mederer may swear like an ill-bred bare-nuckle fighter, but he also delivers. Compulsory and freestyle. His style: cinematic. "Basically, it's like a harmless Tarantino film for me: good soundtrack, a few crazy dialogues and with a few little tricks, in the end it's mainly the story that makes the mark." Well, and he can also write more than remarkably.

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