Pacific Coast Highway

Take New York, remember Paris or sing of Chicago, but don't ever forget that Southern California is the leading landscape of pop-music dreamers. From the days when Bing Crosby crooned of the San Fernando Valley as a giddy heaven on Earth (how's that going?) to N.W.A's slightly less rosy "Straight Outta Compton" and beyond, the lyrics on the radio have long reminded us that Southern California -- for better or worse -- is best mapped in lyrics.

First, a weighty matter. The laradio.com website says that a traffic reporter on KFWB-AM (980) attributed a snarl on Pacific Coast Highway the other day to "heavy beachgoers." I'm surprised they'd want to be seen in bathing suits. Ooh L.A. L.A.: Marvin Mallon of West Hills was surprised that a local market would offer a recipe for brazen Brussels sprouts (see accompanying). Perhaps the sexy ingredient was supposed to be prosciutto (an Italian ham)?

Re "Ocean of Cars Clogs PCH in the South Bay," May 9 As long as Los Angeles County is installing cameras at intersections, let's do what's necessary to start issuing red-light and speeding violations from automated systems. I live half a block off Pacific Coast Highway, and I'm delighted when traffic is backed up. Every other time of day, when I'm walking around town with my 6-year-old boy, we stand a good risk of getting pasted by the inconsiderate commuters and drunks who treat our town as a freeway.

Famous for its ocean views, Pacific Coast Highway is gaining a reputation in the South Bay these days for something far less glamorous: traffic. Commuting in the region -- where California Highway 1 doubles as a major thoroughfare through several seaside towns -- has worsened in recent years largely because of residential and commercial development.

A pedestrian was killed late Wednesday when he was hit by a car while crossing a street, police said. The man, who has not been identified, was crossing Pacific Coast Highway near Bolsa Chica State Beach when he was struck by a Ford Taurus at about 11:15 p.m., said Huntington Beach Police Sgt. Craig Bryant. The man, believed to be 18 to 25 years old, was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver, Bruce Kelben, 46, of Costa Mesa, was not cited.

This is a neighborhood people hurtle past at 60 miles an hour (though the posted speed is 45), where houses are built just a few yards from a major six-lane highway, yet residents can step out their back gates and walk barefoot to the local restaurant on the beach. The neighborhood starts just north of the pier with tall slivers of houses flaunting their differences.

The breathtaking views on the Pacific Coast Highway carry risks for cyclists, who ride in the sea breeze at considerable peril as cars on the narrow road zoom by. On Saturday morning, a catering truck hit two cyclists, who had been forced off the northbound shoulder and onto the road by a construction project. The driver did not stop immediately after hitting the men, who died soon after being airlifted to UCLA Medical Center.

A reader called recently looking for a recommendation for a restaurant by the beach. He'd be entertaining somebody from the East Coast whose one request was dinner in view of the Pacific. The guy didn't want much. He wanted sunset on the ocean, good food and the opportunity for conversation, somewhere within a short drive of the Westside.

A skateboarder was killed Friday when he was struck by a vehicle at Beach Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway, police said. John Patrick Laurence Napier, 21, died instantly when struck by a car driven by Aaron Walch, 23, of Santa Maria about 12:30 a.m., Huntington Beach Police Sgt. Dave Benetta said. Walch was arrested on suspicion of felony drunk driving and manslaughter, Benetta said.

In the interview with Steve Hoye regarding his coup in obtaining public access to private Malibu beach land--specifically, the sands adjacent to David Geffen's oceanfront estate--nowhere is it mentioned where the beneficiaries of his activism will park ("The People's Shoreline," by Mark Ehrman, Metropolis, May 15). The beach homes nearby are so close together that parking in front of them would block the homeowners' entry to their properties. The only alternative is the land side across busy Pacific Coast Highway--a hazardous option.