RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Los Angeles County >> Vista del Mar >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Vista del Mar, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Vista del Mar and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Vista del Mar:
    • 33.818906, -118.198680
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Vista del Mar
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Los Angeles County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Los Angeles County
    • Since Vista del Mar is near Orange County and also San Bernardino County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Orange County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for San Bernardino County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Vista del Mar

Communities Also Named Vista del Mar ...

We found one communities that are also named Vista del Mar.

There is one other community in California that is also named Vista del Mar.

Beyond California.

  • Communities Located In California ...
    • Orange County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of Vista del Mar [Orange County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Vista del Mar ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Carson
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Carson is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carson
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 89,860 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Carson <2>
  • Clearwater
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Clearwater is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearwater
  • Dolores
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Dolores is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dolores
  • Harbor City
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Harbor City is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbor City
  • Hollydale
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Hollydale is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollydale
  • Ironsides
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Ironsides is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ironsides
  • Keystone
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Keystone is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keystone
  • Lincoln Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Lincoln Village is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Village
  • Long Beach
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Naples
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Naples is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Naples
  • Paramount
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Signal Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Willowville
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Willowville is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willowville

How Far From Vista del Mar to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Vista del Mar to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Vista del Mar and extending to:

  • Los Angeles, which is the Seat of Los Angeles County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<3> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Vista del Mar to Los Angeles, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 376 miles [605.1 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take 6 hours, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,296 miles [3,695.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 90 days and walking would take 131 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,581 miles [12,200.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,349 miles [13,436.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,337 miles [10,198.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Vista del Mar could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Vista del Mar) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<5>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Vista del Mar to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Vista del Mar. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.8189, Longitude: -118.1987       In this case, the coordinates for Vista del Mar have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 336.168 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 336.041 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 325.601 degrees.