California seems to be the sunny home base of modern vanities. Between internet surfing and the real thing, Surfin’ USA sets out to explore the Californian version of fashionable avant-garde — where trends catch on faster and with more fun than anywhere else, where the young and trendy seem to rule the world. Effortlessly. With a natural tan that makes people living anywhere else look pale and unhealthy by comparison. Maybe it’s because it rarely rains in California. Or, as a travel guide once put it: there may be other visions of the future, but right now, California is the most user-friendly — and the most fun.”

We asked the last of the beatniks in San Francisco and the biggest new age village of the world in Mount Shasta, where an entire tribe is supposed to live in the giant mountain, and a vortex to another dimension is thought to be located around any corner.

“We interview Sonny Barger, once the most feared founder of the legendary motorcycle gang the Hells Angels, now weakened by age and cancer treatment. We visit Al Jardine, singer, co-founder and guitarist of the Beach Boys, living at his hideaway ranch in Big Sur, south of San Francisco. Still humming the anthems of the ultimate Californian band — from “California Girls” and “Surfin’ USA” to “Good Vibrations” and “Fun Fun Fun.

Meet the cutest swimmers in the waves: the sea otters of Carmel and Monterey Bay, lounging in the kelp, munching mussels and having a good time all year round. The ultimate Californians.