California seems to be the sunny homebase of modern vanities. Between Internet surfing and the real thing „Surfin‘ USA“ tries to explore the Californian version of fashionable avantgarde. Where trends catch on faster and with more fun then anywhere else. Where the young and trendy seem to rule the world. Effortless. With a natural tan that makes people living somewhere else, look pale and unhealthy in comparison. Maybe because it never rains in California. Or as a travel guide once claimed: There may be other visions of the future, but at the moment 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 second corner.

We‘re interviewing Sonny Barger, once the most feared founder of the legendary motorcycle gang „Hell‘s Angels“, now weakened from age and a cancer treatment. And we are visiting Al Jardine, the singer, co-founder and guitarist of the Beach Boys, who is living on his hideaway ranch in Big Sur, way 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“.

And we‘re meeting the most lovely floaters on the waves: The sea otters of Carmel and Monterey Bay, sitting in the sea kelp, munching mussels and having a good time around the year. The ultimate Californians.