The hook
That dramatic rock on the ocean side of Pacific Coast Highway, the one from a hundred car commercials, is Mugu Rock, and it exists because they blasted the road through the headland.
01Why it's worth it
Where the coast highway rounds Point Mugu, the road runs in a narrow shelf between the surf and a cliff, and out on the ocean side stands a tall isolated rock with the Pacific stretching out behind it. It looks ancient and natural, and it mostly is, but the setting is man-made: in 1940 crews cut a two-hundred-foot notch straight through the point to push the highway along the coast, and Mugu Rock is what they left standing. The result is one of the most filmed stretches of road in the country, the go-to backdrop for car ads selling the fantasy of an empty coast road. In person it's a genuinely spectacular few miles, worth slowing down and pulling over for.
02How to experience it
It's on Pacific Coast Highway at Point Mugu in southern Ventura County, about six hours from the Bay, on the wild stretch between Malibu and Oxnard. There are pullouts near the rock; stop, take in the view, and mind the traffic and the wind on the cliff edge. It's a natural pairing with a full drive up or down this length of coast.