I live on the central coast of CA, in Santa Maria which is probably the least expensive central coast city with a beach climate (once you get past San Luis Obispo, it gets to be more of a desert climate).

It is about 10 miles from the ocean and there are plenty of mountains, quiet beautiful roads to ride on, and good places to surf all within a few minutes to an hour's drive. The weather simply can't be beat (average high for January is 64, July is 74). It really is a great place to live if you can find a local job, or don't mind having a (possibly very long) commute.

It does have a movie theater and a bookstore, but the bookstore is pretty small and is in the mall, which sucks. If I want to go to a bookstore I usually go up to SLO, or go one right next to my work in Goleta.

I probably would rather live in SLO (I did in college) but it is pretty expensive.