If you can stretch your geographical boundaries to the Santa Barbara Area, Lompoc is a great beach town and relatively non-touristy. Granted, the beach is about 8 miles away. However, the greatest beach in all of California (IMHO) is Jalama Beach, 25 minutes out of Lompoc. You cannot find a better place to see the Ocean, There is lots to see and do in this area, a great Mission, Flowers galore (Lompoc supplies half of all the flower seeds in the entire country), and Solvang (the epitome of touristy but still an interesting place to visit.) Vandenberg AFB is another interesting place right next to Lompoc, it is open to the public.

http://www.ci.lompoc.ca.us/

http://www.jalamabeach.com/

http://www.lapurisimamission.org/

http://www.vandenberg.af.mil/

You can follow highway 1 (not the 101) from Lompoc to Guadalupe, about 25 miles north, and find the absolute least touristy beach town in all of California. The Guadalupe- Nipomo Dunes are located here, you can visit the Dunes center which is located on the main street in town. Oso Flaco lake has a fantastic boardwalk that crosses the lake, travels through the dunes and lets out at the ocean--its a wonderful place that hardly nobody goes to! The beach at Guadalupe is quite historical-- Cecil B. DeMille's 1923 silent movie The Ten Commandments was filmed there, an enormous set was erected at Guadalupe and after the movie was completed, the set was abandoned and left to be buried by drifting sand dunes. Today they are excavating this "lost city" and one can actually see parts of the set occasionally uncovered by shifting sands right at the beach. You won't find anything but a parking lot here, and lots of wonderful scenery--but no food, no trinkets, nothing touristy at all!

http://www.ci.guadalupe.ca.us/

http://www.dunescenter.org/

http://www.lostcitydemille.com/

Point Sal is a state beach located in one of the most remote parts of the central coast, I am certain it is not touristy. You should realize that the places in California that are less frequented by people, are usually more difficult to get to, or find in a travel guide. These are the best places to discover my State!

http://www.parks.ca.gov/lat_long_map/area_maps.asp?lvl_id=244&zoom=1

http://www.localhikes.com/Hikes/PointSal_7480.asp

http://tinyurl.com/3khpn

Let me know if these areas interest you, I can provide more info! Enjoy,

Amelia Hesson Chatsworth http://www.csun.edu/~afm1545/