Traveling In Style : Side Trips : The World Unfolds

In the old days, gas stations gave out free maps of neighboring cities. These days, we pay for our maps--but luckily, in Southern California at least, there are plenty of places doing the selling. For instance:

Southern California Map and Travel Center,3211 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica; (310) 829-7902. More than 1,000 maps, including those from Bollmann (“beautiful maps that show all the buildings of a city as well as the streets,” says the proprietor) and city plans of every place from Paris to Bratislava to Mazatlan.

Pacific Travelers Supply,529 State St., Santa Barbara; (805) 963-4438. Unusual stock, including individually crafted maps such as those of Antiqua Guatemala, drawn by Anita Aparicio, and Nancy Chandler’s maps of Bangkok.

Geographia,4000 Riverside Drive, Sherman Oaks; (818) 848-1414. City plans, topographical, nautical and aeronautical maps. Also unique fold-out VanDam maps that show sections of a city, with restaurants, hotels and sites of interest.

Pasadena Map Co.,1778 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena; (818) 795-3626. Maps of Southern California cities, mostly from the mid-1800s, are a specialty.

Travelers Depot,1539 Garnet Ave., Pacific Beach; (619) 483-1421. In addition to maps of Europe and the United States, this shop stocks numerous city, suburban and regional maps of Mexico, including road maps and walking maps.

Map Centre Inc.,2611 University Ave., San Diego; (619) 291-3830. Roughly 6,000 maps in all, including city maps ranging--alphabetically, no less--from Aberdeen, Scotland, to Zurich, Switzerland.

Maps Etc.,21919 Sherman Way, Canoga Park; (818) 347-9160: “We have a lot of maps of itty-bitty cities that nobody goes to,” says manager Toni Chirico.