Specific recommendations: Car camping on the central California coast?

Five of us from San Francisco and Los Angeles like to meet in the middle along the coast once a year and car-camp for a long weekend. The past few years we've had a blast at Limekiln State Park campground, but it's under new management now and they won't allow us to reserve a specific ('our') campsite. In case we can't get one of the spots we want there, we'd like some backups to make reservations with somewhere between the southern end of Monterey Bay and San Luis Obispo—any suggestions? Hang on, let me tell you what we liked about Limekiln. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Jan 24, 2013 - 12 answers