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While Kennedy Space Center offers the best view of launches (launchpads surrounded by lots of flat land), if you're in California it can be worth it to drive to Vandenberg to view a launch of one of the larger rockets. It's only about 2.5 hours from Los Angeles, 4 hours from San Francisco. The launch pads are on an Air Force base surrounded by hills so you probably won't be able to see the initial liftoff.* But there are several locations which will allow you to see the rocket after it's gained a bit of altitude.

Check the launch schedule to find one you'd like to see. Double-check the week and day before, as launches are frequently postponed. I used my cell phone's data to tap into a live video webstream of the launch on my phone, and output the countdown over my car's speakers for everyone to hear (which also gave us a good indication when to look for the rocket appearing over the hills). Be aware that most of the rockets are liquid fueled, so leave almost no smoke trail (liquid O2 + liquid H2 = H2O or water vapor). If you can catch one which uses solid rocket boosters, those will leave a heavy smoke trail. And these things are fast - it'll be out of sight within a couple minutes, so don't go hoping to keep the kids entertained for a few hours.

* The exception is the SLC-3E pad which is visible from Surf Beach and Ocean Ave, but last time I went for a launch from SLC-3E they had closed off the beach and Ocean Ave. Launches from SLC-6 are also visible from Surf Beach almost immediately after liftoff, though the greater distance makes it less enjoyable. Launches are towards the south and they close off the parks, beaches, and ocean to the south the day of the launch, so don't bother trying those locations.

Thanks!

Brian Webb isn't listing this on his Vandenberg AFB Launch Schedule yet. I think he's going to wait until someone official tells him a date.

Vandenberg AFB is just a couple hours northwest of Los Angeles. It handles the country's launches into polar orbit (stuff like spy satellites and scientific monitoring satellites - polar orbits cover a greater percentage of the earth's surface area). The viewing is not as good as Kennedy Space Center (most of the launch platforms are behind foothills inside a restricted access military base). But about 10 seconds after launch the rocket is above the hills and the show is the same.

Here is a well documented launch of an Minotaur rocket from Vandenberg AFB in 2005 which has some similarities:
http://www.spacearchive.info/minotaur-streak.htm
As for the spiral in I my opinion, depending on the perspective of the viewer relative to rocket you can see this pattern if you are looking at the exhaust end of the rocket and the rocket started to spin so that exhaust plume started to create a spiral. As the rocket lost total directional control, the rocket controller ordered a self-destruct so the sudden "hole" in the middle of the spiral as the rocket exhaust stops at the end of the event.
Here is another link about rocket trails with an expert description http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020926.html

From the Launch Alert email list, www.spacearchive.info , however it was just announced the launch has been scrubbed due to key personnel being unable to attend due to hurricane related weather issues, and no new launch date has been set yet:

" DELTA II LAUNCH SCHEDULED
                                          Vandenberg AFB News Release

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - Vandenberg is scheduled to launch a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket carrying the GeoEye-1 Satellite from Space Launch Complex-2 on North Vandenberg Thursday, Sept. 4, at approximately 11:50 a.m.

The GeoEye-1 satellite will collect high resolution imagery for a wide array of commercial and government applications.

Col. David J. Buck, 30th Space Wing commander, will be the spacelift commander for this mission.

Boeing Launch Services procured the launch vehicle and associated support services from United Launch Alliance. A Delta II 7420-10 configuration launch vehicle is expected to deploy the GeoEye-1 spacecraft approximately 58 minutes after liftoff.

                                                    COUNTDOWN STATUS

Space journalist Justin Ray of Spaceflight Now will probably provide current countdown status on a web page devoted to this launch. Point your browser to:

    http://www.spaceflightnow.com

On launch day, the launch status page will be updated frequently beginning at about T-1 hour. Be sure to regularly hit the refresh button on your browser to see the latest information.

Boeing will broadcast the launch throughout the continental United States at:

    Satellite: AMC-1 C17
    Orbital Location: 103 Degrees West
    Uplink Frequency: 6265 MHz Vertical
    Downlink Frequency: 4040 MHz Horizontal
    Audio: 6.2 and 6.8

The broadcast begins at 11:00 a.m., PDT with bars and tone and ends about 1:00 p.m. A one-hour test signal will be broadcast Sept. 3 from VAFB beginning at 1:00 p.m. PDT. The test will include bars, tone and an identifying slate. Prior to the scheduled test media should verify their receiving equipment is capable of receiving C band signals and
AMC-1 C17.

Boeing will web cast the launch at:
http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/bls/missions/335/.

Viewers may also access the live web cast at: geoeye.com or http://launch.geoeye.com. "

There's a great site that documents in great detail the Vandenberg Air Force Base launches. Since they launch smaller vehicles, any information about "how far you can see" should be useful in helping you predict a launch at Kennedy. The obvious difference is that in CA you can get up in the hills, but I don't think that this makes a huge amount of difference once the booster makes it more than a couple of thousand feet off the ground. You might want to contact the webmaster to see if he/she knows of a similar site for Kennedy.