California Hidden Gems Special places for Summer Travel!

I'm Pat Patterson and I love California. Hey, Pat. Hey, Sandy. How are you? Oh, I am so good. How are you? Well, it's great. How are things in Palm Springs? You know, they are fabulous. We are having beautiful weather. It's not too hot yet. I love it. And we loved hosting you here, as a matter of fact, not too long ago. Well, I really want to thank you for helping us with this Hidden Gems Award announcement. Yeah, you know what? I'm really excited about it because you are a native Californian. So you know the best about California. And so tell me really the origin of these hidden gems. We started doing it a couple of years ago and it gets national press now. I mean, we're picked up all over the country. Yeah. Wow. That is fantastic. Well, let's get to them. I feel like I need a little drum roll here. Now, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. Number six, best hidden gem food experience. And this one is one of my favorites, too. You've been to it. Yeah. The Boise Berry Festival at Knott's Berry Farm. I have not been to it before. Liza and I covered it. And here again, big popular theme park, but a different event that isn't Christmas. It isn't all the other things that crowd theme parks. It's food. And they have dozens of Boise Berry themed items. Liza loved the one of the sandwiches that was on. It was a. What was it? It had Boise Berry flavored coleslaw cornbread. So it was a pulled pork sandwich on coleslaw and cornbread. And I love the Boise Berry lemon tart. Oh, yeah. What's been your favorite when you've gone there? You know what? The old school Boise Berry jam. Oh, that is so yummy. And I remember going when my boys were little and all of us having purple teeth when we left because it stains your mouth and your teeth. But it's so delicious that Boise Berry beer they have. And they also have a lot of local merchants that make Boise Berry themed product, which I think is really cool that a theme park does that. You know, they help local artisans that we even bought a Boise Berry plant while we were there. So. Oh, wow. Thank you, Buena Park and Knott's Berry Farm. Nice, nice. Well, the next one, number seven is live events or festivals. So this is the Coronado Film Festival, which I knew nothing about. You know, I know about Newport. I know about the big Palm Springs out there. But this is a hidden gem. And down on Coronado Island. And I guess officially it's called the Coronado Island Film Festival. And it just is a great venue to see all these films, independent films. They'll usually have a couple of stars come down that they're honoring. And it's just a very low key. I want to I want to say not so crowded, but now that we've given it its award and you're publicizing it, those days are over. It'll be a mob. It'll be like it will be like a Sundance. No, I don't think. Well, nice that you give them those shout outs, because, you know, the film festivals are so important to the industry to get some of those smaller independent films out there. And Coronado is so beautiful with a great marriage between a film festival and a location. Great place to stay. You know, the Hotel Del there and all that is awesome. I love that. And the next one, even though this doesn't really speak to you or me, per se, is the best hidden gem, senior friendly travel hack. So I always look for something with gray hair or, you know, let's say 50 and over, you know, travel gets harder. I don't know about you, but, you know, just just the reason I love my gig is it's California. It's easy. Most of it's drivable. And this one is going to a national park. Now, I don't know about you, but I think about going to a national park. I immediately start to get a headache because it can be very crowded and hard to park. It's hard to get hotels inside the park. You know, you have to go online and at eight thirty when they, you know, you have to try to reserve the room. So Visalia has a a Sequoia shuttle. And so today in Visalia, which we did, you just come out of your hotel. I think we're at the Marriott there, which is beautiful. You just come out, you get the shuttle, it takes you all the way up that you can either stop, get off, you can do things, you can do whatever you want, but you don't have to park. You don't have to worry about your car. It's just a beautiful way to do it. I want to say it was about a 40 minute drive, you know, but just a nice, beautiful, comfortable van shuttle, big, big shuttle. And we just fell in love with it. So nice. Well, the operative word there is comfortable because we do like our comfort at a certain age. So number nine, best made in California product. And that had to be one that was probably a little competitive because we have a lot of great items and hidden gems made in California. It's hard. So we did a segment about the Rolling Hills Casino up in Corning. Beautiful spot and beautiful facility, another casino like the Amava. And they have their own brewery and distillery, which is the Pasquena Brewery and Distillery, where they're not only doing beer, but they're doing spirits. And it's, I think, unique just in the fact that the tribe that owns the casino owns this distillery and it's all brewing stuff for the property itself, but they're starting to actually ship it elsewhere. And one of the things that I loved about this place, because it's just one tribe, one casino, some tribes own multiple casinos and big companies run them and whatnot, is very local and helps the community. And it's good product, good spirits and beer and ale and whatnot, but it's also very committed to helping the community. So our hats off to Pasquena. Absolutely. Hats off for sure. That's fantastic. And the last one, again, I feel like a drum roll is needed here. Number 10 of your best hidden gems. The category is best food and drink restaurant, Rock and Brews. Yeah. So we never give this to a chain. This chain, we went to a couple of them this year, and this was a chain founded by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley Kiss and restaurateur Michael Zizlis. And they're headquartered in Manhattan Beach, close to me here in Seal Beach. And I love their food. I love their beverages. They have, for an old hippie like me, all the rock posters and memorabilia, mostly from my era, but obviously a lot of it from more recent times. And I happen to have met Gene Simmons before, and I just think he's a neat guy and a great businessman. But I guess it's this restaurateur Michael Zizlis that deserves a lot of the credit for the food and what they've done there. So I think they're up to 17 locations. Nice. Kind of similar to Bob's in and out. They were born here, but they're Hispanic. So nice. Nice. Well done, Gene Simmons and crew. Absolutely. Well, well done to you. Thank you, Liza, for just covering our beautiful state of California and finding all these hidden gems, because really they are. There are so many. And how can we possibly find them all? It's so wonderful that you could now in your fourth year really highlight some of the best ones. I'm going to definitely check quite a few of these out myself. Yeah, it's helpful. It's helpful. And we try to do it before Memorial Day so people can plan their summer, get a few of these in. They're all drivable. They're all easy. They're not just for summer, but many of them are for summer. And I always encourage people to go to our website, bestocal.tv, to give us their hidden gems. Well, you have really nailed it. I'm so proud of you. Bravo, bravo. As a native of California, this means a lot to you to be able to show the very best of your home state. Thank you. Thank you. And I'm just going to remind everybody, you could see the show here in Los Angeles on MeTV, Sundays at 730, but it airs all over the country, all over the state. I just tell anybody, I don't know about you, Sandy, but people say, so where can I see your show? I say, you know what? Just search my name, Pat Patterson, in your TV service and it'll tell you where to find us. So that's what I tell people to do. Great. Well, we love the show. We love you and Liza. We love all the tips you give us. And here's to a new season of Hidden Gems. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it, Sandy. Look forward to coming to see you in Palm Springs soon. Please do. We'll see you soon. That's a, that's a date. I'm Pat Patterson and I love California.