Best of Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific, Whale Watching , Breakers Hotel & Historic Playhouse

Welcome to Pat Patterson's Best in California. This episode, Long Beach, Ocean and Style. I love this place. I'm at their Terrace Theater. We're going to check out the Long Beach Playhouse. We're going to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific. We're going to see the Breakers Fairmont. Unbelievable hotel, historic hotel. Eat in the Sky Room. We're going to go whale watching with Harbor Breeze Cruises. Grab a bite at Gladstone's. Incredible, incredible beach community that a lot of people overlook. Let's go check it out. I'm Pat Patterson, and I love California. The aquarium is located in the downtown shoreline area of Long Beach. Rainbow Harbor, Shoreline Village and the Shoreline Marina. So I'm so excited. We're at Long Beach, the best of Long Beach at the Aquarium of the Pacific. Liza and Ashley, you're going to show us around. And there's so much to see here. What what what are you most excited about? Sharks, sharks, of course. Well, I know a huge part of the Aquarium of the Pacific is the interactive parts of it. So what do we have in front of us here? Yeah, well, we have right in here is our moon jellies. They're really awesome animals that we actually get to touch here. Very squishy, very smooth and soft. But you can just use your two fingers just on the top, just like that. Oh, my gosh. It doesn't feel anything like I thought it would. So, Ashley, are there any sharks in here? No, not inside our moon jelly exhibit, but we do have them here in our in our aquarium. I'm so excited. Hey, Ashley, is this the sharks? It is the sharks that we have here. OK, am I dressed appropriately? Do you think they're going to like me? I think they'll like you, but it might be hard for you with the sleeves. OK, you're the expert. I'll be right back. Wardrobe change. The sharks. Tell me all about them. Yeah, so inside our touch floor right here, we have our brown banded bamboo sharks as well as our white spotted. Would you like to touch them? We can touch the sharks, too. We can touch the sharks. I'm so excited. Get your two fingers ready. Oh, we have a couple coming by. So these sharks actually specialize on eating smaller fish, smaller things that live on the ocean floor like clams, anything with a shell, really. Most people think that sharks are huge animals, but 50% of them are less than five feet, less than five feet. Yeah, exactly. And a lot of people, when they come to our shark lagoon, they believe that these are babies, but they're actually fully grown adults. They are really cute. This is our living coastline. You can see inside here some examples of sea stars, sea anemones and sea urchins, as well as other animals in here that are all representatives of what you can experience if you ever go tide pulling. Oh, my gosh. It's like the softest thing I've ever felt. And that is our sea anemone. Oh, my gosh. You guys, I don't know if you can see this, but it really does grab on to you. When I was a kid in the 50s, all the tide pools in California looked like this. But we took a lot of the animals. That's why there are no animals left out there. So don't do that. Leave the tide pool animals alone. All right. Get out of here, Dad. OK. So, Ashley, what is that? Yeah, penguins. You can kind of see them in the back right over there. Now, why does it sound so bad? So that is them making the calls. They're during their breeding season right now. So they're trying to find their mates, trying to see who they're interested in. You can actually view these penguins at home. We have an underwater cam right over here. No way. In a video cam. So go check it out online. Dad, why are you crying? Oh, this reminds me of your sister's wedding. The tuxedos, they're all wearing tuxedos. So, Ashley, this is so exciting. One of the things you have here is an incredible volunteer program where seniors like myself and anybody can become a part of the aquarium. Tell me about that. Yeah, we have so many different roles here to volunteer. We have folks who are in husbandry, helping to feed and take care of the animals. We have people that are diving in these exhibits. Does somebody have to have a background in marine biology or do you train them? Yeah, we provide training. You don't have to have any marine knowledge for our education volunteer program. We provide all that training. We're just looking for someone who's passionate and excited. So, Ashley, tell me a little bit about this spot. This is almost an optical illusion. I feel like I could touch them. Yeah, this is our backyard. This is an example of a kelp forest. You can see one of our horn sharks swimming on by. And those brightly colored orange fish. That's Garibaldi. That one I know. And we also have our leopard shark that just swam by. So these are just representatives of the different animals that you can experience in our kelp forest. And then we also have another shark inside of here. Oh, just popped right up. That is our leopard shark. So as you can see, we have many different animals living in this habitat. When I was a kid, I used to pop those bubbles on the kelp. Is that OK? The best way I would advise is just to check in with your local lifeguard or your marine park guide to to know like what's OK to explore. And what is you know, you never want to accidentally touch something that could potentially harm you on those things that you're popping that actually helps the kelp stay afloat in the water. OK, perfect. So stay curious, but not harmful. Sharks, sharks. So, of course, we had to check out the gift shop. Why is it found a baby shark? I tried to hammer with a hammerhead shark. Not a great idea. This all helps support the Aquarium of the Pacific. We love this place. Now on to the next one. I'm so excited. We're in Long Beach and I'm with Captain Danny Salas of Harbor Breeze Cruises and Danny, whale watching corporate events, Harbor Cruises. Tell me about your business. Well, our business has evolved into more than I've ever imagined, Pat. It's it's it's it's it's near and dear to my heart. My family. And you've been on the water all your life. Well, since age 12, I mean, I don't know much else. So you're born to this. I was this I'm born on this ocean. We do just about anything imaginable in the ocean. We do daily sightseeing tours of the harbor, which, you know, which is great for the younger kids. We take them out, show them the sights, the sea lions, the birds, the marine life, which is inside the harbor. And you have a partnership with the Aquarium of the Pacific. I understand. Absolutely. Our partnership is very near and dear to our hearts. Such a great. It's just such a great place. And, you know, we take the volunteers out during our whale watching cruises and we actually educate, you know, the public on on the the importance of protecting our oceans, you know, from the littlest microplastics all the way to balloons. And, you know, some of the bigger, you know, problems we have with climate change, global climate change, air pollution. And you're designing a new boat. Speaking of that, that's an electric hybrid. Yes. To help with the environment. Yes. And we've really put a lot of effort into making sure, you know, the emissions are clean and we're going to be able we're going to be one of the first with zero emissions to be able to run on a whale. Good for you. Silent. That is in the globe, on the globe. That's great. Harbor Breeze Cruises, whale watching corporate events so much down here in Long Beach and San Pedro. Danny, thank you for your time. Pat, thank you so much. Harbor Breeze Cruises right on the shoreline. Beautiful, beautiful cabins. Nice and clean. And we've got a shark along with us to head out. We did both the harbor cruise, which was a lot of fun. The main event was heading out to watch the whales. You go by the Queen Mary along the way and then the shoreline lighthouse. That's the crane. Some people think these are hotels. They're actually oil derricks. Some of the freighters going into the port. Beautiful, beautiful pelicans. So now it's all about looking for the whales. And everybody's on the lookout. And we're waiting with anticipation, hoping for a sighting. We see another whale watching boat go by. Then we see one. Check that out. These are big, big whales. I've lived in Southern California all my life and have never seen them this up close. Harbor Breeze got us out there not too far off the coast to see them. Beautiful sunny day. Amazing sightings of the whales. Well worth it. And we head back to shore. I really enjoyed seeing the shoreline of Long Beach. And our crew brought us back in safe and sound. What a wonderful time out there. That's our whale cruise. Amazing down here. The aquarium in the background. Harbor Breeze Cruises. Lots of whales. It was a lot of fun. I'm so excited. We're in Long Beach. I love Gladstones. And I was Scott Hewitt. And Scott, this is a paradise. This has got to be a true hidden gem. It is. It is. Even many people who live in Long Beach, I don't know where we're down here. It's amazing. It's a waterfront. It's beautiful. Every day is like this. It's great view of the Queen Mary as well as the lighthouse. And I'm going to order the fish and chips. What else would you recommend? The jerk salmon is excellent. Parmesan crusted halibut. We do have some great ribs as well as New York steak, as well as a hamburger. It is incredible. And oysters. I think Liza mentioned oysters. Yeah, we have oysters on the house shows. Absolutely right. So Gladstones, check it out when you're next down here in Long Beach. Incredible. Thank you very much, Scott. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks for coming in. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, he always steals my food. State Parks. Now let's explore the art and culture of Long Beach. The Long Beach Playhouse. Historic theater. Been here many, many years. Let's check it out. Wow. Wow. Here you go. How cool. What a neat space, Madison of Chevron Main Lobby here. Incredible. I love this. So I'm so excited we are in Long Beach. I'm at the Long Beach Playhouse with Madison Mooney, executive director. And Madison, this is such a great space. Now, this is the main stage. Yes, we're on the main stage theater here. And this was our original space in this theater since 1951, 1951. And so that's one of the things about your playhouse is its history. It's been here a long time. Yes, we've been an organization since 1929. We're coming up on 100 years. And yeah, we've been in this wonderful space since 1951. Wow. Eighty five percent of our audience is local Long Beach or surrounding cities. Lots of students come to see shows for their very first theater experiences here. And then also during the summer, we're able to partner with a children's theater that we have a summer camp with. And to find out what's going on, where do they go? You want to go to LBplayhouse.org. LBplayhouse.org. I'm here at the Long Beach Playhouse with Sean, the artistic director. Sean, that is a dream job. Tell me a little bit about that. Well, part of my main job is just producing each of the shows that we do. I oversee hiring the directors. I'm here. I'm there at auditions, making sure we cast the best people and just picking the shows for the season. And with the help of our board and our artistic committee, it is definitely a dream job. I can't imagine. This is where we do eight shows a year. It's our main space. And then we have a smaller theater upstairs, which we do more contemporary plays for part of the year. And is that a black box theater? It's a it's a 90 seat, 98 seat proscenium theater. For those of you theater nerds. Sorry, we're just like a regular. We're just geeking out over here. Tell me about one of your favorite shows that you've worked on in the past. Every year we do an Agatha Christie show, and I just love them. I love Agatha Christie. She's always she's not only a bestselling author. Her shows do very well for us and they're always very popular. So I look forward to it every year. Tell me a little bit just what it means to you about working in such a historic theater. I mean, I think any theater that's been around for almost 100 years. I mean, this place is filled with not only memories, ghosts. The spirit of all of these people coming together in a collaborative community of creatives. Tell me about some of the ghosts. Well, the main stage specifically is haunted haunted by one of our past executive directors. She's still in charge. She is still in charge. And so we always honor her. Now tell me a little bit about some of the experiences you personally have had with the ghosts here at the Long Beach Playhouse. One time I was up in the studio. I was here by myself. It was late at night and I distinctly heard someone coming up the stairs. And then I was wondering, oh, who who else is here? Go out there. No one there. No one in the building. But I distinctly heard someone walking up those steps. I mean, I personally have not had experiences, but I get reported to all of the time by our designers, by people, especially when the main stage is dark. Sometimes they will see a ghostly figure out in the darkness of the stage. This is fantastic, you guys. Well, haunted California. So I'm so excited. We're in Long Beach. I'm with Maureen Lurie. And we're at the famous Fairmont Hotel and the Breakers Restaurant. Famous, famous. And you're coming up on your hundredth anniversary. Yes. When is it? Yes, it is actually this September. So we are our centennial year here in twenty twenty six. So, wow. I haven't been here for 30 years and you did a refurbish of everything. How much did you spend? Purchasing of the building and all in a little over two hundred million. Two hundred million. So we are going to go see some of the incredible things they've done here. Let's go check out the Fairmont Hotel here in Long Beach. Let's go. Oh, look at this. My gosh, this is incredible. So spectacular. Beautiful lobby. And how much of this is original? Particularly looking up at the ceiling here. These plaster moldings are original to the building. We kept as much of the original intact as we could to preserve that historic legacy that this building embodies. Maureen, what is this? So this is one of my favorite art installations in the property. So this reminds me of like the flash bulbs that you would see on the paparazzi from like the 1930s, 1940s. And it's almost like you were back in the glory days of Hollywood walking the red carpet. And I do joke all the time. This is as close as I'm ever going to be to being Rita Haber. Well, I'll be Kerry Grant. Excellent. Here we go. So a full service spa, Maureen. Yes. And I always love how it smells in this. I mean, I'm already relaxed. So what is massages, I assume? I do massages, facials, body treatments. Is this guests only or can people from the public just come in and use the spa? Everyone is welcome at Fairmont Breakers. There we go. OK, wait me one week. Need to go to the suite. So Maureen, this is beautiful. This is one of the breakers suite. Yes. We have two king bedrooms. And how many baths? There's two full baths. And there's a unique bathtub shower set up that I love for a couple. The tile in this space reminds me a lot of Hearst Castle. So it takes you back to that golden era of Hollywood. And that's one thing that I love about this hotel. This is Netuno, one of the restaurants and all the artwork. I think I mentioned to you, this reminds me of like a Manhattan bar. Right behind the hotel was the sand. We actually had a special elevator that would take guests down to our arcade level, one level below the lobby. And you could slip out a side entrance and go right to the beach. So you wouldn't have to walk through this elegant lobby in your bathing costume. So this is our lobby bar. We call it La Sala, which means the living room, because that's the feeling that we want to convey in the space. To me, it reminds me of a 1930s kind of garden solarium with the palm tree chandeliers. So this piece here with the circles in the square. Yeah, it's a piece of the original front desk of the hotel. I love so that we found during the renovation. We used what we could, which is a common theme throughout the property. And we brought it back to life. Then, of course, famously, your stay at the Fairmont's Breaker. You got to have dinner in the Sky Room. This is a place not to be missed. Many, many, many choices of incredible food, grilled salmon, filet mignon, roasted chicken or mushroom risotto. Good food, a clear view and a place to spend a part of California's history for generations. And as we stop at the bar, we see our shark friend. And it's time to say goodbye to Long Beach. Goodbye. This beautiful, beautiful experience we've had. So I hope you enjoyed that episode. The best of Long Beach Ocean in class. I think this city is overlooked. It doesn't get enough love, and I love it here. See you next time.