♪♪ -I'm in a destination that could be considered the headquarters of the California lifestyle.

And I'll be exploring an incredible coastline and some of its cities and beach communities along the way.

-♪ Ooh, yeah, yeah ♪ -And while we've all had that California fantasy, the people here do a lot more than just dream, they make things happen and they do so through an amazing supply of creativity, care, and a need for things to be better for the next generation.

I'm in Orange County, California.

I'm Samantha Brown, and I've traveled all over this world.

And I'm always looking to find the destinations, the experiences, and, most importantly, the people who make us feel like we're really a part of a place.

That's why I have a love of travel and why these are my places to love.

Samantha Brown's "Places to Love" is made possible by... -Europe is a treasure trove of fascinating history, rich culture, and renowned cities.

AmaWaterways River Cruises offers a way to see all this wonder in person.

You can discover more at AmaWaterways.com.

-"Away"... ♪♪ ...is the smell of fresh pine.

It's a place where giants still live.

♪♪ "Away" is where the farther down the road you go, the closer you get to the ones you love.

Find your "away."

GoRVing.com.

-Orange County, AKA the OC, is a region between Los Angeles and San Diego and it includes 42 miles of coastline in between.

The destinations here are as famous as its celebrities.

And the biggest name to drop is first on my list, Newport Beach with its Balboa Island and Peninsula.

While there's no end of activities to do in this seaside city, I'm here to take a historic passage.

-This is the longest-operating auto ferry in the world.

-Oh, my gosh.

-Which is, you know, you have a lot of auto ferries around the world -- -I would've thought that'd be in Europe.

-'Cause we've never stopped operating since 1919, so we've been -- we're a continuous -- And it's the longest-owned family ferry service in the world, 'cause most of them are municipal, or city, or government-operated.

-So, there's -- there's a lot of pride.

-There is some pride.

My name's David Beek.

And my family's been operating the historic Balboa Island Ferry since 1919.

-The ferry travels every day between Balboa Island and the Balboa Peninsula.

So, how long is this crossing?

-This is about 900 feet.

-Not exactly the English Channel, is it?

-No, it's not.

-However, I would imagine that in 900 feet, everyone who's coming across this ferry, completely decompresses and now they're here.

-That's right.

-Right?

I mean, so there's a symbolic crossing, as well.

Your family sort of made this possible.

Your grandfather understood the potential of Balboa Island.

Nothing was there.

-He did.

And so he set up shop.

The newly-found city of Newport Beach was looking for someone to operate the contract for a ferry service.

The story goes that there was two people in line.

The one guy said he could have his operation ready in two weeks and my grandfather said he could have his operation ready today.

So he got the contract.

And the Red Line from Los Angeles, which was an electric car, and its very last stop south was here in Balboa.

So, those people would come down here, they built the Pavilion as a place for them to go do stuff and that was how the ferry boat got its roots.

Another great fact about Newport Harbor is that we're the largest small-boat harbor in the world.

We have over 10,000 registered boats.

The magnitude and the scope of the harbor is huge.

-David is taking me on a tour of the harbor on a boat that allows even the most novice of boaters to get on the water.

Now, we are in a Duffy boat.

And this is really unique to Newport Beach.

-Great comparison is these are the golf carts of the water.

They run on electricity.

You plug them in like your golf cart.

[ Horn honks ] Little horn.

And then the rental fleet started getting them about 25, 30 years ago, so it's one of the most popular rental boats in the bay.

-So, you were saying that this is the largest small-boat harbor in the world?

-Largest small-boat harbor in the world.

-So, that's a small boat right there?

-That's a small boat.

-In this area of such wealth and beauty, the boat ride is bound to turn into a homes of the movie stars tour.

-This is Collins Island.

And this is Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall lived on this island.

-I mean, that's where I first heard about Newport Beach and Balboa Island.

It was sort of this enclave of Old Hollywood.

I mean, it really has this glamour reputation.

-Right.

The Hollywood royalty sort of came down here.

-Yeah.

Absolutely.

While David and I were out on the harbor, a yacht race suddenly appeared.

Now, this is what Newport Beach is all about.

But that is the experience of Newport Beach, to get on the water, get on a boat.

This is a boating community.

-The entire city of Newport Beach revolves around the activities on this body of water right here.

-You could say that just about everything revolves around the water in Orange County and especially in Huntington Beach.

Yeah, look at that one.

-He's the guy taking off, look.

And he's gonna go towards the pier, watch.

So, he's decided to straighten out, because he doesn't want to hit the pylons, because he didn't have good control.

-I'm getting a play-by-play by surfing's very first world champion PT Townend, who won the first world competition for surfing right here in Huntington Beach in 1976.

So, I've been here all of 20 minutes and this is already the most surfers I've ever seen in one place in my lifetime.

So, yeah, the Surf City, the USA credit checks out here.

-Well, yeah, absolutely.

I mean, since 1914 when George Freeth came down here on the Red train and rode the first wave, it's been Surf City.

And particularly after 1959, when they had the first championship and which became today, the US Open of Surfing, which, you know, when that's on, this place has got, you know, 50,000 people here on a Sunday.

-So, uh, I have to ask.

The pink shoes?

-So, the whole pink thing is a result of my mother.

When I'm a teenager in the '60, at breakfast with my brothers and sisters, you know, Victorian family, you all sit down together, And I said to my mum, "Mum, I'm gonna get a new surfboard."

My mother says to me, "You know, son, I think you should get your next surfboard pink.

That way, they'll never miss you."

And it takes me to the number two position in Queensland, which is like the state of California.

And from there, I get to qualify for the first Australian championships as a junior.

I went, "I guess this pink thing's working."

-So, Orange County is just a string of wonderful cities, you know, most just right along the coast.

What makes Huntington unique?

-It's just the history of the pier.

You know, this was the first pier built in 1904.

And then that one got smashed down and then in 1914, they opened the first-ever concrete pier in America right here.

Couple of other storms have washed away the pier.

So, it's been rebuilt quite a number of times.

But all of that attraction is what makes Huntington Beach the attraction it is.

Where in the world do you have eight miles of pristine, beautiful beaches?

-It's the Southern California lifestyle.

-That's it, it's all right here.

Surf City, USA.

♪♪ -Nothing combines the California dream and that American one better than the city of Westminster, or Little Saigon.

I joined one of its proud residents for a meal at a restaurant that's been a part of this community since 1973.

So, you were born in Vietnam.

-We all came in '81.

I spoke no English.

And we were very poor, so we were, you know, on welfare, food stamps.

At 10, I was helping out, cleaning houses to make a little bit of money for school supplies and school clothes.

I'm Janet Nguyen, one of the boat people who arrived in 1981 to United States from Vietnam.

In my family, we had to -- we get three career choices -- doctor, lawyer, or engineer.

-Okay.

-That's it.

I'm currently the first Vietnamese-American elected to the state Senate in United States.

-So, when did you decide to go into politics?

What was it that you caught the bug, that you said, you know, "I want to do something very different with my life"?

-Everything we do in our life, the food that we're eating, the air that we're breathing, is governed by somebody.

And that's government.

I want to be there when laws are created for or against someone like me.

I want to be at the table and say, "If you make that law, this is how it's gonna affect these people," positively or negatively.

-Hello.

Hello.

-Wow.

-Thanh My is known for Vietnamese comfort food served family style.

What is the soup called?

-Uh, sour soup.

-Sour soup.

-With catfish.

-Joining us for lunch at Thanh My is the family who's been running it for over 40 years.

That's the mom, Chi Ba, and her two children, Christopher and Han.

So, you are brother and sister.

-Yes.

-And you were brought up here in this restaurant.

-Yes.

-What was your first job?

What did your mom and dad make you do, Christopher?

-Cleaning table, washing the dishes.

-Yes.

-We all pitched in.

-You all pitched in.

And you, Han?

-I -- I was -- Since I was the girl of the family, so I got to just stay in the cash register.

-Oh, nice.

So, they trusted you with the money.

-Yeah.

This is where we celebrated everything.

-So, this is where you lived.

Because this is where mom was 18 hours a day, this is where the kids are gonna be.

-Right.

We were -- like, we were here, pretty much most of our time, besides, you know, going to school.

Christmas, Thanksgiving -- everything happened here.

-So, the restaurant is also a really a community center here, as well.

-I mean, everybody, the whole community congregated here, pretty much.

-Mm-hmm.

-So, it really -- It's kind of like "Cheers," you know, but... -Everybody knows everybody.

-Everybody knows, yeah.

-And everybody knows what you specialize in, what your parents specialize in, as well.

-And, you know, what a wonderful life you've given your children.

I mean, were you -- were you scared getting on that boat with your kids?

-Yeah.

Very, very scared.

Because the nighttime very dark, cannot see anything.

Yeah, no -- no food.

They give a little of food.

-Just like every Vietnamese, last minute, get on the boat with nothing on their backs and, you know, just go, for freedom.

And now, America is freedom, you know.

-The United States will always be a country that grapples with the idea of either accepting or rejecting immigrants.

What do you think, the Vietnamese coming here 40 years ago, what does that tell our country?

-Almost about half a million Vietnamese refugee die traveling to Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, so not -- not all of us made it.

But our parents made the ultimate decision at that very moment and that moment was to save their children and their family and I think that's what we need to pause and think about.

-"The land of opportunities," that phrase is, I believe, and that's how America is made.

You work hard, you're able to move up the ladder.

Just like Janet, just like my sister, you know, we all work hard and that's the way it's supposed to be.

♪♪ -Back in Newport Beach, there's a unique community begun in the 1920s that has turned into one of the most in-demand places to stay, Crystal Cove, a nonprofit conservancy located on a state park.

I mean, this is just a time capsule of early Californian architecture, right?

How many cottages are there?

-There's 46 cottages here.

And they were all built in the '20s and the '30s by families that, you know, kind of lovingly constructed these little, small, little cabins.

The area was first discovered really by Hollywood and by early filmmakers.

And so, in the early teens, you'd see small, little, kind of thatched-roof film sets here.

And then some of those were left behind.

Cottage Number 2 actually evolved from a film set.

Then people started learning about Crystal Cove.

That was after Pacific Coast Highway opened in 1927.

So, this area was being explored by people driving into town, and they started as squatters here and so they built the cottages.

And they were all built by 1940 and it became a state park in 1979.

So, today, we have what is historically accurate, authentic, and as close to the original community as it used to be.

-The reason why Laura has dedicated her life here is that this is where she grew up.

-This was actually my family's cottage, Cottage Number 2.

It's now called the Shell Shack.

I have actually been at Cottage Number 2 since I was a year old, until I was 40.

-Oh, my goodness!

-Yes.

-You grew up here?

-I was the luckiest girl at Crystal Cove.

-Wow.

What was it like?

-It was like having your own kind of playground right outside here, this beautiful environment.

-To understand the incredible work the conservancy has accomplished, you just have to look at the next phase of rescue.

When it comes to saving these homes, it's you, right?

-Well, you know, I like to say that I spearheaded the effort, but there were many people of this community that were passionate about Crystal Cove, as well.

But for some reason, I kind of took it as my personal mission to try and ensure that Crystal Cove remained authentic and preserved.

-Since this historic neighborhood is located on state park land, the rental cottages represent some of the most affordable accommodations on the entire coast of California.

So, everyone right now wants to know, how do I get to rent one of those cottages?

-Yes.

The reservations are actually made online.

They go up on the first of the month at 8:00 in the morning, and usually they're gone in one minute.

-Hmm.

-They're popular.

-♪ Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ You got to love yourself ♪ ♪ Before you love anyone else ♪ ♪ You got to love yourself ♪ ♪ Oh, you got to love yourself ♪ ♪ You got to love yourself ♪ -I'm having a total California moment right now in what's called the "Living Room" at the Lab in Costa Mesa.

It's a low-key community-inspired space of shops, communal areas, and yarn-bombed trees.

It's a concept that feels familiar now, but, in fact, was created over 25 years ago by this couple.

-I'm Linda Sadeghi.

And I'm an evolving artist and the last hippie in Orange County.

-I am Shaheen Sadeghi.

I'm in the cultural engineering business.

I am the next hippie after her, 'cause she's older, and her husband.

-How would you describe the Lab to people?

-Well, we wanted it to be a place of gathering for like-minded people.

And at the time, you know, the country was so homogenized, in terms of our food services and your traditional malls.

And so this was a place -- -Food courts.

-Food courts and, you know, everything was very mass-oriented.

-Focus group-inspired.

Yeah.

-And so, the tagline of "anti-mall" came through that.

You know, it's a place that wasn't just about selling you things, but it was about education and connecting people and music and we have had poetry in here.

And we've had every major Orange County band play here.

So, it just really brought a lot of that together.

-So, does Lab stand for the fact that this is an experiment?

-Well, it actually has a dual meaning.

That was sort of the inspiration, but it's -- what it really stands for is little American businesses.

We really felt that the energy and the passion and the love and all the excitement was coming from smaller companies.

And I think that was sort of the inspiration of the Lab.

-Just looking at how you have decorated the place, it just seems effortless.

But that's why I love California.

There's a cool factor here that I will never aspire to, because you really have to be of this lifestyle.

-I think this is our own personal canvas.

This is our first venture out of our own art world, into commercial real-estate world.

And we still like to play here.

You know, we like to decorate this.

Or we like to do this funky thing, or we like, you know, an experiment.

-We just found junk that we made stuff out of, that was just sort of the organic process.

-California is just -- It's always been the frontier of innovation, of change, of trends, whether it's fashion, whether it's food, whether it's technology.

How do you know the difference between what's innovative and what's trendy?

-I think we're too old to be trendy.

What do you think?

-I hear that hippies are coming back in.

-Oh, I hope so.

-The city of Anaheim, though synonymous with a certain theme park, has a strong and proud local movement, and at the helm of that moment is the Packing House District.

This is one of the last few remaining packing houses in Orange County.

Guess what they packed here?

This historic building from 1919 was restored to become a food hub of local, small businesses, all committed to break away from the generic.

If you look around, it seems there is just as many people eating food as taking pictures of it.

But before there was bubble tea wrapped in cotton candy and smoking I'm not sure what, there was beer -- really good beer.

So, what are we gonna start with?

-We'll have you start with a Gold.

-Okay.

-I'm Barbara Gerovac, retired Army lieutenant colonel, member of the Pink Boots Society, and a professional brewer.

-And how would you describe your beers?

-We tend to talk to guests about beer, in terms of, we always say, "Look, sniff, sip."

-Oh.

I went right for the sip.

The Pink Boots Society is an organization founded to help women in the brewing profession.

Barbara's husband Greg is not in the Pink Boots Society.

However, he is a beermaker, as well as a retired lieutenant colonel.

And their brewery has the distinction of being the very first business in the revitalized Packing District.

And this is really lovely.

This is refreshing.

I imagine, like, on a hot California day, you're selling a lot of this.

-Right.

Little bit of a honey finish, so if you don't think about it, you don't notice it.

It's a nice, nice clean way to finish that glass of beer.

-What am I drinking now?

-Now, you're drinking the Hefeweizen.

So, you see, it's a little bit... -Oh, see, I go -- I go right for the sip.

I just go right for the sip.

-Which is fine.

You just drink the way you like to drink.

-I'm drinking a Hefeweizen in a city founded by Germans, made by lieutenant colonels stationed in Germany.

How long were you in Germany?

-We were stationed there twice.

Three years the first time near Nuremberg and four years near Regensburg.

So, always in Bavaria.

And what we saw there was every big town had a brewery.

It was just a lot of local beer and you just drank what was from your town.

And that's really what we wanted to create here.

Our beer is always fresh.

We know the people we sell to.

And when you get a glass of Anaheim beer and love it, you'll have to come back to Anaheim if you want more.

-I think travelers love that.

If you're going to a destination now, you want to taste it.

And it's not just the local food and the farm-to-table movement, it also is in a glass, as well.

-Absolutely.

-And one of the things we do to make people feel welcome, it's so frustrating when you go somewhere and you try to get a drink and they're like, "Oh, you have to be in a special club, and you're not cool enough or not from here or didn't pay enough money --" everyone's welcome, everyone's in the club.

-Nice.

So, even though you're retired from the Army, you're still serving your country.

-One beer at a time.

♪♪ ♪♪ -Wendy, are you crying?

-Yeah, this one got me.

-You've been doing this for 20 years, watching these seals go out.

-Lot of hard work out here.

That one -- that one got me.

I'm not gonna lie.

-To understand the emotion and relief of this moment on the beach, you first need to go here where it all started, at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center.

This is intensive care?

-Yeah, so this is where all of our new animals that are really small and in need of warmth come in here.

We have three sea lions and then one little harbor seal.

-Aw.

-These animals are super, super skinny and very small in stature, as well.

-And is that why they're here?

-Yes.

-They need to be heavier.

-They need to be heavier.

They're malnourished.

They haven't eaten.

And so, they get all of their water from the fish that they eat.

So, when they come in, they come in malnourished and dehydrated, because they haven't been eating.

Let me show you some animals that are kind of in that second stage.

-Uh-huh.

-These guys are up and alert.

They've got little pools they could play in.

-Now, this one is right up here at the gate and all I want to do is to scratch its little nose.

What would happen if I did that?

-You might lose a finger.

-Got it.

-Yes.

'Cause he's looking for fish right now.

-Oh, is that right?

-Yes.

-So, these are just fish.

This is mackerel.

Okay.

-Exactly.

-But, I mean, look.

I mean, they really are -- With their big eyes and their whiskers, they play on our hearts.

-Yeah, they do.

-I think they know it, too.

-Yes, they do.

-The Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach began saving lives in 1971 and is the first rehabilitation center of its kind in the state of California.

So, when the mammals are in the pool area, that's a really good sign.

-Yes, especially our big pools in the back, 'cause these are what we consider our release pools.

So, this is -- the animals are competing and they're getting -- you know, they're that much further along in the rehabilitation process and it's one of the final stages.

-Oh, this is where you start to feel good, right?

-Yeah, this is when you know they've made it, yeah.

-Just about how many mammals do you rescue a year?

-It does fluctuate.

So, on an average year, we can rescue anywhere between 100 to even 200 marine mammals.

-So, they go in one door, they're not doing well, when they're here, they're doing great and it's about to be the bon voyage moment.

-Exactly.

This is it.

-And that's why I'm here, because I've actually sponsored Billy.

And you're about to release Billy.

-Yes, we are.

-As well as who else?

-Rogue One.

Rogue One gets to go home, as well.

-So, we're gonna do two sea lions today.

-Yep.

-I'm a member of the PMMC, and a part of that membership is that I get to take part in a seal release.

So, this is Billy's official sticker.

He is now loaded up on the truck and he is ready for the Pacific Ocean.

-He is.

-Gonna wear him here across my heart.

We make it to the beach and from there, the cages are positioned and roped off.

Okay.

Oh!

Come on, Billy!

Look at that big ocean.

It looks wonderful.

The orange tag is so they can identify the seals, if spotted.

Aw.

One last kiss.

Go.

There he goes.

Come on, Billy.

That's the way.

There's still a little trepidation.

We've all had this feeling, right?

Should we stay or should we go?

Aw.

-Yeah, sometimes they just need a little push back in there.

Sometimes they'll jet right out and sometimes they'll take it slow.

-Wow.

That's a big wave.

It must feel good to be out there.

-It's an effort from the public who call us to tell us that these animals are down here, to all the effort that everybody puts in at the center, to the people who come in and donate.

And everybody is a part of these guys getting back out there.

And when you know that and you're standing here and you watch that, it makes you proud.

-Well, in Orange County, you're gonna find probably the best weather in the world and we have some of the most amazing beaches in the world.

-Considering that less than 100 years ago, this was just large sand dunes and brush land, in just a short period of time, it's become one of the prominent beach cities in the world.

-And when you have new immigrants, it brings in new ideas.

And not only new ideas, but those new ideas assimilate, but then also create its own.

And that's why you have what you have in Orange County today.

-There's so many wonderful small parts to explore and places to eat, places to sit down and enjoy a drink with your friend.

And next thing you know, hours have passed and you're saying, "That was the best Sunday I've had in awhile."

-I think California definitely has this aura about it where people again like to experiment and try new things.

You know, I think much of it has to do with this sense of freedom.

-And it's home.

That's what makes Orange County to all of us.

It's home.

-When you get to walk on beaches that are long and wide, when you connect with people who prove the California dream is more than just a fantasy, when a place known for its endless summers gives us unexpected pleasure, that is when we share a love of travel.

And that's why Orange County in Southern California is a place to love.

-For more information about this and other episodes, extra scenes, or links to follow me on social media, log on to placestolove.com.

"Samantha Brown's Places to Love" was made possible by... -"Away"... ♪♪ ...is the smell of fresh pine.

It's a place where giants still live.

♪♪ "Away" is where the farther down the road you go, the closer you get to the ones you love.

Find your "away."

GoRVing.com.

-Europe is a treasure trove of fascinating history, rich culture, and renowned cities.

AmaWaterways River Cruises offers a way to see all this wonder in person.

You can discover more at AmaWaterways.com.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪