Hidden Gems of Orange County, California
From its citric heritage to its theme parks and beautiful beaches, Orange County, California is a fascinating place with a lot to offer. In Part 1 of my Hidden Gems series, I highlight 5 places that make Orange County truly unique. I’ve provided a list below with location information:
1) California Scenario aka “the Noguchi Garden.” Costa Mesa, CA
2) Irvine Ranch Historic Park. Irvine, CA
3) The Pirate Tower. Laguna Beach, CA
4) The Dana Point Arches. Dana Point, CA
5) Lyon Air Museum. Santa Ana, CA
Never Stop Exploring is produced by Kyle Frager.
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About Never Stop Exploring:
Kyle Frager is a filmmaker with a joy for traveling and creating vlogs and mini documentaries about the different places he visits. “Never Stop Exploring” earned rapid success on YouTube with Kyle’s mini documentary on California’s Salton Sea: The video earned over 1-Million views in just a few short months and is one of the top search results for The Salton Sea on YouTube.
All historic images used in this video were obtained legally through Creative Commons or the Public Domain. Credits provided below in order of appearance:
1. “Irvine Ranch, circa 1920s” by Orange County Archives under CC BY 2.0
2. Citrus packing house, circa 1949 by Orange County Archives under CC BY 2.0
3. “1953 Boy Scout Jamboree, Irvine Ranch” by Orange County Archives under CC BY 2.0
4. “Orange County: Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Orange” by Alfred Twu. Public Domain.
5. “Developer H.Sidney Woodruff presenting cup to winner of Dana Point yacht race, 1929” by Orange County Archives under CC BY 2.0
6. “Dana Point, Oct 29, 1965” by Orange County Archives under CC BY 2.0
7. “The headlands and the pier at Dana Point, California, circa 1925, prior to the construction of the harbor” by Orange County Archives under CC BY 2.0
8. “Trail at Dana Point buiilt by Ed Seeman circa 1927” by Orange County Archives under CC BY 2.0
9. “Dana Point, Oct 29, 1965” by Orange County Archives under CC BY 2.0
10. “Marchers in Camden, New Jersey demanding jobs during the Great Depression.” By GoodFreePhotos. Public Domain.
11. “MGEN William Lyon, USAF” by US Air Force. Public Domain.
12. “DC-3” by Pixaby under CC0 Public Domain Dedication.
13. “General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower” by Unknown. Public Domain.
14. “A U.S. Army Air Force North American B-25C Mitchell bomber (s/n 41-12823) in flight near Inglewood, California (USA)” by Mark Sherwood. Public Domain.
South Coast Plaza
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California travel expert Veronica Hill tours South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa in this episode of California Travel Tips.
Sparkling new luxury watches from Rolex? Check. The latest Hermes birkin or scarf in all three patterns? Check. And the new rose-patterned Louis Vuitton bag with matching shoes? Check again.
Step through the Looking Glass and enter a magical shopping wonderland where every girl is princess for a day, and the shoe always fits.
Colorful and imaginative surprises wait around every corner in a symphony of sights, scents and sounds.
It's a grown up girl's fairy tale, where a credit card and a bit of cash always ensures a happy ending.
Built in 1967 on a plot of the Segerstrom family's lima bean fields, the South Coast Plaza mall is located in Orange County at the intersections of the 55 and 405 freeways. Without traffic, it's about an hour's drive from Los Angeles and San Diego counties.
This is not your neighborhood mall. South Coast Plaza stores include exclusive fashion boutiques for 280 of the world's top fashion designers, including Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, Dior, Chanel, Escada and Jimmy Choo. You'll also find luxury watches from retailers like Piaget and Rolex, who chose South Coast Plaza California as its flagship US location.
Like Las Vegas, South Coast Plaza is constantly evolving — and you'll find fresh, new and exciting fashion clothing, luxury bedding and fashion accessories every time you visit.
When you arrive, I recommend picking up a South Coast Plaza map at the concierge. This is a massive shopping complex, measuring in at 2.6 million retail square feet. There are also several places to view the South Coast Plaza directory in each wing of the mall.
Tip: The concierge can also make restaurant or theater reservations, check packages, offer personal shopping, help with foreign language assistance and rent out complimentary strollers.
It's no surprise that South Coast Plaza is, itself, an attraction drawing more than 24 million visitors a year. In fact, its stores generate more revenue than any other shopping center in the country.
Kids love it for the South Coast Plaza carousel, which has been a crowd pleaser since the beginning. If you save your ticket stub, there are some great discounts on the back!
You won't find any food courts selling hot dogs on a stick here. South Coast Plaza restaurants are as elegant as its boutiques, serving up some of Southern California's finest cuisine.
More than 30 Orange County restaurants vie for your attention, from the exquisite Charlie Palmer at Bloomingdales to the homey Antonello Espresso Cafe, an Italian sidewalk bistro that's great for people-watching.
One of the best values at South Coast Plaza is the $20 three-course lunch at Marché Moderne, a nouveau French restaurant in the Penthouse at South Coast Plaza.
The truth is, South Coast Plaza is unlike any shopping center you've been to. I met in the Penthouse with executive director Werner Escher, who, during the past 40 years, has transformed South Coast Plaza into a tourism site as hotly anticipated as Disneyland.
It's no wonder that South Coast Plaza is a featured stop on several bus tours in California. In fact, most Disneyland area hotels have shuttle service to South Coast Plaza three times daily.
But if you want to stay in the heart of the action, one of the closest South Coast Plaza hotels is the Westin South Coast Plaza, located right across the street. From here, you can walk practically everywhere, from the best restaurants in The OC to the world famous Orange County Performing Arts Center.
And did I mention the South Coast Plaza spa? The Spa at South Coast Plaza serves up some of The OC's most pampering treatments, from hot stone massages to the bio marine facial.
At Spa Nordstrom, you can get a tropical smoothie mud wrap!
South Coast Plaza hours are 10-9 weekdays, 10-8 on Saturday and 11 to 6:30 p.m. Sundays.
The South Coast Plaza address is at
3333 Bristol Ave
Costa Mesa, CA
(800) 782-8888
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Things to do in Costa Mesa with Kids (SoCal Auto Club Quick Escape): Look Who's Traveling
Quick escape to Costa Mesa using the Westways Magazine from the Automobile Club of Southern California as a guide. In this episode, we visit South Coast Plaza (0:20), have lunch at Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐 (2:11), watch a show at Segerstrom Center for the Arts (3:27), and explore California Scenario/Noguchi Garden (05:08).
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This is a travel vlog that explores SoCal from a kid's perspective. We visit amusement parks, museums, festivals, and other family friendly attractions. Subscribe so you won't miss an episode of our YouTube kids travel videos! #kidifornia
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Visit Costa Mesa | Travel Costa Mesa | Things to do in Costa Mesa | Costa Mesa Day Trip | Costa Mesa Weekend Getaway | Costa Mesa Attractions | Orange County | Costa Mesa with Kids | South Coast Plaza | Din Tai Fung | Segerstrom Center for the Arts | Samueli Theater | Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia | California Scenario | Noguchi Garden | 鼎泰豐 | California Travel Tips | California Travel Guide
Best Attractions & Things to do in Dana Point, California (CA)
Dana Point Travel Guide. MUST WATCH. Top things you have to do in Dana Point. We have sorted Tourist Attractions in Dana Point for You. Discover Dana Point as per the Traveler Resources given by our Travel Specialists. You will not miss any fun thing to do in Dana Point.
This Video has covered Best Attractions and Things to do in Dana Point.
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List of Best Things to do in Dana Point, California (CA)
Dana Point Harbor
Heisler Park
Crystal Cove State Park
San Clemente Pier
Salt Creek Beach
Mission San Juan Capistrano
Doheny State Beach
1,000 Steps Beach
Baby Beach
Dana Strands Beach
Top Family Destinations in Southern California
Top Family Destinations in Southern California - as part of the expert series by GeoBeats.
Hi, I am Jennifer Miner. I am a travel writer, and I live in Southern California. Some of my favorite Southern California Family Travel Destinations include, of course, the Theme Parks. you can't get away from them. They are huge tourist draws. Disney Land is great for younger children. If your children are older waiting for more thrilling experience, Universal Studios, Hollywood has a lot of fun things, including this new King Kong 3D, very scary, might throw up.
But its not all about Theme Parks here in Southern California. We have got miles and miles of beautiful beaches. You want to see some surfers, go up to Malibu, go down to Huntington Beach, which is Surf City, USA. Go down even further, all the way down to Laguna, go down to La Jolla, and then at the bottom San Diego, beautiful coastline all the way down. It's a wonderful part of the United States.
So its not only coastline, of course. You go inland a little bit and you have got the desert. Palm Springs is a wonderful place to take your family or to take your girlfriends for a get-away. Palm Springs is fun. It's in the desert. So is Joshua Tree, a US National Park. And I feel that if we support the US National Parks, they will continue to be here for our children, and our children's children. It's a wonderful investment in our nation's feature.
Orange County Vacation Travel Guide
Orange County Vacation Travel Guide
Orange County, California, is sandwiched between the vibrant metropolis of Los Angeles and the relaxed waves of San Diego. “OC,” as it’s called by locals, is a group of cities located along the Pacific coastline and inland.
Begin your Orange County sightseeing with a history lesson. Mission San Juan Capistrano, located on the county’s southernmost tip, features the oldest Californian buildings in use today, and you can tour these almost any day of the week. Just a few years later and a few miles to the north, the sleepy town of Laguna Beach attracted new types of worshippers, namely sun and nature lovers. In the late 19th century, it became a playground for the vacationing wealthy. These days, Laguna Beach is full of hills, winding streets, and creative personalities, and is the perfect place to shop for art.
If you’re looking for something a little off the beaten path, Crystal Cove is the place for you. Where else can you stay in antique cabins put together from old Hollywood movie sets? Not in Newport Beach, where sprawling, million-dollar homes line the harbor. Can you believe you could once buy lots here for $1 an acre?
Hit the waves in Huntington Beach, then head inland to explore the theme parks. The grandfather of all amusement parks is Disneyland®: it’s stood in Anaheim since 1965. Not far away is Knott’s Berry Farm®, once a collection of relocated ghost towns that evolved into a series of rides and amusements intended to celebrate the pioneer spirit.
Do you like monkeys? Do you like to count monkeys? Head over to the Santa Ana Zoo and see how far you get. The benefactors donated the land on which it sits on the condition that there would be at least 50 primates in the collection at all times, and it’s up to you to make sure that promise is kept.
Despite its various architectural marvels, theme parks, and numerous activities, Orange County is famed for something much simpler: its sunsets. Head over to the nearest beach and watch the sun disappear into the Pacific today.
What’s your favorite part of Orange County?
Visit our Orange County travel guide page for more information or to plan your next vacation!
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Orange County Vacation Travel Guide
Why You Should Visit South Coast Plaza
If you are looking for a reason to travel to Southern California, Costa Mesa gives you every reason available. From breath taking art and five star restaurants to designer shopping and top of the line hotels, Costa Mesa has it all. Of course, one major must see is South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, the largest shopping center in all of California. Having over 250 retailers, this destination is sure to catch the eye of travelers seeking out designer names. South Coast Plaza is not only the largest shopping center in California, but is also the highest concentration of designer stores in the whole United States.
Newport Beach - the Richest U.S. City
Newport Beach, Orange County, California is the richest U.S. city. The city's median family income and property values consistently place high in national rankings making Newport Beach one of the wealthiest communities in California, and in United States overall. More than a quarter households have an income greater than $200,000, and the median value for homes exceeds $1 million.
South Coast Plaza
South Coast Plaza is an upscale-luxury goods shopping center in Costa Mesa, California in Orange County. The largest of its kind on the West Coast of the United States, its sales of over $1.5 billion annually are the highest in the United States!
Travel Guide Irvine, California, United States - A Place for Business. A Destination for Fun!
Irvine, the center of Orange County, Calif., is known as a leading business center, but it's also a destination for fun.
Get a free, updated Irvine, California Travel Guide: America/United States/IRVINE