Romantic Getaways ! California’s Hotel Del, Madonna Inn, Haunted Queen Anne?

I'm Pat Patterson. This is the best of California. This is our romantic getaway segment. We're here in our Bambi Airstream from Airstream Orange County. We're going to take a romantic trip up to the Queen Anne Hotel in San Francisco, the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, the Del Marco Hotel, mid-century modern out there in Palm Springs and a few other surprises. So stick with us. Grab your sweetheart, grab a rose. Let's go get romantic. I love the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. Romance rocks in a themed room of your choice. Hi, it's Pat Patterson. And I'm so excited to be here with Amanda Rich and we are at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, the famous Madonna Inn and Amanda tell me a little bit of the history of why this incredible rock structures behind me. Yeah. So Alex and Phyllis Madonna, they established the Madonna Inn in 1958. Mr. Madonna was in the construction business and would travel up and down the coast and would stay at different places that were all, you know, cookie cutter all the same. And so he and his wife decided they want to create this amazing place that is unique, that is different, that everybody could come and be a part of and feel at home. So we have 110 different rooms. We have two restaurants, we have gift shops, we have horseback riding, we have tennis courts, hiking and biking trails. So we have a, you know, a little something for everybody. It's really evolved over the years, but Mr. Madonna had this brilliant idea. He came up with it and wrote it down on a napkin and then ran from there. Is it true that the rock theme was because he kept coming up with rocks? Oh yeah. He would move those rocks with boulders. And he's like, you know what? I might as well use these. You got to see it because I mean the restroom's made out of rocks. The, I mean it's, but it's very beautiful. I mean, is there a type of rock this is? That's a good question. Granted the rocks are California rocks. Our favorite. I was going to say some of the rocks that you'll actually see in the rooms. They actually would like put the rock there and then build the room around it. We're going to take a look around. We're going to see some of the themed rooms. What's I got to find out what's the most popular themed room. I would have to say the cave man, which is completely rock, rock floors, rock ceiling, rock walls. There's a waterfall shower. That room will rent like a year in advance. You got a high demand for that. Yes. And we're talking about romantic getaways. So for, is there a honeymoon suite or? Oh, we got lots of romantic rooms. We have love nests, love birds, romance. If you can think it, we probably have a room that features that style. What's the biggest change you think this hotel has seen over the years? You know what? I think the popularity has changed from, you know, people looking just for a place to stay to more of a place like with social media nowadays, everybody wants to come and take their pictures with the themed wallpaper. And, um, I think just in the last couple of years, we've really noticed that transition of just people coming specifically to come take photos. Is it true there's a famous urinal hidden here somewhere? Is yes. What's the story behind that? So the men's urinal, which is located downstairs has a waterfall urinal. So as the men step up, the waterfall will come down. We're talking about romance. So I digress. And, and so in terms of people coming in here for a honeymoon, a wedding, who do they get in touch with? Um, well, we have our, you know, our main line, which is 805-543-3000. Um, yeah. And we'll that just basically will take you to the front desk. They'll tell you and direct you to exactly the people. We have a whole banquet department. Like if you're wanting to have a wedding, um, that would handle that. We also have, you know, our steakhouse that does dining reservations. Um, obviously when you first walk into the steakhouse, you'll see that it's like all pink and very romantic. So no matter what time of year, um, the pink is what kind of stands out and Mr. Madonna felt that pink was a romantic color and that made everybody look good. This is incredible. This is the steakhouse and it's decorated. We're here at Christmas time, but Amanda, tell me what other themes happen throughout the year. So we like to go along with the seasons. So, um, if you come in February, you'll see hearts hanging on the tree, lots of Valentines, everywhere you look we'll have hearts and, and red and pink. Um, and then at Easter time, we have our Easter bunny and our Easter eggs all around. Um, and then in October we do a little Halloween decoration and then right into Christmas. So Christmas decorations are always up before Thanksgiving. So I just got the most exciting news. Amanda's mother watches the show on the central coast, CW five. So give a shout out to your mom. Hi Sandy. Hi mom. Sandy, thank you for watching the show baking. We got that out of the way. So which room are we in now? We are in old fashioned honeymoon right now. Now what makes it old fashioned? I mean, is it just the style of the motif or only old people get to go? Oh no, it's the, it's the style of the motif on the walls. We have kind of a floor daily, um, old fashioned style, the wallpaper. Um, yeah. So that's kind of what makes it, you know. And so, you know, in terms of honeymoons, I mean, do people come and stay a week? Do they stay a weekend? What is it all over the map? It's probably more like a week stay or depending on if they're having their wedding and they stay here for a couple of days, but there are so many things to do. You can't just be here one day. Amanda has brought me to hearts and flowers. Tell me about this place. Yes, this is one of the definitely lovey dovey rooms. Um, if you look around, you can see this fun red wallpaper. We also have, you know, heart furniture. Um, there's hearts on the front door. When you walk in, it just oozes love. I mean, this is unbelievable just in terms of the theming and, and the coziness of these rooms, even though they're large, they just feel very cozy. And I don't know if that was just the, the time that they were made. If it's the rock, what do you think? I think it's probably a little of everything. I think it also has to do with the furniture and, um, just the aesthetics, Mrs. Madonna, and they were really into that. You know, they wanted people to feel at home. So I think that you, that really comes across. It does. It does. And I think, you know, modern hotels, very stark and very kind of, you know, minimalist. This is not minimalist. I mean, there's a, there's a lot of stuff going on here. And, and so do you, when you recommend to a friend that might be having a honeymoon, what, what room do you recommend? This is definitely one of my favorites hearts and flowers. I also like romance, which is kind of like the sister room to this. Um, but the wallpaper is more blue. Um, also love nest. That's one of my favorites. It has a spiral staircase in the center of that room. Yeah. It's one story, but there's a little pergola at the top, so you can go and peek out. But, um, I mean, there's so many rooms here that you can't help. Yeah. You can't go wrong. So that's our look at the Madonna. And I'm so thankful to Amanda rich. That was a wonderful tour. Thank you for having us. We're excited to share this beautiful place with everybody. So check it out. Here's the information, book, your honeymoon, wedding, anything amidst the beautiful rocks and the pink hearts up here at the Madonna sand. My favorite themed room at the Madonna end was that hearts and flowers room. So much to do on the central coast. And for some mid century fun, let's check out the hotel Del Marcos in Palm Springs. Here we are now in Palm Springs. We are staying at the Del Marcos hotel, built in 1947. William Cody is the architect. You can see some beautiful, beautiful features here. A fun place to stay. Boutique. It's got an adjoining property that has a restaurant and a spa. So nice layout. I think there's probably about a dozen rooms. We stayed in the hope in Crosby room and nice pool, saltwater pool, great place to stay Del Marcos hotel. So we're continuing our trip here in Palm Springs. We're at Wilma and Frida's incredible lunch. I'm here with Ruth Jacobson. Ruth, what did you have? So I had a California Benedict. It was fantastic. They make the English muffins here. It was just to perfection. And then we just had a yummy treat. Key lime. And I had the Turkey Cob. Tell me what's special about this key lime. The key lime bar is really delicious. It's got the silky, custardy top with a nice hit of lime and the graham cracker crust bottom, which is fantastic. So Pat Patterson with Ruth Jacobson, Wilma and Frida's here in Palm Springs. I love that mid century vibe out there in Palm Springs at the Del Marco. Let's keep going. So let's check out the Queen Anne hotel in San Francisco. This is gilded age romance and a haunted love story. So I'm excited to be here in the Bay area. We booked the Queen Anne boutique hotel historic up here in Pacific Heights, Southern Octavia. And it's a little bit different in the fact that after I booked it, I found out it might be one of the most haunted hotels in San Francisco. Mary Lake, the headmistress of the girl's school, that it originally was in the 1890s may or may not have had an affair with Senator John Graham Fair, the Fairmont hotel was named after Tom Stockload, one of the richest guys in the world back then, and pretty notorious. So Mary's ghost supposedly haunts suite 410, her old office, but she's a benevolent ghost. Going through the doors of the Queen Anne is stepping right into 1890s America. On our visit, the holiday decorations are still up, but the furnishings and decor are right out of a gilded age. Robber Baron's mansion, clocks, paintings and heavy carved wood furniture. Give it a warm and cozy feeling. And this couldn't be any more romantic or cozier. I feel like I'm staying in the Lincoln bedroom at the white house here at the Queen Anne, beautiful furnishings all from the period, right in the middle of Pacific Heights. You can't beat this place. So this is the fourth floor. That's the Mary Lake suite. Just below her is the Senator Graham suite. So this is supposedly the haunted suite. We're just down the hall. So excited to have run into the McCune family and you guys are from Folsom and it's Jim, Nathan, Zach, Maddie, and Tricia and Tricia. I talked to you this morning in the lobby. Why did you guys come to the Queen Anne? We just think it's a beautiful area. We like to get away over the holidays, see the lights of the city. And this is a special place because the kids really like paranormal activity and it's a beautiful hotel decorated for Christmas. Couldn't miss it. This is, this is incredible. And, and Zach, tell me a little bit about the paranormal part. I'm very interested in paranormal anything. And so I just heard a lot about the history of this hotel and I really wanted to come. So that's pretty fun. That's great. And Maddie, did you, did you hear anything? Anything happened last night? Mary Lake? Um, I didn't hear anything in particular last night. I actually had a friend who had been here as well too. And he was texting me saying, tell me if you see any ghosts or anything. So we were on the lookout for sure. That's kind of fun. And Jim, you have a big crew here. So, so, and I understand you've been in Folsom a long time and we're going to come check out Folsom. Tell me what your favorite part of the hotel. Uh, I think the lobby and just the, the decorations and we've come here and met family here in years past to exchange gifts and just kind of spend time in the, uh, in the hotel and in the lobby with the, with the Christmas tree and the decorations. And that's just kind of nice to still feel the season. Like Christmas has just passed, but still feeling the spirit of the season. No pun intended. When you come to stay, just remember these are friendly ghosts. And it's a very romantic story. Wow. I love that Queen Anne boutique up there in San Francisco. Imagine it surviving the earthquake. Let's keep going. Hi, it's Pat Patterson with the best of California. And I'm excited to be here with Beverly Hills rhinoplasty, super specialist, Dr. Robert Codler. You're an inventor and it's made in California. So tell me about the Codler nasal airway invention you came up with. Yes, Pat, I am very proud of it. I've been doing nasal surgery for many, many years. And, uh, not too long ago, I realized that we need to give our patients a better experience. We have the surgical techniques down, but what's it like right after surgery? So you've done the nose job and now it's post-surgery. How do you create comfort for your patient? That's right. From the minute they wake up, sometimes we have to have some padding inside the nose that causes blockage and people don't like their nose being blocked. So knowing that we need the padding inside for rapid healing and reduction of bleeding, I invented two soft plastic tubes. They're made of the medical grade silicone. They're patented, FDA approved, and the surgeon slips them into the nose at the end of the operation before the patient wakes up. Wow. And it's in for one to five days, generally after surgery, easy to remove. It's not stitched in. Uh, we dribble liquid anesthetic into the nose, numb it up, slides right out. It was designed and serves for patient comfort. Also, the safety issue it allows the anesthesiologist to awaken the patient more easily and, and avoid some problems. And so everybody's happy with it. So we're happy that the patients are happy and it's a small detail, but, and I was, but it's important because we're always trying to get patients better care. Absolutely. And for us, it's made in California, right? Yes. You said where? Manufactured in Pacoima. Wow. And wrapped, sterilized, packaged, labeled, and shipped from Santa Fe Springs. Dr. Robert Kotler, thank you. It's Pat Patterson with the best of California. Talk to you soon. For those couples who like a little outdoor adventure in your romance, let's look at the in-town campground in Nevada city, romantic outdoors, glamping, camping, and roughing it with convenience. Let's talk to in-town campground owner, Aaron Thieme about how you can enjoy the great outdoors. Plus keep a lot of your modern conveniences intact. We're in Nevada city and Aaron owns and operates the outside inn we stayed in, but she has this incredible other business, which is this campground in town. Aaron, so tell me about this business. So we're here at the in-town campground, which as Pat said, is a campground. We're in the heart of downtown Nevada city. And what's unique about our campground is that we have three different types of camping. We've got tent sites, we have RV hookups and we also have glamping tents. This is unbelievable. And I particularly like our California bear over there, but explain how this all works. Sure. So we're once again in a glamping tent here at the in-town campground. And this is a canvas walled tent. It's got electricity. As you can see, I turned on the light, got a bed. This is a queen size bed. It's got linens, a heated, yeah, a heated mattress pad for these cooler evenings. Yeah. Or a fan if you're here in the summertime. Um, and it's all set up and ready. So when you want to go camping, but everything is just too much work. You just bring the food or, uh, and you come camping and you can come sit outside on the deck and look at the trees and soak up the nature and just get outside without quite as much work. And it's just a beautiful spot. I mean, I camped a lot as a kid. It feels like that. And, uh, this is just kind of a new version for people that want something that's a little more convenient. You can kind of, you could, you could walk to town from here, right? Yeah. We are only one mile from downtown Nevada city. Um, so not quite as close as the outside end, but definitely in town. Um, and we always tell people that, you know, you get the feel of a state park with all the beautiful trees. We're 15 acres over 2000 trees here, but you have the amenities of a private campground. So we have a swimming pool, communal kitchen and resources. We have a camp store with beautiful bathrooms, outdoor showers. We do outdoor movies for the kids. So we have a lot of amazing features, but you still get the feel of it. And, uh, and if you really don't want to rough it, you just order a pizza and they deliver. I love that glamping option at the in town campground keeps it easy. Show up with food and have fun. Let's see what's next. Now the hotel Del Coronado in Coronado, a Victorian masterpiece and some like it hot Hollywood playground. So my favorite romantic getaway is always going to be the beach. The hotel Del Coronado, when it opened in 1888, it was the world's largest resort. It's still the second largest wooden building in America, host to presidents, celebrities. This is where future King Edward, the eight met Wallace Simpson and ended up abdicating the throne for that romance. You gotta love that. Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis supposedly had a tour de fair during the filming of some like it hot. So here is a place steeped in romance. Let's go check out the hotel Del Coronado. The hotel Del Coronado is one of the most recognizable hotels in the world, mainly because it was featured in the incredibly successful film. Some like it hot. It's also known as the Del or the hotel Del. And it's one of the last surviving examples of an American architectural genre, the wooden Victorian beach resort. When the 399 room hotel opened for business in February, 1888, 1,440 San Diegans traveled across the Bay. Now the original grounds had many amenities, including an Olympic size saltwater pool, tennis courts and a yacht club with architecture resembling the hotel's grand tower. It had a Japanese tea garden, an ostrich farm, billiards, bowling alleys, hunting expeditions, and deep sea fishing. The popularity of the hotel was well-established immediately. It already had hosted presidents, Harrison, McKinley, Taft, and Wilson. By the 1920s, Hollywood stars and starlets discovered that the Del was the end place to stay. And many celebrities made their way South to party during the 1920s and 1930s, especially during prohibition. Another famous resident of the hotel is the purported ghost of Kate Morgan. On November 24th, 1892, she checked into room 302. She told staff she was awaiting the arrival of her brother, who was a doctor, but he never arrived. She was found dead on the steps leading to the beach. Three days later, is this her rocking in this rocking chair? Maybe. And if you want some gold or silver for your sweetheart, there's a shipwreck near to the Hotel Del. On New Year's day, 1937, during the depression, the gambling ship SS Monte Carlo known for drinks, dice and dolls was shipwrecked on the beach about a quarter mile South of the Hotel Del. Still visible today, it attracts adventurous explorers. Amazing. So this is one of my favorite parts of the afternoon out at the beach, watching the sunset out here on the sun deck at the Hotel Del Coronado, great food and drinks, lots to do for the family. If you bring kids, they got a great sweet shop here. Sundays at the Del, plus all sorts of things you can rent on the beach. We're here in the middle of winter and I'd go swimming if I had my trunks. So here's to the Hotel Del Coronado. This is the best. A few other favorite romantic getaway spots. We couldn't get into this episode. Two Bunch Palms out at Desert Hot Springs. Spirit Rock up in Morant. Hotel El Encanto in Santa Barbara. There are just so many. But you don't understand. I'm a man. Nobody's perfect. Well, that's our romantic getaway episode. I hope it gave you some inspiration. I'm Pat Patterson with the best of California. Talk to you soon. How did Joey Brown do it? Are you the best? Like us on Facebook, subscribe to the YouTube channel and tell us about it. We'll come cover you.