California's Gold Season 23, Episode 12: Backdrops

1

Green Chiles

Join Huell in this hot episode as he spends a morning in La Puente to hang out with green chile aficionados Ray Martinez and his daughter, Rose Fabian, as they sell fresh, roasted green chiles from Hatch, New Mexico.

29 min

2

Persian Festival of Fire

Huell attends an event in El Segundo Beach in Southern California connected with the Iranian New Year’s celebration known as Chahar Shanbeh Soori, or the Persian Festival of Fire. This celebration consists of music, dance, food, and jumping over bonfires.

27 min

3

Animal Acres

A visit with actress Shelley Morrison (Rosario, Karen’s maid on “Will & Grace”) to Animal Acres, a facility caring for neglected and abused farm animals, in Acton.

29 min

4

Pen Collectors

Huell meets a group of fountain pen collectors at their annual meeting.

29 min

5

Watch Convention

Huell attends the timely event (pun intended) of a watch and clock collectors convention held by the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors. The convention hosts collectors, dealers, sellers, and any person interested in watches and clocks.

29 min

6

Bunny Museum

Join Huell as he hops over to the Pasadena home of Candace Frazee and Steve Lubanski, who have turned their house into a living museum filled with almost everything bunny! Over 21,000 bunny collectibles: most of their furniture, light fixtures, kitchenware, toiletries, books, and games are bunny themed. And lounging around their house, they have seven real bunny pets that do not live in cages, and are litter box trained!

27 min

7

Whistling Champ

Huell visits with the Whistling Champ Carole Anne Kaufman at her salon, then stops in at her Mom’s store – the Wizard of Bras… it’s a combo you won’t want to miss.

27 min

8

Soundwalk

Huell travels to Long Beach and takes a tour of SoundWalk, an annual art show of indoor and outdoor sound-art installations.

29 min

9

Pig Ears

When Huell’s bartender at Musso & Frank told Huell how much he liked to eat pig ears as a child…. well Huell dove right in and learned a lot more than he expected about different cultures and this culinary treat. To see a Latin spin on how pig ears are prepared, Huell stops by Gaytan Foods and sees the pickled pig ears. Then he meets up with Ruben (from Musso’s) at Durango Restaurant where they cook them just like him Mom used to. Finally, he samples a gelatinous Asian delicacy at the Chung King Restaurant.

29 min

10

Getty Villa

Huell visits the Getty Villa on a sunny day on the Malibu coast in the neighborhood of Pacific Palisades. The Getty Villa is one of the two locations of the J. Paul Getty Museum, the other location being the Getty Center in Los Angeles.

29 min

11

Ablitt House

Huell visits this unique house which was built on a 20 by 20 square foot lot in the heart of Old Town Santa Barbara.

29 min

12

Backdrops

Join Huell as he literally gets a look at what is behind the scene when he visits Grosh Backdrops. They have been providing backgrounds to movies, TV shows, theaters and even school plays since 1932.

27 min

13

The Two Anns

Huell takes a trip to The French Garden in downtown Los Angeles, but this time he brings along two very special lunch dates: silver screen legends Ann Rutherford and Anne Jeffreys.

28 min

14

Sauerkraut

In 1896 the Kruegermann family started making pickles in Germany. The family immigrated to California in 1965 with their secret family recipes for not only pickles but sauerkraut as well. Huell spends the day with this wonderful family at their 25,000-foot facility and learns all about the art of sauerkraut!

29 min

15

Champion Turf

Come along with Huell as he takes a tour of Champion Turf Equipment in Los Angeles California. Huell gets to see first-hand how Champion Turf’s craftspeople hand-craft saddles and other horse equipment.

29 min

16

Lemon Lily Festival

The Idyllwild Lemon Lily Festival highlights the uniqueness and rarity of one of Idyllwild’s most precious native flowers. This beautiful lily that grows only above 4000 feet is a true gem. Join Huell and the good people of Idyllwild as they spend the day celebrating the Lemon Lily, there’s even a Lemon Lily song!

30 min

17

Big Nugget

Huell attends the Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo where a recently-discovered 100-ounce gold nugget is on public display. The “Washington Nugget” is the largest verifiable California gold nugget in existence. We also meet with the colorful dealers and collectors who make this expo so unique.

28 min

18

Outpost

“Outpost” was once the largest neon sign in the world and stood above Runyon Canyon near Hollywood during the 1920s. The neon sign was a rival at that time to the Hollywoodland sign, and amazingly has been brought out of the past by Huell. Discover this California landmark, as it currently lies covered by weeds and dirt above the modern day Runyon Canyon Hills.

30 min

19

Bassett Hound Picnic

Huell goes to the 1997 Basset Hound Picnic, sponsored by the Basset Hound Club of So. Cal. Watch as the hounds are judged on longest ears, best howl, and saddest face.

28 min

20

Camel Dairy

Huell visits the Oasis Camel Dairy east of San Diego where he gets to milk a camel, plays with baby camels, and learns about camel milk products.

29 min

21

Donuts

Join Huell as he discovers an obscure part of donut history: the connection between National Donut Day and The Salvation Army.

25 min

22

Tallest Building

This episode has Huell visiting the First Interstate building which is the tallest building west of the Mississippi (73 floors) and goes off the top with the window washers.

29 min

23

Nethercutt Update

Join Huell as he looks back to when he first visited the Nethercutt Museum in Sylmar, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, and revisits it to see what has changed and been added to the historic museum.

57 min

24

Tales from the Golden Empire

This episode, “Tales from the Golden Empire” has Huell exploring Kern County of California. The first stop on this journey is the gold-mining town of Randsburg. The next stop in the episode is morminging, but this time with Excel Mineral Company’s opal sedimentary clay, also known as cat litter! Fittingly, the third stop in this journey throughout Kern County is the Exotic Feline Breeding Compound in Rosamond. The fourth stop on this trip has Huell continuing to see the care that goes into animals in the county by visiting the Facility for Animal Care and Treatment at California State University, Bakersfield. The fifth and final stop is the Mojave Desert to learn about the long-time tradition of sheep herding by members of the Basque community.

30 min

25

Food Special

This episode compiles several Videolog segments, all focused around food! In this mouth-watering episode Huell visits the Aloha Market, The Fountain of Youth juice bar, La Fama Bakery, and lastly, Fosselman’s Ice Cream Company.

28 min

26

Animal Special

This special compiles various Videolog segments all focused around animals! This special stars esteemed guests such as Uncle Milton and his ants, a lot of Basset Hounds, some big cats from Kern County, and Nita the Elephant. So join Huell if you want to see all the kind of animal fun that California has to offer.

29 min

27

L.A. Remembered

In this episode, Huell takes some time to remember wonderful Los Angeles landmarks. Some famous landmarks include Clifton’s Cafeteria, Leader Beauty Shop, and the Sunset Plaza Apartments.

30 min

28

Potpourri Special

Typically, Huell Howser’s compilation specials centers around a certain theme, but this episode has no theme. Instead, this episode takes a little bit of everything from the Videolog series. Huell visits Wilmon Brookins house to see her well-kept lawn, an event honoring the barbershop quartet the Quiet Don Quartet, and a reception celebrating the statue of Roman goddess Pomona (the namesake of the city of Pomona). Lastly, Huell gives us an update on a collection of folk art created by John Ian, also known as Old Trapper.

28 min

29

House & Lawn Special

This special has Huell visiting a collection of unusual and unique houses in Southern California!

30 min