Places I Remember with Lea Lane

California's Pacific Coast Drive: Spectacular Highway One

September 07, 2021 Real-estate developer Larry Korman, CEO of AKA Residences, loves the Pacific Coast Highway, and visits many times a year. Season 1 Episode 32
Places I Remember with Lea Lane
California's Pacific Coast Drive: Spectacular Highway One
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

CEO Larry Korman, a frequent California Highway One traveler, and Lea, who drove it on her honeymoon and many times since, take us along the Pacific Coastal Highway from Mendocino to Malibu, with stops along the way:  realities like washouts, and the frequent pleasures of this spectacular drive, going north to south.
-- We cover Mendocino with its glass beach; Bodega Bay where Hitchcock filmed The Birds (Larry is friends with star Tippi Hedren).
-- We take a day trip into San Francisco; then down past the Devil's Slide and the Big  Foot museum to Santa Cruz,  Carmel/Monterey and the 17-Mile-Drive.
--  Big Sur,  a gorgeous spot, is next, with the Falls and the Henry Miller Library.  Larry's comes as often as possible.
-- On to San Simeon, and The Hearst Castle; San Luis Obispo, with the famed Madonna Inn;  Pismo Beach, with Monarch butterflies; Solvang, with its Danish influence; the wineries near Los Olivos; Santa Barbara, Santa Monica and Malibu, with is pier. And Los Angeles.
-- Lea's gives her favorite memory, and then, Larry gives his.
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Larry Korman is President of AKA Hotel Residences and Co-CEO of Korman Communities, a residential real estate company that has developed 30,000 homes and 20,000 apartments over the past century. There are 24 suburban and metropolitan locations within two brands: AVE and AKA (korman.com). The collection consists of exclusive high-rise, extended-stay properties in New York City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Washington DC, and   London.

Links: AKA corporate website:  https://www.stayaka.com/ ; AKA West Hollywood website:  https://www.stayaka.com/aka-west-hollywood; AKA Beverly Hills website:  https://www.stayaka.com/aka-beverly-hills; AKA corporate Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/stayaka/; AKA West Hollywood Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/akaweho/
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Podcast host Lea Lane blogs at forbes.com, has traveled to over 100 countries, written nine books, including Places I Remember, and contributed to guidebooks. She's @lealane on Twitter; Travelea on Insta; on  Facebook, it's Places I Remember by Lea Lane. Website: placesirememberlealane.comPlease follow, rate and review this weekly travel podcast!









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*Transcript edited for clarity.

Lea Lane  00:04

Hi, I'm Lea Lane, an award winning travel writer and author of Places I Remember: Tales, Truth, Delights from 100 Countries. On this podcast we share conversations with travelers about fascinating destinations and memorable experiences around the world. We love road trips, and from time to time we're offering some of the very best of them to you. In an earlier episode, we took a road trip to the battlefields and monuments of France and Belgium with my son Cary. On this episode, we're taking a road trip to the stunning Pacific Coast Highway, or as many call it, California Highway One. Our guest is Larry Korman, president of AKA, a luxury global brand of service residences. Larry has driven the PCH many times and has lots of suggestions along the way. And at our last stop in LA, he'll offer some ideas on relaxing there for a week or more. Welcome, Larry. 

 

Larry Korman  01:02

Hello Lea, thank you for having me.

 

Lea Lane  01:05

Let me ask you. What do you love most about driving Highway One?

 

Larry Korman  01:10

I think it's the eternal getaway, being on that undulating road looking at the beautiful Pacific especially when you have the sun setting. It's like that Andy Warhol color print. There's something very soothing. You're at the end and tip of the United States with a family member just getting away.

 

Lea Lane  01:28

It's beautiful. I think you really experience California character. They are their Pioneer outpost. Surfing villages. Is this farm fresh, local food. Local wine is a lot of kitsch. Hollywood glitz, there's Bohemia. You've got it all. It was built,

 

Larry Korman  01:45

You are reminded that this is one state that's going equivalent to Maine down to Florida and most and the topography is so diverse. So what you're looking at changes along the way. It's like a great book going from one chapter to the next.

 

Lea Lane  01:59

Well, it was first started in the 1930s. It's 600 miles of rugged winding coastline, which makes it one of the most astoundingly scenic roads in the world. And I think it's meant to be traveled slowly. So you can enjoy the mountains, you can enjoy the redwoods, the beaches, the surf the cliffs, people come from all over the world to drive it, it takes about 10 hours to drive the entire length. But on this route is nice to take time to stop. stay overnight along the way, if you can stretch it out for a week or so or more. And you can drive daylight all the way that way. So keep that in mind. I think the best weather is from late spring through fall. And the busiest travel season is in July and August, there have been recent wash outs. Have you been through any of those lessons? 

 

Larry Korman  02:43

Yes, yes, I've even had a helicopter out of one. When I go with my wife, which was the first time I had to go from Los Angeles north. So we were on the other side of the highway. She was very concerned about that. But the last three times I've wanted to go on with my oldest son and Big Sur has become our happy place. And we go each year each season. And we start in San Francisco, where we have two apartment communities in Walnut Creek and Emeryville and we work our way down. And we love being on that edge. He drives much faster. But he's very much focused on what he's doing. I drive much slower to take in and but I'm constantly pointing out things to him. Oh, look at this. Oh, look at that. And he's looking straight down. white knuckled because of me not focusing as much. But I think that adds an extra allure and excitement to the drive being on the edge. And when they do have those wash outs and you're constantly seeing construction going on. They're seeing big rocks being moved and you realize the amount of time in that kind of tedious position it takes to fix something, construct something but you see above the threat of potential rocks coming down or washed out. So it's amazing that they have such control over something that Mother Nature clearly can dominate. 

 

Lea Lane  03:52

Well, we're gonna start from north to the south so that you're on the Pacific side of the road. That's the way I like it. But you can go either way. So we're going to start a little bit above San Francisco in Mendocino. That's a really beautiful place of redwoods and Fern canyons and meadows and sheltered beaches. And there's a beach they're called Fort Bragg's Glass Beach. Have you ever been there?

 

Larry Korman  04:15

Yes, yes. That whole area is just beautiful. And the city is so diverse. There's so many areas to go to, from Sausalito to Fort Bragg. Some of the most beautiful homes I've seen were right out there. Robin Williams, who was a guest of ours had a home there at one point Presidio was filmed part of that James Baldwin nearby there but just to be able to intend 15 minutes to go out and see those beautiful redwoods or to head over to Walnut Creek to go over the bridge. There's so many discovery areas to eat and to say that it's each time we go we have no plans, we just sort of let fate drift us.

 

Lea Lane  04:47

Right. Very interesting. The glass beach I didn't know this, it came from trash people used to throw trash on the sand and eventually the glasses washed out to sea and came back and that's what made it. It's so beautiful now. So sometimes Mother Nature can take the trash and turn it into treasure. Let's see, Bodega Bay, that's a pretty place where Hitchcock filmed the movie The Birds. Have you been there?

 

Larry Korman  05:10

I haven't been there, but I'm friendly with Tippi Hedren. We are working on a film together.

 

Lea Lane  05:15

Oh, how is she doing?

 

Larry Korman  05:17

She's doing great. She has offered up her animal, an archery for somebody who can help us fundraise to the next iteration of land of the free, but she's phenomenal. And I want her to sort of take me there one time, but she's not doing as much traveling as she used to. 

 

Lea Lane  05:32

Wow, that would be spectacular. Yeah, to go there with her would be something else. In San Francisco, where we're gonna go now, obviously, it's a fantastic city. But if you're just gonna stop in for a day, let's say you're coming off the road. And the main thing is the drive down. But what would you do in San Francisco if you just had a few hours?

 

Larry Korman  05:51

I love walking and I realize how out of shape I am when I'm walking in San Francisco because you think well, it's not that far. I can go to get a pizza or I go into Chinatown. And they just walk up one of those streets and you're huffing and puffing but I love walking San Francisco. I love discovering restaurants. We'll go into Chinatown with no plans and just something will resonate and lorrison or my son will read about some new up and coming restaurant that's like 20 minutes outside. And we were down there but we go with no plans but I love walking in there certain city like London, you just love to walk. 

 

Lea Lane  06:24

The Golden Gate State Park is one of the most beautiful places to walk 1000 acres of grounds. You've got museums, they are a Japanese Tea Garden, you've got a herd of buffalo. And there's the North Beach area with the Italian culture and all that kind of thing. So yeah, there's lots to do even if you just stop over, but you would want to go back obviously to San Francisco, down the way coming down. Have you been to the devil slide? Do you know what that is? 

 

Larry Korman  06:49

Yes, we've been there on our way down towards to post ranch in and Big Sur will stop there along the way. And again, walking past. Yeah, just to get out a walk, which is important when you're in a tight Uber, to get out.

 

Lea Lane  07:05

It's 1.3 miles of walking path along the ocean, beautiful, sweeping ocean views. So it's a great place to stop. And other places. Felton. There's a Bigfoot Discovery Museum. There's a tiny little thing. I don't know if you've ever been in there. But the man who started it is from Stanford, and he thought it was very interesting to look into if it's right or if there really is a Bigfoot. So it's a kind of a kitschy thing in a way, but he believes there might be a Bigfoot. What do you think?

 

Larry Korman  07:33

My wife would absolutely concur with that. She absolutely wanted to do that. But we were late for meeting so we missed that one. But I promised her next go around there.

 

Lea Lane  07:43

Well, if you go down a little bit further, you go to a lovely friendly beach town Santa Cruz, which has fantastic redwood trees, lots of great surfing, and a wonderful boardwalk people walk it it's I think it was built in 1907. So it has it has an old roller coaster. And you know that feeling of the past, you like that one? 

 

Larry Korman  08:03

Yeah, it's beautiful. My son especially connected with that. And it was a sense of being back in old time Coney Island or something like that. There was a nice romantic sense to that.

 

Lea Lane  08:14

So a little bit further down. You have an area that is one of the most beautiful in the country, Carmel and Monterey. Tell us about that area.

 

Larry Korman  08:22

We always stopped there. I love walking there going down the undulating hill towards the water area. We stopped for different places to eat. There's a great coffee place, ice cream place. But the irony was our best sandwich my son had seen on Google was in a grocery store. And we argued the whole way. We're not coming to Carmel by the sea and going and eating in a grocery store. And it was one of the best sandwiches I ever had. We brought the sandwiches down on the water and you could see people playing golf all the way to the right and to the left. You saw people at the beach and you're just sitting there enjoying it taken from people from all over. So it's really nice. Everybody's in a good mood, right?

 

Lea Lane  08:57

You've got Pebble Beach there in that area. You've got the Carmel Mission. You've got fairytale cottages, you've got art galleries, and then there's the scenic bluff path that 17 mile drive. People all seek all over the world they try to seek to do that. It's absolutely beautiful. What about Big Sur? That's your place you go to most, tell us about it.

 

Larry Korman  09:17

My happy place, my wife and I discovered it on one of her sister's birthday retreats, we fell in love with the idea of being in a cabin at night, with waking with a fire and a great meal at Sierra more and then you wake up and you're above the clouds in a white robe holding a cup of coffee. Life is as good as it gets and you just feel literally on top of the world. So I have fallen in love with Big Sur I fall in love with post ranch in and cannot wait to get back there this October.

 

Lea Lane  09:48

It's like that every season. You try to go every season right

 

Larry Korman  09:51

We've gone every season we would have filled in the missing quarter autumn which is the hardest month to get in there in October. But because of the pandemic and I think the only other time we did miss it was one El Nino hit. We were going and helicoptering in and out, and we didn't make it that time we went south San Diego and Salk Institute but it is our happy place. Every time you go you see something different, especially as you go from season to season. The flowers are different. The smells are different. The food at Sierra Mar is different. It's such a beautiful catwalk. Absolutely. We're constantly in motion going to different places.

 

Lea Lane  10:29

Yeah, it's it's nice to have a waterfall along the way. You have everything along this route. No wonder everyone loves it. You even have the Henry Miller Memorial Library and people who know who Henry Miller is he's a famous writer who's very erotic and I'm sure it was a it's a very interesting library. I've never been in it. Have you? 

 

Larry Korman  10:47

I have not been to the library. But I know of it. I know the story of it. Yeah, the library is when I'm in Big Sur, I want to be there in nature.

 

Lea Lane  10:53

I don't blame you. Coming down a little bit south is a town called Cambria seaside village. But just before it there's something called Padres Blanca is Friends of the elephant seal rookery, where you have 1000 pound huge elephant seals all over. Just fabulous Instagram pictures there.

 

Larry Korman  11:13

It's dramatic. We get a sandwich of our favorite sandwich place. And that's where we sit and eat on our way down south. It's dramatic, great photo ops.

 

Lea Lane  11:22

Have you ever had Oh, Lily berry pie? It's a special berry from California. I'm sure you have.

 

Larry Korman  11:27

I have not. I think the list was there. I had a banana cream pie. And I have something for banana cream pie because Wolfgang Puck was making it for his 25th anniversary of doing the Oscars. It's his favorite. So I had it emblazoned my mind that I was going to have it. So I think my son had that. And was certainly not Sharon and I was just carrying mine. 

 

Lea Lane  11:48

Next time, you're nearby, you can get it next time. So let's go along to Morro Bay, that's a beautiful area with a lot of herons and monarch butterflies and hummingbirds and otters, sea otters, you can you can just take so many wonderful pictures if you walk along the trails. And it's a perfect road stop. Well, the next part is very famous. 

 

Larry Korman  12:08

People tell you when you do this drive, you should pull over a lot and stop just for health reasons. There. You don't have to be reminded you want to pull over and just more deeply gaze at what is there because it's so unique from what you had just seen. And it's so unique from anything you'll ever see. 

 

Lea Lane  12:21

Again, speaking of unique, we were going down to San Simeon to the Hearst Castle. Tell us about that.

 

Larry Korman  12:27

So the first time I went with my wife, I think we got there at 505. And it had a hard close at five. And we really wanted to get up to Big Sur before the sun had set. So we were under the gun not to sort of spend too much when I came back the other time with my son. We did go through it but I didn't want to get in trouble with my wife. So we didn't talk too much about it. But it was magnificent. And we did our lunch at the other side. So you have that long drive going up. There's a little park on the other side. So we had our lunch there.

 

Lea Lane  12:54

Did they still have zebras there?

 

Larry Korman  12:57

Zebras I just said, California and just talked you into of course you would see zebras.

 

Lea Lane  13:02

Yeah, I was there a long, long time ago and they had zebras on the way up that drive. There's 165 rooms in the house. They're two massive pools which are absolutely incredible. Both of them 127 acres. It's a Moorish castle. And I remember the dining room because they had it all set up with plates and it was very beautiful and elegant. And then they had ketchup bottles on this table and I asked somebody why. And they said because William Randolph Hearst, the man who built it like ketchup so he put them out so it was kind of funny to see that Citizen Kane was based on on that man. And there's a movie called manque which is set in his castle I don't know if Israel it really in the castle, but it's made to look like it I think was the best movie of the year.

 

Larry Korman  13:45

I'm Chair of Philadelphia Film so we hosted a big Oscar party and I was really pulling for Mac, I thought Gary Oldman was phenomenal. But what's great about Mac is it reminds you to go see Citizen Kane again, because it'll resonate the movie more. If you see it fresh refresh eyes, especially Amanda's role, but the castle steals the show.

 

Lea Lane  14:06

It's a beautiful, it's something we all should see. If you go down a little further to San Luis Obispo, you have a very quirky area. It's a very interesting mellow college town. It has some place called Bubblegum Alley, which is fun to walk along is a lighthouse and then this is places called the Madonna Inn. It's well known around the world. The rooms are all themed. They're all different. One is called caveman. One is called showboat, everything is pink and you can have a slice of pink cake at the counter if you want it's one of those places to stop and see Have you been there?

 

Larry Korman  14:38

You cannot miss it from far away, it's pink everything, it's what I envisioned Dollyland to be. We have stopped, we have had pie, I have not stayed there. I've not gone beyond there. We stopped and had pie and that was it. So we could say we were there. 

 

Lea Lane  14:52

Yeah, right. It's one of those places that you want at least say you're there. It's not Madonna, the singer it's Madonna and man named Madonna. But it's some bol Pismo Beach now this is a place that a lot of people think of for reasons that maybe the beach or you know, surfing and all that. But it's the place where the monarch butterflies come every November through February. And it's I think more and more of them are coming now maybe because of the pandemic. But it's fantastic. If you didn't go there in that time of year and see these gorgeous black and orange monarch butterflies. Have you ever had that chance

 

Larry Korman  15:24

we have. And that's why you don't want to miss doing it all four seasons, because each season offers something unique. And that is exactly what I was thinking of as one of the unique beauties, ephemeral beauties that you would miss if you don't go that time of year also.

 

Lea Lane  15:37

Absolutely. I have a sad story about butterflies. I went to Central Mexico just to see the monarchs, you know, they come there, that's the largest concentration of them. And I was leaving from San Miguel de Allende. It was a five hour drive and then they would think there was a one hour walk and a half hour on a horse and I was just exhausted to get up to the top where those butterflies were. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day. I didn't see anything that we had to go all the way back. So I think I'm gonna go to the Pismo Beach monarch butterfly grove. It's a lot easier. A lot.

 

Larry Korman  16:10

I'm beautiful and beautiful. 

 

Lea Lane  16:11

I get to be on Highway One. So let's see we go down. We're gonna get to Denmark. Now there's a place called Solvang. It's a very, very fabulous place because it's Denmark in miniature. There's bakeries there. They're reproductions of Copenhagen's Little Mermaid statue and the round tower and homage to Hans Christian Andersen. And there's something called Abel escapers. I don't know if I'm saying them correctly, but they're absolutely delicious. They're pancake like puffs and they're served with raspberry jam and powdered sugar. So I would say you should definitely stop at solving. There's a restaurant there called solving restaurant and they have a window where you can take this stuff out, you know, want to take it out and eat it on the way but it's a wonderful stop and you'll won't find this anywhere else in the country.

 

Larry Korman  16:54

So I just wrote that down as a definite stop for this. October's a trip because my said,

 

Lea Lane  16:59

You gotta eat it. April schemers. Let's go to Los Olivos. That's lots of wineries there. The wine is usually Rosae. Am I correct?

 

Larry Korman  17:07

Yes. And this was the last trip was the first time that we actually stopped now that my son's of age. So we did a few little sipping and spattering so that I could continue driving, but they're beautiful.

 

Lea Lane  17:19

Well, you're, you know, if you're not drinking, I think you have to be careful when you're drinking. Don't swallow all of it or have a designated driver because you want to get to Santa Barbara, which is the next stop.

 

Larry Korman  17:30

One of our favorite residents at aka Beverly Hills is Richard Gere. And Richard Gere loves the California Rosa. So I think we actually last time we were doing a fundraiser on site for OPCC, which is a homeless group. And we have one of the bottles from there that we had seen, brought into his sweet young

 

Lea Lane  17:47

and young man, Richard Gere. So tell me about Santa Barbara.

 

Larry Korman  17:52

Santa Barbara is one of my favorite places on earth. It's always been one of my father's favorite places on earth. We usually stay at the Four Seasons, Biltmore. I love the history of that you're right on the ocean. They have that great club across the street, but there's so many discovery places there. Also, we went to just, we were tired and just wanted a pizza and found a great cute little pizza place where ironically, the chef had also been the chef with the pizza place we're partnered with in Brooklyn. So in small pizza world, small pizza world, and there was a great homemade ice cream place right next door. So that's a one two punch that is that

 

Lea Lane  18:25

McConnell's is that the name of it is a place called McConnell's that has churros con Lecce and boysenberry Rosae. Milk jam ice cream

 

Larry Korman  18:32

I forget I forget the name. I just remember they were both next to each other. It was heaven on earth.

 

Lea Lane  18:38

It's a beautiful Spanish Colonial Revival architecture place. I mean, you have the most beautiful homes. That's very near where Oprah and Megan and Harry on estates in Montecito. So you can imagine how beautiful the area is. It's kind of paradise paradoxical. And there's an area called the funk zone. Have you been to the funk zone?

 

Larry Korman  18:58

I have not been to the funk zone. But I will tell you I was at Sin. You sit at the new restaurant there was spectacular and I think it's also owned by Ty Warner who owns the four seasons and the people who do our PR for AK West High when AK Beverly Hills do all the PR there so I got to get in it. Before it was just opening and I was blown away by the renovation that had done there. Yeah, especially to the restaurant

 

Lea Lane  19:21

Beautiful. So we're getting to the end of the highway and Los Angeles. First thing you see is Santa Monica right. That's the last part. 

 

Larry Korman  19:28

We actually, in our last trip decided to go through a Malibu and I didn't realize how big Malibu was. I always just sort of go through from Beverly Hills to Santa Monica cific palisade and boom. You're in a little part of Malibu where Nobu when the county mortars, but we went through Malibu and saw some terrific architecture and was not I was shocked how big it was. But our home stretch when we do our aha moment is when we land at Nobu in Malibu, right on the water the last trip I'd done all the driving so I can I don't really eat sushi. I really do the Malibu Nobu for my kids and my wife and the views and the sunsets. But we pulled in right as the sun was setting, we sat down, and it was just a great feeling.

 

Lea Lane  20:11

I think if you ended there, or even even at the Santa Monica Pier, which opened in 1909, so it's really another one of these older places with a Ferris wheel and arcade and all that it's a beautiful place to see a sunset and end your gorgeous drive from north to south. So you're now in Los Angeles, you might want to stay a while so tell us what's the appeal of La just generally I we're gonna not go into it in detail. But what do you love most?

 

Larry Korman  20:38

I think the difference between LA and let's say, Miami, there's a vibrancy to both cities and certainly beautiful weather. But what you have in Santa Santa Monica in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, you have a diversity in the terrain, you have large mountains, you have the Pacific Ocean, I think there's an energy that's different than New York, which I love also. So I love the mix of all that. But I love Beverly Hills, I love walking Beverly Hills. I love the energy in West Hollywood, Santa Monica, like you said, walking out on that pier as a time gone by walking, the Third Street Promenade is unique. And then you go out into discovery areas. It's just a beautiful, beautiful place to be.

 

Lea Lane  21:20

So you want to stay a little bit, maybe a week or a month and aka has locations there so you can do so. And it would make a perfect ending to this drive to take a relaxing week in LA. And you know, perfect drive. Let me just say that we've had quite a ride. But the name of the podcast is places I remember. So I'll start with a memory about the drive. I was 21 on my honeymoon many years ago and we started in LA, we took the highway up to San Francisco and I remember most that 17 mile drive around Monterey Bay. Because as you mentioned, I came from the opposite coast of Miami and I couldn't get over the redwoods and the mountains dropping to the sea, and I've driven it several times since but that first time was magical. absolutely magical. So it's your turn Larry give us one of your special memories about the Pacific Coast Highway.

 

Larry Korman  22:09

Really with postvention is the first time going up with my wife, we missed a full lit trip. So the sun had set which was magnificent. We drove the next hour and pure darkness. And when we pull up to post ranch in and just saw that that beauty when we got up to Sierra more was eye opening to us in reverse. My son and I the first time we went there, he had never been there. The sun was just doing its setting we really didn't see much because we were nestled within the redwoods when we pulled up and got sick or more than sat down and you saw the very end of the sunset when the little green flash. It was magnificent. And it blew him away and left a very special memory as a place he always wanted to go. So I think those moments of discovery and that aha moment of seeing a special place in a special town just combined beautiful memories that you want to continue to have in your head and repeat and go back to.

 

Lea Lane  23:07

Absolutely, so many aha moments. Thank you so much. Larry Korman, CEO of AKA for being our guest today. And thank you listeners for California dreaming with us on this terrific drive on Highway One. Thanks for sharing travel memories with us. My book Places I Remember is available on Amazon and in bookstores, in print and Kindle, and I read the audio version. Please subscribe to this podcast and consider giving us a review. Until next time, join us wherever in the world we're going.

What Larry loves most about Highway One
History of the Pacific Coast Highway
Washouts
First stop, going south, Mendocino
Bodega Bay
San Francisco
Devil's Slide
Big Foot
Santa Cruz
Carmel/Monterey
Big Sur, Falls, Henry Miller Library
Morro Bay
San Simeon
San Luis Opisbo, Madonna Inn
Pismo Beach, Monarch Butterflies
Solvang
Los Olivos, wineries
Santa Barbara
Santa Monica, Malibu
Last stop, Los Angeles
Special memories