- A travel guide for visiting Corona Del Mar,
in Newport Beach, California.
I'm Chris, this is Yellow Productions,
I do travel guides that are fun,
informative, and entertaining,
and in this video,
I'm gonna tell you everything you need to know,
if you're planning a trip to Corona Del Mar,
we will take a look at the beaches,
we'll take a look at the shopping and eating areas
on Pacific Coast Highway,
we'll see some of the viewpoints,
some of the historic attractions,
we'll check out my favorite garden center,
and nursery in the entire world,
then we'll take a look at some of the attractions
that are just near Corona Del Mar,
including Fashion Island,
and the home of one
of the original Sprinkles Cupcakes locations.
But before we get to all that,
let me just give you a little bit of background
about Corona Del Mar.
Corona Del Mar, roughly translates
to crown of the sea,
sometimes locals just call it CDM,
it is one of 10 neighborhoods
within the city of Newport Beach,
but this particular neighborhood,
is a really expensive crown of the sea,
it is one of the top 20 most expensive zip codes
in all of the United States of America,
but it has a vibe of its own,
from the rest of Newport Beach,
Corona Del Mar is perched up on top of the cliffs,
and the bluffs above the beach,
and so, it just kinda has this really neat,
neighborhood-y feel,
I really like it,
it's away from the craziness of the Balboa Peninsula,
which is where most tourists go in Newport Beach,
most famously though,
Corona Del Mar was the home of the show,
Arrested Development on the FOX Television Network,
and was also home to famous American actor, John Wayne.
The most well-known,
most popular beach in Corona Del Mar,
is this one,
it goes by a few different names,
either Corona Del Mar State Beach,
Corona Del Mar Main Beach,
or sometimes just called Big Corona,
Big Corona, because it's the biggest,
widest, sandiest stretch in Corona Del Mar,
it's a half mile long stretch of beach,
that is pretty wide,
sandy, it's flat,
it's got really nice calm waves
so if you're here with the kids,
people that don't love to swim a lot,
or are not great swimmers,
this is a good place to come,
because the waves are generally mellow most of the year,
not a great place on the other hand for surfing,
because the waves just don't get that big.
If you like to walk on the beach.
and I like to walk on the beach,
this is a great beach for a stroll,
since it's big and wide,
it's also relatively flat,
particularly at low tide,
it's great just to walk back and forth,
it is only half a mile,
so you won't be going for a really long walk on this beach.
Adjacent to the parking lot,
you'll find a short beach front sidewalk,
clean public bathrooms,
a few volleyball courts,
some have nets, some don't,
if you wanna be sure,
bring a net,
if you're planning to play volleyball.
In the lifeguard building,
in addition to lifeguards,
you'll also find a really good place to eat,
it's called the Tackle Box,
and, you know,
unusual for beach front dining,
the food here is actually pretty good,
they serve breakfast and lunch.
One of my favorites from the Tackle Box,
is the Cali cheese steak,
I've had this a couple of times,
it's rib-eye steak,
cheese, crunchy jalapenos,
some homemade potato chips, pretty good,
and today, they have a cantaloupe agua fresca.
The big jetty on the North part of the beach,
marks the entrance to Newport Harbor,
more about that later,
this is a popular spot for fishing,
you can also walk down to the edge of the jetty,
if you are planning to do that,
make sure you bring some sturdy shoes.
The jetty is also a great place
to get a bird's eye view of the beach,
'cause you often don't get to see the beach from this angle,
on the water side, and up high.
Now, just at the end of the jetty is this rocky formation,
you can go over the rocky formation,
into one of the coolest parts of this beach,
which is known as Pirate's Cove.
Pirate's Cove is famous,
because it was on the Gilligan's Island TV show,
why's it called Pirate's Cove?
Well, it kind of looks like a pirate's cove down here,
this is a great place to get away
from the crowds on the rest part of the beach,
it's also really good over here,
if you've got little kids,
swimmers that aren't good with waves at all,
because this one opens up to the harbor,
the waves here are almost non-existent,
it's essentially just the wake from the boats that go by.
You know, I think it's definitely these sea caves,
that made somebody look at this and say,
"This looks like Pirate's Cove."
That little edge back there,
could totally be some place
where pirates kept their treasure.
And from the top of that staircase,
is one of the best viewpoints
of the entrance to the Newport Harbor,
on a busy summer weekend,
you'll see tons of really expensive boats and yachts,
coming through here,
a great place to dream and imagine the lifestyles
of the rich and famous.
Speaking of Orange County,
home to lots of media,
you'll often find a lot of people out here,
taking professional looking pictures,
looks like today there's a yoga photo shoot.
Now, just beyond Pirate's Cove,
along the Newport Harbor,
is another cove,
this one's called China Cove,
why is it called China Cove?
Well, back in the 1920s,
it was home to the famous China house,
this really ornate looking Chinese style house,
it was torn down in the '80s,
but this is a really neat, secluded,
mostly locals type beach,
there's no parking right next to it,
you can't get here from the main beach,
you have to park on the top of the hill and walk down,
but on busy weekends,
this can be a much less crowded part of sand.
Now, at the South side of Big Corona,
you'll find this rocky area,
that makes really good tide pooling during low tide,
but if you want the best tide pooling,
head over to Little Corona.
To get to Little Corona,
you gotta head back up to the top of the cliff,
walk about a half mile along the top,
and then you can descend down this ramp,
there's no parking lot here,
nor real big signs,
but this is where you'll find the best tide pooling
in all of Newport Beach.
You'll find these little pools of water,
teeming with life,
little crabs, octopus, starfish, pretty neat.
It's also really popular for snorkeling and scuba divers,
very limited amenities here,
just one single public restroom.
As you're walking down to Little Corona,
take a look off in the ocean to the South,
and see arch rock,
it's this rock out in the ocean,
that makes a natural arch.
And at low tide,
you can walk along the rocks,
and get an even closer look at this natural phenomenon.
Oh, and speaking of movies,
I mentioned this place was popular in movies,
there was a film crew here,
shooting something at Little Corona,
the day I was shooting this travel guide.
Now, if you consider yourself a real beach explorer,
you'll wanna keep walking along Little Corona to the South,
past the arch rock,
because then when you get past that arch rock,
again, at low tide,
you'll get here,
to the Cameo Shores Beach.
Cameo Shores,
generally stays quite un-busy,
because the access here is quite hard,
it's the way I just showed you,
there's a couple of paths that go up
into the residential area,
just above the hill,
but if you don't live there,
you can't take them,
because only residents have a key to get through that gate.
On this sunny veterans day in November,
that I'm shooting this,
a holiday in the US,
there were only two people
on this whole beach along with me.
So you might be looking at all these houses above the beach
and wondering, "Chris, how expensive are they really?
"You said it's expensive,
"but what's expensive?"
Well, this house is currently on the market,
right above Little Corona Beach,
$14 million, cheap.
So speaking of houses,
I think it's also neat,
just to kind of walk around the residential neighborhoods
of Corona Del Mar,
what's really unique,
is these $14 million houses,
they're not behind gates,
they're not up hills,
you can just walk right by them,
admiring the architecture's pretty cool,
all the street names here are named after flowers,
for example, Poinsettia and Orchid,
one of my favorite spots in the residential neighborhood,
isn't a house,
it's actually a bridge,
it's the Goldenrod Footbridge,
built in 1928,
still standing almost 100 years later,
243 feet across,
it is one of the most photogenic spots around here.
The commercial heart of Corona Del Mar,
is along Pacific Coast Highway,
here, you'll find tons of trendy restaurants and shops,
most of thesignificantly upscale variety.
Now my favorite place to eat on Pacific Coast Highway,
is actually in Corona Del Mar's oldest restaurant,
it's called Five Crowns,
the building was actually built in 1936,
and modeled out of an inn outside London.
The restaurant is currently owned by Lawry's,
that's the people who make the seasoning salt,
and they specialize in prime rib, British style,
it's really good.
If you're looking for some dessert,
you'll find three of the best options
in the Corona Del Mar Plaza,
it's sort of a strip mall
off Pacific Coast Highway and MacArthur,
this is home to Sprinkles Cupcakes,
the chain that started the cupcake craze across the USA,
two doors down,
and they've got Sprinkles Ice Cream,
where you can get a cupcake ice cream sundae,
and then just across the parking lot,
is Bristol Farms,
it's a really upscale supermarket,
their chocolate chip cookies are to die for,
they are hot,
toasty, and fresh,
gooey, and delicious.
Just up the hill from Corona Del Mar Plaza,
is Newport Beach's city hall,
and while I don't expect you'll be doing a lot
of city business,
the park across the street from city hall,
is really interesting to stroll through
for about 15 minutes,
and admire the public art,
you'll be able to take a lot of cool Instagram selfies here.
Now, really though,
I think the best place for shopping,
it's just next to Corona Del Mar,
it's the Fashion Island Shopping Center,
this is a really big shopping mall,
it's all outdoors,
and it's one of those shopping malls
that really encourages you
to just kind of walk around, enjoy it.
There's a pretty solid food court here,
with outposts of Panda Express,
Chick-fil-A, and Five Guys,
though, for dessert here,
I really like Gelato Paradiso,
really good Italian style ice cream.
In addition to fast eats in the food court,
there's also a lot of sit-down restaurants
in the shopping center,
and they've added a lot of extra outdoor seating,
during the pandemic.
Now, if you're looking for something to eat,
that's quick and a little more Californian,
and check out Lemonade,
it's a modern take on a cafeteria,
with also really good lemonades.
But when you come to Fashion Island,
just make sure to wander around,
and see all the things that are here,
there's a really neat coy pond,
that's right outside the food court,
popular for big kids,
and little kids.
In front of Macy's,
there's a really neat fountain,
there's another neat found in front of Nordstrom's,
but I think the coolest fountain,
is this one right here,
it's right next to the movie theater,
and it's intended to simulate ocean waves,
the way it looks,
and the way it sounds,
sounds just like you're on the beach,
hearing the crashing waves.
(fountain water rushing)
But no visit to Orange County would be complete,
without a visit to Roger's Gardens,
this is the most impressive garden center I've been to,
anywhere in the world.
A, because it's huge,
and B, because it feels a little bit
like the Disney Land of nurseries.
Why do I say that?
Well, because they go all out
to decorate for the holidays,
for Halloween, and for Christmas,
I was here at about Christmas time,
and so, they've got train sets set up,
and animatronic polar bears.
Now, in addition to holiday decorations,
there's lots of plants, pottery,
and if you're hungry,
you can get something to eat at their on-site restaurant,
The Farmhouse, specializing in,
you guessed it,
mostly vegetable based dishes.
Even if you're not looking to buy any plants,
this is a really fun place to browse.
If you're planning a visit to Newport Beach,
you might enjoy some of my other videos on the region,
Balboa Island is my favorite neighborhood in Newport Beach,
it seems like every house has a boat dock,
and just down South is Crystal Cove,
a really neat state park,
with natural undeveloped beaches.
Click either the icons on the screen to watch,
or find links in the description below.