Island Life Near Los Angeles - What It's Really Like 🇺🇸

Totally different Los Angeles county out here for sure. Peaceful, no problems, no gangsters, no stop lightss.

So, the island's pretty big. I was

actually surprised coming in. I'd say

the majority of people in Los Angeles don't even know about here. Really

family owned most of the island. They

still own the island. And we're going to get some local access here through a gate.

These are more than 100 years old.

Flemen fresh sour bread. Steaming hot.

All right. A little boat cruise. You get

away and you just disconnect is what I call it.

I'd say if there's one time period we go back into the roaring 20s would be amazing.

So you're one of the few people with a car here.

Yeah. I waited 25 years to get my own. I

got it 25 years to the day.

You pay property tax on goodies.

Missionaries. They go everywhere. People

come here to let loose and the sun gets through babies.

Super fascinating stuff.

[Music] Morning, guys. Here in Catalina Island,

Morning, guys. Here in Catalina Island, 22 miles off the coast of Southern California. Roughly 4,000 people live

California. Roughly 4,000 people live out here. William Wrigley Jr. from

out here. William Wrigley Jr. from Wrigley's Gum. Bought it back in 1919

Wrigley's Gum. Bought it back in 1919 to create a playland for all. Heard it's

quite cool. Looks amazing. It actually

looks super impressive. So, let's go check it out.

Take care.

Have a good day, guys.

Most Americans don't know about Catalina Island. I've never been here myself, and

Island. I've never been here myself, and I'd say the majority of people in Los Angeles don't even know about here. And

so, William Wrigley Jr. was a self-made millionaire. His goal was to turn

millionaire. His goal was to turn Catalina Island as a vacation land for everyday Americans, not just the elite.

And so, hey, that still holds true to some degree because you can take that boat out just for the day and go back.

And what is that? $40. Okay, 80 bucks.

Not super cheap, but not too bad. And

the really cool thing about Catalina is roughly 90% of the land is undeveloped.

I've been told there are bison up here, coyotes, deer, all sorts of wildlife.

So, there are two towns. This is the biggest one, Avalon. That's pretty much it. It's mostly just protected land out

it. It's mostly just protected land out here. And you can see the houses just

here. And you can see the houses just going up into the hillside. Some cool

little features like that. See a lot of golf carts. I read online it's 15 to 20

golf carts. I read online it's 15 to 20 years. I believe a wait list to get the

years. I believe a wait list to get the permit to have a car on the island. So,

I don't think we'll see many cars.

and just a turn down of the dial from most of Southern California, at least urban Southern California, greater Los Angeles. I mean, this is a much slower

Angeles. I mean, this is a much slower pace and I get it. People coming out here to get away from it all. It is a tourist place for sure, but it doesn't

feel overdone. Like, things look really

feel overdone. Like, things look really cool here.

And this is called a casino out here.

And I read it never had gaming. So they

use the word casino in its original Italian meaning which is basically a social club, a place of gathering.

William Ringley Jr. did it right. Look

at this.

Beautiful mural right there.

That flow true art deco. This is an architectural playground. the largest

playground. the largest the gold the blue shapes the texture exotic collection India South America Russia and Australia

which was unmatched in US history in terms of art sports music [Music] looks like they're not open yet but look

at this beauty massive bar here bands on the stage Couples,

friends, families having drinks all with the ocean behind.

[Music] You guys roller skate in here now?

Yeah. Roller skates. It's um $10 for an hour.

$10 to roller skate.

Yeah.

That sounds so awesome.

Got to say, if there's one time period you go back into, the roaring 20s would be amazing when this stuff was just taking

off. All this beautiful architecture,

off. All this beautiful architecture, all these great social events, the music, you know, it's easy to romanticize things when you're not from

the time period. It was much harder in many ways, but seemed like a lot of fun.

Like, this would have been a lot of fun.

And it still is. It still is. But that

time period is definitely gone.

Looks like a big place for diamond.

When I have days like today and so many of the videos I make in places I go, it just totally uproots the whole America's all at each other. There's so much

chaos. And so many of the stories we get

chaos. And so many of the stories we get are just clickbait quick reels. Are

there problems? Are there things happening? Of course, that's always

happening? Of course, that's always happening. But there's also a lot of

happening. But there's also a lot of this, which look doesn't have as much dopamine or sugar rush element involved, but I always want to balance it out as

best as I can to show. Lot of America is just ticking on, doing all right, and enjoying the sunshine.

Oh yeah.

I just came in for breakfast in uh Bloody Mary.

Oh, is that you sitting out there between Seal Rocks and the lighthouse?

Yep.

I saw you there yesterday.

Yeah.

So, you got the bucket credit card system?

Yeah.

Nice.

Do you live here?

29 years.

29 years. What's it like?

It's the best. It's peaceful. No

problems, no gangsters, no nothing. It's

so crazy that this is in the same county as Los Angeles, isn't it? Like two different universes.

isn't it? Like two different universes.

Yep. Sleep in the beach and you're going to have everything. Go and sleep in LA, you you lucky if you're going to have your socks.

So, no crime out here or very little crime at all. I mean, it's sometimes, you know, fights, bar fights, whatever.

But other than that, everything's good.

All right.

What's your name?

Reuben.

Reuben. Peter. Do you know Johnny?

Johnny Q?

Yeah, I know Johnny Q.

I'll be meeting up with him soon. We're

going to go rip around.

He's a badass dude.

He is cool.

Yeah.

I want to see myself later on.

You're on. You're on.

Take care, brother.

Hey, you too.

Beef stickked up. Ready to rock.

Your beef stickked up. Ready to rock.

We're going in the car.

So, Johnny, you grew up here?

Yep. Went to kindergarten here.

Are there many of you guys that I grew up here?

I got a bunch of good friends that still live here and Oh, lot to come and visit. This is what your car looks like when you live live here.

That's just from going out there today, showing my friends the bison.

So, you're one of the few people with a car here.

Yeah, I waited 25 years to get my own. I

got it 25 years to the day.

So, the island's pretty big. I was

actually surprised coming in.

Yeah, it is.

It's like 21 miles long, 8 miles wide at the widest point, half mile wide at the narrowest point, 76 square miles.

Deer.

Oh, yeah. We got a deer just crossing the road. You want to see this little

the road. You want to see this little guy behind?

There we go. Little guy.

So Wrigley family owned most of the island. Then it went into

island. Then it went into They still own the island.

They still own it.

It's like in a trust and they donated to the Catalin Conservancy to not have to pay the property tax as well as, you know, they're maintaining the island, the stewardship of the island,

which I'll take you up and show you. Oh,

killing. Nice. These like the mean streets of Avalon right here. Okay.

Super hard to get housing here.

Yeah. Luckily, I bought my house 12 years ago.

You out right here. Okay.

Okay. Bye.

See you, buddy.

See you.

I'll call you guys in an hour. Don't get

caught doing anything.

I'm not.

Love you.

So, here you can just let your kids go.

Yeah. He's going to go play in town and they're going to go tear it out.

That's awesome, man. This is like a little city park. It's cool. They got

all kinds of activities going on in the summer. We got our city hall on the

summer. We got our city hall on the left.

Nice fire station.

This is our fire station. The guys are awesome that work for here. They're all

bros. We got the hospital over here. Got

the school up the road from there.

Kindness.

What up?

Killing with kindness. What's up,

brother?

Who won him again?

Yeah, of course.

This is Sand Trap. Great little

restaurant. That's Peewee right there.

That's my bro.

Yeah, he's a longtime local. One of my best friends.

Do you feel totally detached from the mainland? I feel like um in my little

mainland? I feel like um in my little bubble over here, it's safe and fun and know everybody and cared for everybody.

So, these were just back in the day employee housing for the operation, right?

Yeah. It's mostly ran by Island Company back in the day. A lot of Mexican heritage. You had all all the hard

heritage. You had all all the hard workers come and that's why a lot of a lot of original friends that are still here for decades and generations cuz their families were brought here to work and they stayed and run this town. Now,

what are you doing here on the island? I

work at a restaurant, Steve Steakhouse.

Good steak.

Amazing. Got fresh seafood. Steakhouse

and seafood right on the front street at the work.

3:30. I'll invite you in tonight.

A thanks, man. Appreciate it.

What is this?

It's called the bird park.

Bird party? Yeah. Have all kinds of exotic birds here.

It's all Wrigley gum. Everyone knows

Wrigley gum.

Yeah. You know how Wrigley started out was making soap and putting a piece of gum in the soap every time and then people were just buying the soap and throwing it away and eating the gum that was in it.

Seriously? Yeah.

But the soap, people would actually use the soap then eat.

Yeah. They sold bars of soap.

Yeah.

This is This is what I heard. They sold

bars of soap and they had to put a little piece of gum in there. One little

slice. And then all a sudden people were like buying the soap just to eat the gum. So he started making gum and

gum. So he started making gum and stopped with the soap. That's what I That's where they had Wrigley's body buried until we went into war. They

moved him to Chicago. But that was his original tomb. He has a botanical garden

original tomb. He has a botanical garden right here. So, it's pretty cool that

right here. So, it's pretty cool that it's all protected, land, right, for living here. Like, it's not all getting developed.

I love that it's not developed and it's staying out there and you get away and you just disconnect is what I call it.

She's waving to you or me.

Hi Peter.

Oh, hi. How you doing?

Love your show.

Thank you. Well, you're in it now. Is

that cool?

You're in it.

Thank you guys.

Hey, enjoy your time on the island, dude. What is your fire situation?

dude. What is your fire situation?

It's always a risk. We got this invasive weed right here called janista. That's

like a fuel that that overtook this whole island pretty much. It's invasive.

So, it's starting on the sea end and it's moving towards the west end that needs to be controlled. But

it's a it's a factor here. It's scary

after all the stuff that you went and saw yesterday.

Yeah. Palestine and what what happened to all my friends in Hawaii and all all that stuff in Lahina. Oh, it can go like that. That's the need. I think it needs

that. That's the need. I think it needs to be controlled a little bit better and that's why we have fire brakes right up there.

Yeah. It's all separated.

Yeah.

Right. So, you got there's a few of them and there's a road that goes around the top that just connects them all into town to slow it down if there was a fire. That's something proactive they

fire. That's something proactive they do. I actually just saw county guys this

do. I actually just saw county guys this morning on the out in the interior going to go check out where they were going to work on some brush clearance and stuff.

So, they're actually helping us. Do you

guys have police here?

LAPD.

Okay. So, we're Los Angeles County, so we're LAPD, right?

And most of them move here and they're getting ready to retire and they're cool and they don't look for problems unless you give them a problem.

One of the biggest properties on the island. They're descendants of the

island. They're descendants of the Wrigleys, the offfields. Super cool

guys.

So, where do the descendants live currently?

They have places here. Most of them live in, you know, Newport, Laguna, Santa Barbara. They frequent the island

Barbara. They frequent the island regularly. They're all really cool to

regularly. They're all really cool to us. So,

us. So, they are.

I grew up with them when I was younger.

So they moved out before they moved off the island. And their dad, Pachy Offfield,

island. And their dad, Pachy Offfield, was like the CEO of the island company for several years and he did a lot of great stuff for the island.

So if they didn't own this, then this would have been developed, right?

It feels like it. They definitely kept it to a minimum.

And we're going to get some local access here through a gate.

Yeah.

Oh, that's have it on a vehicle license plate. Even though mine's usually really

plate. Even though mine's usually really dusty. You can't um see it.

dusty. You can't um see it.

Okay. You need a permit.

Yeah, you pay. It's an annual pass. All

right. Sweet.

Bison are dangerous.

Ticks, poison oak, bison, rattlesnakes.

So, it's a bit mad house down there by the water. And then there's this.

the water. And then there's this.

Then you get this.

Earlier I was up here and I was like, geez, I don't want to come back to town.

You know, you want to keep going.

What a place.

What's your dog's name?

Salty.

Salty.

This is like rooftop of the world type feeling.

Rad. Yeah. Dude, when my kids were little, I just drive up here instead of sitting there watching TV while they sleep. I just put them in the car, take

sleep. I just put them in the car, take a nap. I'd sit right here and check out

a nap. I'd sit right here and check out stuff with the binoculars, catch lizards, blue belly lizards.

Oh, look at that. You can see Mount Baldi. What's Baldi is like 10,000 feet,

Baldi. What's Baldi is like 10,000 feet, I think.

Yep. And that's So that's right there, right? So where it goes goes up right

right? So where it goes goes up right here. That's Mount Baldi.

here. That's Mount Baldi.

Yep.

Big Bear straight back behind Saddleback.

Yep. Such a

San Bern country.

I mean, you can go skiing out there, right? Big Bears up there.

right? Big Bears up there.

Big Bear is awesome. You could see Big Bear. There were a bunch of dolphin out

Bear. There were a bunch of dolphin out here when I when we came out here earlier. You just see a disturbance. The

earlier. You just see a disturbance. The

Banning family owned it. Bringing

tourists since 1842.

Stage coach operations.

Logging out here.

Bison poop. Yeah, there's there's a fresh one. When they got rid of the pigs

fresh one. When they got rid of the pigs here, they put fences across the island from water to water and then they just hunted them section by section and put traps. Now they're working on our deer,

traps. Now they're working on our deer, trying to get rid of the deer. They're

letting us have a couple hunting season.

They're getting rid of the deer. Why?

Cuz they're invasive for the island.

They're trying to just keep the bison here. The bison for the tourism. They

here. The bison for the tourism. They

don't do anything wrong like the deer do. That's what they say.

do. That's what they say.

But the deer keep down the grass and all the they say they only they don't eat the invasive stuff. They only eat the natural stuff. So they want to get rid

natural stuff. So they want to get rid of them. But I've been grew up hunting

of them. But I've been grew up hunting and so much fun and it provides for your family. But they're proposing to

family. But they're proposing to eradicate them with with helicopters.

That's kind of messed up and leave them.

Everybody was fighting for it and they're being cool and letting locals hunt this year and not bringing in a bunch of people to put they say the pressure on them is making them produce more versus if they don't have that much

pressure they don't produce as much babies every year.

So we got our hikers that are moving between spots trying to dust them out.

Yeah, that's random.

Yeah. Bring the kids up here and go bass fishing right here and let them play.

Oh, there we go. Bison. These things

pretty dangerous.

Do they do they not going to get out of the car? You're just going to watch

the car? You're just going to watch right here from the car. But they're

kind of used to the tours pulling up on them, so they just mellow out.

Hey guys.

How are you guys?

So, when they're this big and they're not with the females anymore, they either had their day, like they already had the females and they got chased out by one that's bigger or they're not big enough yet to be with them.

The guy that's with him right now fought for him.

So, he's out of the pack.

He's not in the pack until death, I guess. And until they feel like they want to get another stab at it.

Okay. So, it's just like champs hierarchy.

Alpha alpha.

If there was a male right now with females and he came up, they start grunting at each other and they just you see they don't go like this. The guy just Oh, yeah. I see it a lot. Not as much

Oh, yeah. I see it a lot. Not as much anymore cuz they give them because they gave all the females birth control to control control the herd.

Really?

Yeah.

Is it It was getting too big or what?

They They were just trying to manage it and that was their choice of management.

Birth control.

How many on the island now? Does anyone

I think we're in 80.

80. That's

when I worked out here when I was 18. I

was think we kept it around 300.

Okay.

Keeping them around to make the money.

But it's cool to see.

Yeah. You know why they were brought over? I don't know the total that they

over? I don't know the total that they brought when they bought them, but they brought them for a movie called Vanishing America, and they just left them and they became Catalina Bison.

You know what the mom said to the baby when he left? Bye, son.

[Music] Guys, how's it going?

How's it going? You guys doing it?

Yeah. Yeah.

It's hot, but it's sick.

You cooking out here?

Yeah.

Where are you guys sleeping at night?

Side of the road.

Figure it out.

Little garden one place. Whatever it's

called. Our little

little harbor. Why don't you get right there? It's all downhill. Right where

there? It's all downhill. Right where

the airport is. See that plane just landed?

Sounds good.

Yeah. We got like 13 miles left probably.

No.

Hey, there's a shortcut I could tell you guys right now.

Nah, it's good. We're good.

Okay, you guys do your thing. Peace out.

All right. Thank you.

Later.

I love seeing that. Not playing video games, going for a big hike, you know.

Yeah, that's cool. They're not They're not from here, definitely.

Look at there's the highest point we drove. We're just driving around it.

drove. We're just driving around it.

Okay. So, there's one more town, right?

Two harbors.

That's way more remote than Avalon.

Way more remote. One store, one restaurant.

You got buddies in two harbors?

Yeah. Every time I go visit them, my wife has to drive back cuz they have too much fun with them. Little uh huggers.

They call them huggers. That's your

perfect shots out there. They're fun.

They just fish and dive and work.

For how remote this is, the roads are surprisingly good. I got to say,

surprisingly good. I got to say, they're maintained by this guy named Mark Sonia that has been doing it since he's a kid. And literally his grand his dad was my one of my mentors out here,

Herman Sonia. And he makes these roads

Herman Sonia. And he makes these roads amazing. He'll make little diversions

amazing. He'll make little diversions off the side and make little catch ponds for the animals to have water for after it rains and it holds for like months or two. He does a really good job for the

two. He does a really good job for the consery.

The planes take come and land right over your head right here. This is the edge of the runway. So if you sit right here on a Sunday, they're non-stop flying over you. People like to go flying and

over you. People like to go flying and come over here for a cookie to the airport.

My friends just recently took over this airport restaurant up here and people fly in all the time just to have lunch just to do a little flight and then grab one of their famous cookies they have up here.

Airport in the sky. We'll go check it out right now.

It's like a ranch airport.

So nothing commercial comes in, right?

There's a DC3 that lands here and it's called Kalina Flying Boats for like my restaurant. You get fresh produce all

restaurant. You get fresh produce all the time. So they fly it over instead of

the time. So they fly it over instead of shipping it over.

All right. So most stuff on the island gets flown in or shipped in?

Flown in. All like restaurant stuff. And

then you got stuff that's barged in like round stuff.

Oh over there.

What's up?

How are you, man?

Or what?

Crazy. Were you the one running over there?

You saw me?

I saw you. Yeah, my health was running.

Yeah. Yeah, that was me.

I'll check out the little history.

Yeah, let's do it.

Okay, here we have a map of the island Avalon where we started. We went up to Wrigley Gardens and then somewhere through here. Okay,

through here. Okay, airport in the sky. Guess there's some other estates out here. We're going to

go back, but the island continues on.

Little harbor over here. Eagle's Nest

Lodge.

Lot to explore out here for sure.

7,000 years ago, the Tongva people, Spanish explorers, 1542 and6002,

ranchers and farmers, 1800, 1970s, sportsmen, late 1800s, scientific collectors, late 1800s, Chicago Cubs. So

Wrigley had spring training down here for the Cubs. 1921 to 1951 conserancy biologist 1990s.

Nature lovers for all time.

Oh, what a cool airport.

Natural.

Hi.

Open 1959.

You want some cookie?

I give you this. These are good. Dense.

Yeah.

Nutrient.

That's a good cookie.

Trying to promote their cookies, bro.

I'm terrible at that. Sky cookies.

All over LA. I'm stupid.

Delicious.

Oh yeah.

Ravens.

They'll start buzzing us here in a second. Smart when they see me in

second. Smart when they see me in somebody else's car or they won't see me, but I'll whistle and then they'll come right along. I'll just throw a couple almonds out or something like that for them. Still Cheetos.

You whistle and they come flying in.

Yeah, they'll fly right in usually. Here

they are right there. They're coming in now.

I'll shake them out with this.

Oh, there they are. No way. Look,

that's crazy.

They look you you're right in the eye.

There he is. He likes the chomps. There

he goes.

Take him out to be turkey and give him some almonds.

Give him a piece of my Kind bar.

It's melting. See him? And then if you just throw a little chunk out, it'll be right behind you to get it.

This is the other Catalina. Yeah.

Yeah. This is what people think is Catalina. Just come come over here, go

Catalina. Just come come over here, go to Discono, party all day. That's what

Avalon or Catalina is. You got to see what a lot of it is. This place is great to come out and have a nice afternoon, but it's cool to see the whole island instead of just Yeah. Yeah. Thinking that this is it.

Yeah. Yeah. Thinking that this is it.

You walk over and see the harbor right over here.

Okay.

Come on, Salt.

[Music] This is what happens when it's a good weather weekend. Look at this. Is what

weather weekend. Look at this. Is what

it turns into. Look at the harbor.

These guys are all coming from Newport, Long Beach, those areas.

Ports all the way, you know, from Santa Barbara to San Diego.

Okay.

What's up on the hill there way up there?

Striley mansion. It's their mansion that they built. Wrigley's room was on the

they built. Wrigley's room was on the right. Mrs. Wrigley was on the left. She

right. Mrs. Wrigley was on the left. She

He had a view of where the Cubs field used to be down here. They used to bring him out for spring training cuz he owned the Cubs.

Okay. The field was right in town.

The field was down here.

Johnny thanks man.

You got it, brother.

Appreciate it.

I'm going to shower and be at work at 3:30.

Okay. I'm going to get a steak at your place later.

Yeah, come and get a steak.

All right.

You're the man, brother.

All right. You're the man. Have a good day.

Thank you.

See you guys later.

Oh, that was cool. Uh, no way we would have gotten that access way behind the mountain there. And it's two different

mountain there. And it's two different worlds. My little time here, I feel the

worlds. My little time here, I feel the two different worlds. The tourist, bit of that old world vibe, too. Love the

church bells and then endless nature.

You guys are tourists here right now.

We're tourists. Yeah. We're actually

from the Coachella Valley.

Oh nice.

Yeah. and she's from San Clemeni just out here.

Cool.

And we're on a yacht with one of our clients, one of my clients who I built a house for.

Oh nice.

Got us out here. You guys got to go out and do the golf cart for.

Nice. Well, thank you for watching.

Are you touristing today?

I'm I'm making a video right now.

So, I just I got in with this local and we went way back there.

Oh, cool. So fun.

Take care.

Keep doing it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So, one of my great YouTube followers here, Natalie, was the one that connected me with Johnny. A lot of these videos, I don't have people set up.

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, but I wanted to have one person at least over here that could get us out into stuff that most people aren't going to see.

Just want to show you guys some of these cool back streets looking over the harbor. And the golf cart vibe is pretty cool. Like that

helps big time. If you had cars up in here, it'd be pretty tough to get around. But right on, sir.

around. But right on, sir.

[Music] There's a lot of attention to detail.

This is great. I mean, it's so busy down there, but just a few streets up, it is quiet, except for the Ravens.

Looks like a an old coliseum of sorts.

Catalina Island style. I don't know if it was built as a retaining wall or this is actually something back in the day.

Looks like it's perfectly set up as a theater of sorts.

Totally different Los Angeles County out here for sure. That's what's so cool about counties in the United States.

Take Pler County in California. That's

Lake Tahoe. That's Auburn. You have palm trees to 20 ft of snow in the same county. And here you have this in Los

county. And here you have this in Los Angeles.

In New York, you have old mining towns and Lake Champlain and then Lake Placid where the Olympics were twice.

So, there's so much variation, not just in a state, but in a county. States get

labeled easily.

And uh you break it down to a county and then you can even break it down within a county, what the vibe is like, culture,

the politics.

Yeah. Super fascinating stuff.

Was talking to a friend on the phone the other day. He's Latian but lives in

other day. He's Latian but lives in Thailand now but lived in the States.

Hey Peter.

Yeah. What's up?

Yeah, I watch your show all the time, man. I love it.

man. I love it.

Thanks, Voss. Appreciate it.

So funny cuz I I actually was going to try to find an email for you and say, "Hey, man, you should come to Catalina."

Well, I'm here.

Yeah. Roger.

You're from here, Roger?

Uh, well, originally from Chicago, but I live here.

Tell tell us about it. What's going on, Roger? Well, uh, it's a crazy little

Roger? Well, uh, it's a crazy little community. Is it

community. Is it lots of challenges, but, uh, lots of great stuff.

Is it?

It's a real great community. I mean,

everybody knows everybody, which is a good thing and a bad thing.

A bad thing. Yeah.

There's a saying on the island, you don't lose your girlfriend, you just lo lose your turn.

Yeah. That's in mountain towns and island towns. Yeah.

island towns. Yeah.

Oh, you hear that, huh?

Oh, all the time.

Oh cool.

Yeah.

You know, it's funny because there's so many Southern Californians that uh say, "Well, this is my first time here. I

grew up in Southern California."

Yeah. always heard about it and I I was the same kind of way. You know, I lived in uh South Bay for a while and always knew about it but never came.

Yeah. You like it better out here?

Yeah. Yeah.

Nice.

You know, there's no stop lights. I got

a golf cart, you know.

All right, Peter.

Yeah, appreciate it, Roger. Take care.

Flavorful place.

Yeah. What was I saying? Oh, just the diversity of the country. So a buddy from Latafia lives in Thailand, lived in the US for a bit, but only in big city part of the country, from outside of the

country, it becomes easier to just label America as this or that. And even for us Americans inside the country, it becomes

easy to label this region as like this or this region is like that. And the

reality is it goes so granular and so deep that you can constantly discover new things here. And as my wife says,

it's a build your own bowl country.

Select your protein, your legumes, your vegetables. Do you want cheese? How

vegetables. Do you want cheese? How

about some dressing? And what she means by that is, you know, pick your geography, pick your climate, pick your culture.

And there are so many options for building your bowl in the United States.

And I've lived in a few countries in the world and they're always regional differences. That's for sure. I think

differences. That's for sure. I think

with the US with the wide expanse of it, it just stretches so far. We have

everything from the Amish to the Chicanos to the Siberian Eupic. All are

American and living out how they want to live. And I think it's such a cool

live. And I think it's such a cool thing. You come to a place like Catalina

thing. You come to a place like Catalina Island and you can see a totally different way of living. And yes, there is a connective tissue in the United

States that brings it all together. But

you really can be who you want to be.

Live the lifestyle you want to live. You

want to be out in the woods. You want to grow your own food. You want to live in a city, an island, mountains, the ocean, it's all available. It's a beautiful

thing and I just want to bring that to our attention. Oh, look at this street.

our attention. Oh, look at this street.

That is so cool. You know, most of everything online about the US is so negative these days. And yeah, there are problems, there are pain points, plenty

of issues, but there's plenty of great stuff, too. And don't forget that I try

stuff, too. And don't forget that I try to show both. This video is more about a nice soft gentle look at a cool part of

the country.

This is your dad's decoration.

Yes, my dad idea. So, which is cool cuz it has it's just a pump, you know, and it's so excited because most of the people like you, they stop by take pictures. Yeah.

pictures. Yeah.

So, they get that great idea that they could do something with the phone on their houses or whatever they live at.

Do you love living here? Yes, I grew up on the island.

Okay cool.

Basically, this is my life. When I grew up on the island, it was kind of fun.

You get the to be free, you know? You're

free. You could do anything you want. We

used to go swimming, snorkeling. Our air

is so clean and fresh. And we don't have any gangs. We don't have We only have

any gangs. We don't have We only have eight homeless, but they're really not homeless.

Eight home like one eight of them.

Eight.

Mhm. But they're okay. They're okay.

They live on their own world. They do

whatever they need to do, but they don't mess up with anybody. Totally different

life than the big cities. I got married here. I got my kids here. They all grow

here. I got my kids here. They all grow up here. The island,

up here. The island, but I still have the other two.

Do you think the two that moved off come back or No. No. They don't want to come back.

No. No. They don't want to come back.

They want to be in the cities.

Down and visit.

Okay.

But to move to the island, no. And I

honestly I don't want them to come back.

Why not?

Because there's nothing here for them.

And now with my grandkids, there's nothing here for them. As far as of everything like over there, they have more like even you come from over there like let's say you get boring to be you

want to get your day off and just go somewhere else, explore something else, you know, and most of the people that we live here or most of the people when we go to let's say Long Beach or anywhere

else, then you have to rent the car if you don't own your own uh car.

Right. Right. So, and then you have to rush, go for the day and try to come back. At least if you're going to stay

back. At least if you're going to stay in a hotel. So, my kids, and it's good.

I respect they don't want to come back to the island.

Y every Sunday they have like a soccer game with the kids. They go down and they go to their mother-in-law. They go

for the swimming pool. They have

barbecues.

They have more opportunities. Like

they're just went to SeaWorld a couple days ago.

Okay.

So, it's that type of difference. So,

it's got to be a bit of a challenge, I would think, as a parent, like you love the simplicity and the safety, but there are the options and the opportunities.

Yes. Tough challenge. Yeah.

You got a cute house.

Yeah. This is my parents basically. This

is where they live. My dad has his um altern.

[Music] So, these you think were made for the soldiers?

Yes. They were training here before World War I, right?

Yeah, I believe so because these ones are more than a hundred years old, right?

This houses that's Yeah. So So the the house this one is

Yeah. So So the the house this one is like an attic on the bottom, but it kind of moved one time that we got like a little airplane kind of moved a little

bit. So my dad had to lift it up because

bit. So my dad had to lift it up because like all this is original like this. My

dad replaced this. But

everything's original.

Everything is original. Yeah. You can

see the ceiling how it is. The old

style.

Is this your car?

Yep. That's mine. That's my old car.

It's a classic.

All right. Here's where Johnny works. He

said, "Come by for an excellent steak."

Steve steakhouse.

Hey, you clean up well. You clean up well.

Coming Peter. You ready to meet a fourth generation? Fourth generation.

generation? Fourth generation.

Peter Santelo.

Peter. Steve. How you doing, man?

Yeah. Fourth generation.

You want to talk to a legendary I learned from him.

So, your ancestors have stories all the way back to the beginning of the Wrigley family here, right?

Yeah.

Actually, my ancestors were before the Wrigleys. Uh they came in the in the

Wrigleys. Uh they came in the in the late 1800s and the Wrigleys didn't even buy the the island till 1993.

So before it was it was ranching, it was timber. What was it?

timber. What was it?

But it was a small town. There was

ranching and there was mining. You know,

there was pioneers out here and just pioneers.

Yeah. Trying to make a buck.

They were trying to make something out of this town, you know, and make it a a site to be visited.

Y which they tried the Banning brothers and that and they sort of lost a significant amount of

money in the and the fire the 1915 fire and I don't think they recovered from it.

1915 fire just torched the place.

All of Front Street.

Okay. Okay. Wow. And then so yeah, Wrigley came in in 1919 and walked the island.

Okay. You said there are two types of people that run restaurants.

Yeah. The first person that comes up on a Saturday night, sees the restaurant is jam-packed and says, "Hey, I want one. I

have some money in my pocket and I want to buy that." So he buys the restaurant and then basically just waits at home and waits till the restaurant closes and then they bring the blue bag up and they

count the money on how much they made.

And then there's a restaurant owner like me where I come in at six o'clock in the morning. I cut the fish, I cut the meat,

morning. I cut the fish, I cut the meat, I do the desserts, I do as much as I can in the back to help the kitchen out and write that. And then I go home, take a

write that. And then I go home, take a nap and write that. And then at night time, I work it. I work that restaurant upstairs on the beach, whatever I could do to help all these people. Actually,

this is my first marriage, you know. And

then my beautiful wife is my second cuz I have to spend a lot of time in here.

Okay. Did you have a filet minion?

There we go, Steve. Nice

broccolini. Sliced up

bernet sauce. Fresh sour bread. Steaming

hot for you. There you go, my man.

Enjoy.

Served by the bosses. No, no. I I scored by meeting up with you.

All right. Here we have the fillet at Steves.

Little Bernay sauce.

[Music] Very good. Tender. Very tender.

Very good. Tender. Very tender.

Cooked it to medium rare.

Mushrooms, onions on top. Very

good. And this is tough to beat. This is

amazing.

See the casino out there.

Just such a cool festive vibe here.

Missionaries. They go everywhere.

What's up you guys?

Hey, how's it going?

Hey, how's it going out here?

Doing good.

Making a video on the island. How's

missionary work going out here?

Oh, it's going amazing.

Are people liking it?

Yeah, most definitely. Really?

I think I've seen your channel before.

I met I met some of you guys out in West Virginia.

Yeah, I love your I loved it.

Elder and uh Eld Well, I did this before. What is Elder Reyes?

How does that work again?

So, Elder means like missionary. So, it

pretty much just means we're teaching.

We're spreading the word.

Okay. Where do you guys live?

I'm from Utah originally. So, yeah.

Yeah. I'm originally from Texas.

Okay.

Yeah.

So, how how is it going out here overall?

Good. Oh, we love it here though, actually. It's a very unique area cuz

actually. It's a very unique area cuz it's like 3,000 people that live here and so we have to contact everyone.

Do you guys just come out for the day and go home or do you stay here?

We live here actually.

Oh, okay. How many Mormons here would you say? We have a record of 40 members

you say? We have a record of 40 members that live here, but only one is active when it comes to church.

Only one is active.

Yeah. His name's Chuck Lidell. But yeah,

shout out to Chuck Lidell.

Shout out to Chuck right there.

But you guys are going to church, right?

Yeah, us. Yeah, we hold the the church service. We have a bank right here and

service. We have a bank right here and we hold it.

So, wait, Chuck goes and you two go and who else goes?

Uh, whoever comes in.

Okay.

Whoever we invite.

All right, cool. So, where else have you been in the world doing this?

Doing this? I've only been in California. So, most of the time we're

California. So, most of the time we're only assigned to like a state or like an area.

Okay. So, you haven't had the uh the challenges of being deep in the hoods of Rio di Janeiro or something?

No. But in the hoods of Compton? Yeah.

Yeah. How?

Okay. So, how does it compare here versus Compton?

Oh, it's a big difference. It's big.

How people receive you?

Um, both ways. I think in Compton like it's humble people. There's very humble people there and so well received because many are Christians there.

Many people, you know, seek, you know, more guidance in their life and they seek more of that.

What's been the hardest experience?

Oo, the hardest a slam door in the face. Maybe

that that happens every day. I think the hardest the hardest is when I think whenever people come up to you and tell you you it's no good or you can't do it or you can't do what you're doing.

Okay.

And I think that's the main thing. You

know what I think teaches you guys a valuable lesson outside of the religion?

Yeah.

Getting the slam door in the face every day and like brushing it off and moving on is a great skill in life.

It's true.

True. It builds character.

Yeah. And you don't think you don't take things personally.

It's true.

You don't skill to have.

Well, that's awesome. Yeah.

Guys, take care.

You too. Take care.

let you go or not. Thank you guys.

So, you get a little bit of that.

Lots of lots of drinking.

I thought I was wrapping up, Eric, and then I just saw you at the grocery store.

Yeah. The whole

guy was fighting or what?

Yeah, they were fighting over.

So, you get some of that. Some drunk

fights out here.

Lots of drunk fights out here. People

come here to let loose and then the sun gets to them.

So safe though for the most part.

Oh, very safe. This place is beautiful.

You guys still have some commercial fishing out here?

Lots of commercial fishing. Yeah, he's

from San Pedro, but Oh, our boat's down here.

Hi guys.

All right, a little boat cruise before Peter has to get in the boat. Let

me get Give me one second. I'll pull up for you. This is great. I just was in

for you. This is great. I just was in the grocery store. Eric reached out said the content.

See, Eric, you grew up here?

Yeah, more or less.

Here in San Diego, Carl's bed area.

There's a couple squids here. They line

up right here and uh squid come up. Look

at the saw. The poor guys at work. That

was me 20 minutes ago.

What is the shore? What are you doing?

Just back and forth to the boats.

So that's your job going out to these yachts, these bigger boats.

All of the Yeah. Or not all these, but a lot of them.

What's it cost to talk a boat here?

Smaller ones, 40, 50 bucks. The way way bigger ones will probably 129.

I can stand up. Yeah,

you can stand up. But one of these uh like let's say you wanted to buy 142 is going to be $250,000 for one of those.

This is 250.

No, no, just the buoy.

Oh, if you want to buy one of the buoys.

Okay.

You got to pay your property tax and everything. But

everything. But you pay property tax on buoys.

Yeah.

Oh wow.

That is crazy.

So, some of these people have bought their buoy. A

their buoy. A lot of pretty much all of them. And so

they just sell them like real estate, right? Like a home.

right? Like a home.

Yeah.

So these people are just coming out from the mainland partying for the day of fishing.

Uh couple days or you just sleep out here?

Yeah. You could even come for a couple hours and just head home. We got

days.

So what do you love about living out here?

It's beautiful out here.

Yeah.

You're not sitting in traffic on the way uh you know where this that the other.

You saw the traffic in the golf park.

done, you know, and it's safe. Got the

kid, you know, other than what we just saw.

Oh, that's nothing. He

That's a bar fight.

That's him and his buddies fighting. You

know, they'll be fine later on.

It's a beautiful casino, isn't it?

Place of gathering, though. The largest

ballroom, I think, in the world.

Yeah, I went in there this morning.

Beautiful, huh? So cool.

So, you know, Yeah, they built that.

They pulled barges up back in the 20s and um there's a one year of continuous pour of concrete. They built that one year.

Look at this. He's stepping on his back.

Joey.

Joey. Joey requires a lot of lacquer, you know. Oh, that's a beautiful boat.

you know. Oh, that's a beautiful boat.

That is beautiful.

Old Stevens.

That's a nice boat.

Hi, Stevens. Is that like a Chris Crab or

Stevens. Is that like a Chris Crab or something? more or less back in the day

something? more or less back in the day type bow.

What do you think the value of a bow like that is in that condition which looks great?

Depends on what he has. I don't I don't know about that one. Probably a lot but like uh let's see a normal one like that blue one coming up.

That's probably a million five.

That one back there.

Yeah. This one's probably three or four.

3 million. 4 million.

Yeah. Oh, easy.

Yeah. They got motors, electronic, everything. A lot of stuff that goes

everything. A lot of stuff that goes through that.

This one's beautiful. Look at this.

Look at the lines are beautiful.

The lines are stunning. Sort of matched the casino a little bit. That style.

The casino kind of looks like the forum but chopped the top of it off.

He's fishing.

He fishing. Yeah,

it's still working out here for fishing.

Still working. Yeah. Making making it work. Keeping the lights on. Nobody's

work. Keeping the lights on. Nobody's

getting rich on it. But you know, if you want to put the good thing about commercial fishing is you don't cut your corners. If you're cheating, you're only

corners. If you're cheating, you're only cheating yourself. It's cool. And you do

cheating yourself. It's cool. And you do that and into life and everything and it all works out. You halfass it together and everything. You're not going to

and everything. You're not going to catch fish. You're not going to make

catch fish. You're not going to make money in the wrong business. So or your boat's going to sink or a lot of you can't you can't halfass it.

Don't halfass it. Yeah. You're going to halfass it. Go sit on a wherever

halfass it. Go sit on a wherever wherever else you want to work.

So, your buddy will take the fish in, sell them to K or Caleb or whoever else.

Sell them here.

Uh-huh.

To one of the restaurants.

One of the restaurants. Yeah.

Steve's getting fresh fish.

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Okay. I just ate there.

Oh, it's good, huh?

Nice guy.

Very nice guy. I grew up with his kids.

His kids five generations here.

Yeah. And then they had kids, too.

Pre-wriggley family.

Yeah. Long time. I own this boat before CO co killed that mother.

Why? Fishing went down or what?

Everything went down. I had to trim the fat. I tried to get too fancy.

fat. I tried to get too fancy.

She was fun though.

She's no slouch, so she makes Yeah, she got her fishing game numbers. She

earns a living.

And that's my boat.

That's your boat.

And look at the blue heron. How pretty

that is.

Oh, that's a way to shut it down. What a

great day. Yeah,

sun's going down.

Thanks for that little cruise. I didn't

get the water perspective today, so you made it happen.

Yeah, I got I got Peter, you're a good man, brother.

You're a good man. Thank you.

Anytime. Come see me on the shore boat.

I appreciate it.

Come back here.

I appreciate it.

We'll go when you have more time. We'll

go down the coast and we'll dig around and that would be sick.

Maybe go fish in a little bit.

I would love that.

Yeah. Come back.

Take care. at the inland Johnny Q's festival and then we'll we'll go out on the coast.

Later to meet you, brother.

You too.

Later.

Really a nice vibe here. I got to say I got to say my last takeaway is um you never know until you go. I know I've said that many of times, but this is Los

Angeles County. And I bet 99.9 out of

Angeles County. And I bet 99.9 out of 100 would say no, it's not. And yes, it is. So that's the wild interesting world

is. So that's the wild interesting world we live in. Catalina Island. Beautiful

place. Check it out. Till the next one.

[Music]