CITY OF THE BIG SURPRISE

[Music] so [Music] good evening ladies and gentlemen this is jack douglas with a brief introduction to tonight's colorful armchair vacation the city is big and rambling not as big as new york or chicago but big enough its harbor is magnificent as lovely as any on the face of the earth it is a sunny city a warm city a green city but the big surprise is that this city is probably the most underrated i repeat most underrated vacation city in all america our helicopter will be landing in a moment so may i cordially invite you to sit back relax and enjoy your armchair vacation to san diego california the city of the big surprise balboa park and we're just in time for a rehearsal i know you well enough you are senor antonio what a word i am not i know you by the wagging of your head to tell you true i'd counterfeit him you could never do him so ill well unless you were the very man here's his dry hand up and down you are he you are he that's a word i am not come come do you think we do not know you from your elegant wit can't virtue hide it so go to mom you are he graces will appear and then [Laughter] okay fine uh we won't go through this again now because i think you're all getting a little tired and i think you can uh go and get something to eat and come back in an hour and we'll start over again uh jim uh you seem to be having a little problem with that line of yours uh okay uh why don't you get out of costumes and uh now that i've seen them we don't have to work with those anymore okay uh for this evening so go and eat and i'll see you in an hour okay thank you the producing director of the globe mr craig knowle you've just witnessed a rehearsal much ado about nothing by william shakespeare here at the old globe theater in san diego this famous playhouse is a replica of an even more famous old globe theater the theater where william shakespeare wrote his plays played in them and saw them perform for the first time on the bank side of the thames some 400 years ago in england each year we perform for approximately a hundred thousand people during our winter season we play modern and avant-garde plays but each summer mr william shakespeare returns to the globe theater here in san diego and we give some 111 performances of his plays in repertory by a professional repertory company we're happy to say that william shakespeare is san diego's favorite playwright after your visit to this charming theater just follow this sign to balboa park's shining achievement the san diego zoo considered by experts the world's finest zoo and really in a class by itself listen to dr charles schroeder director of the zoo in san diego we have a very unique climate situation with this low rainfall we have a tremendous group of tourists or visitors come to the zoo and with this great number of visitors we are able to have a very fine collection in fact the largest collection of animals in the world in both numbers and in species one of the unique uh groups or exhibits in the zoo are the flamingos immediately behind us here we have all the species of flamingo known in the world we also have a fabulous group of hummingbirds from brazil 20 species represented and you can go right in with the hummers equally important is a great show of african species if you were to go to nairobi you could see these animals in this great open range of 40 square miles in nairobi and here you can see them in one minute without benefit of safari truck or car also a great pachyderm exhibit where there is no fencing of any kind open moats and you're in contact with them there are many other very unique exhibits in the zoo perhaps one that is extraordinary is the okapi and here the okapis are shown without wire in very shallow narrow modes to give a real intimate association and the okapi wasn't known before 1905 a close relative of the giraffe then we have this very famous proboscis monkey the san diego zoo is fortunate in having the only adult pair of proboscis monkeys we all look forward to seeing you as our guests in san diego and i hope this will be at an early day well sir we'll be there and we won't miss your lush rainforest cage the open-air home of hundreds of birds dozens of varieties and a multitude of colors and listen set aside at least a full day for this the greatest of all the world zoos well that stupendous san diego harbor we saw a few minutes ago will not be ignored by most vacationers best of all the harbor excursion fairs are dirt cheap a dollar two more or less for a two hour excursion san diego is strictly navy blue and gold one of the navy's most important bases and you'll see subs subtenders cruisers destroyers aircraft carriers and even this unusual looking warning radar patrol plane but if you're an incurable romantic and have a love of the sea this bark will melt your heart away the moment you see her for this is the star of india the oldest iron hulled vessel still afloat and when i say old i mean that abraham lincoln was still the president of the united states when she was launched in 1863 at the isle of man these agile youngsters have obviously fallen in love with the star of india yet little do they know of her exciting history of her service in the india trade of mutinies and the deadly hurricane off madras of the new zealand voyages carrying immigrants and her conquest repeated time and again of the treacherous waters off cape horn and she will remind you here at point loma of that distinguished portuguese navigator juan cabrillo who discovered california in 1542 incidentally this statue of cabrillo was a gift to the people of san diego from the people of portugal father sarah followed cabrillo to california more than two centuries later in the late 1770s he founded the mission san diego de alcala the first of california's many famous missions and when you visit here especially on a sunday you will not notice too much the white stucco brushed over the ancient brick more likely you will look up at the belfry to see and hear the soft sweet sound of spanish bells [Applause] [Music] a century after father sarah the old town district of san diego was the setting for one of the best known fictional marriages in literature the marriage of ramona to her indian sweetheart alessandro the courtyard is typical of old mexico another of old town's historical landmarks is the whaley house the oldest brick residence in southern california the house was built by thomas whaley and his wife anna san diego pioneers and the home was the social center of old san diego restored and refurnished the whaley house is more than just an historical museum it is one of the finest existing examples of early californiana old town has at least a few shops worth your browsing time and we're going to single out the casa de lopez one of the finest candle shops we've ever seen inside it's a wonderland of vivid colors almost as if someone had painted vertical rainbows all over the walls well the sign is cordial enough please touch the merchandise you'll love it well you'll also love the prices flame candles a dollar fifty each sea horses 250 a floral arrangement with burning tapers 10.95 but this the biggest candle in the shop is also the most expensive 450 dollars it was handmade in texas is 34 inches high and each cube was placed individually in soft wax to form the design casa de lopez the house of candles in old town [Music] our last stop in old town takes us not to a public building as the flag might suggest but to casa de pedro reno built in 1838 by don miguel de pedro reno as a home for he and his new bride today this old adobe is better known as manuel's restaurant the eating spot in old town and listen this place is really a charmer in the food mainly mexican spanish dishes is worth 10 times the price is listed on the menu really also they don't give you the rush act you can make lunch last until dinner time and it doesn't bother the waiters a bit however we're going to rush off to catch the hydrofoil boat to the sea world and this is it 22 acres of fun and amusement we're going to step ashore in just a few moments the sea world in san diego is not merely an oceanarium it has much more to offer for example two whole acres are devoted to japanese culture architecture and landscaping surrounding the pool in which a japanese pearl company actually raises cultured pearls as in japan women are used as divers and for two dollars and fifty cents one of the young ladies will dive to the bottom of the pool and return with an oyster guaranteed to contain a pearl if you wish you can have the pearl mounted on your watch ring or bracelet while you wait well to be sure the pearls are not as fine as these but they are pearls all the same the theater of the sea is quite a handsome grotto to say the least and this is where trained dolphins frolic with four young sea mates in believe it or not a three-act play this performance was just ending so we had the chance to talk with one of the sea mates miss susan hi tech welcome to the backstage of our theater of the sea i'd like to introduce you to my co-actor here homer most people are interested in how we coming out about getting these dolphins and training them for such acts as which we do in the theater of the sea here well it first starts where these bottlenose dolphins are captured from the atlantic and pacific oceans and brought to a small training area behind our laboratory here they are trained here by the the trainers themselves and the first thing they have to do is get the animals used to trainers and having a lot of people around them and it starts first where they have to get them to take food out of their hand and then bring various props such as a hoop or something up to the trainer they thoroughly learn the theater routine back there in the training area before they are actually brought to the theater what's really a lot of fun though is when we're going through our routine with the dolphin our first act has nothing to do with the dolphin just underwater ballet with the girls but of course being this is their home here they feel that we must give them all of their attention and our attention to them people just don't realize how lovable these animals really are they want all your attention and so much affection to the point where they could just wear you out and they seem to never get tired of people you know when i was a little girl i always thought it would be exciting to be an actress but i never realized i'd have so much fun doing an act here with the dolphin in the theater of the sea thank you susan there are many other attractions of the sea world and of these tuxedo junction is a favorite of the younger children a trained penguin show [Music] the hotel del coronado is just one of the many fine places to stay while you're vacationing in san diego and its golden yellow elevator is a nostalgic flashback to the good old days and the coronado's manager mr carlton lichty filled us in on some of the hotel's colorful history good evening i'd like to tell you a bit about the hotel del coronado this queen of the pacific was built in 1888 by two land developers mr story and mr babcock who developed the island of coronado and built the hotel very successfully this hotel has the finest dining room and the most beautiful dining room i think in the country the crown room she was put together by japanese coulee labor with wooden hand dowels in the ceiling you'll find no nails or steel screws keeping the ceiling up the lights in this room are the first incandescent electric lights in a hotel in the united states thomas edison journeyed here to make the installation the victorian lounge where we're sitting now has been here for many years it's a fine little intimate room for the guests of the hotel and then we go to the lower level for the final casino bar which has been there for 75 years and they find old wood it makes it one of the nicest places to visit in the late afternoon immediately adjoining that is the dancing room the ocean terrace on our swimming pool area we have an interesting thing about that this pool is an olympic-sized pool and the water is salt water that comes right from the sea daily is drained each night in a pool of scrub and the next morning heated filtered fresh salt water comes back in the guests really enjoy that another highly recommended vacation spa is ocean house here's a view of the exterior of the bar in the shape of a ship's bow and where are all the men well they were standing right behind our cameras girl watching this now is part of the golf course adjoining a hotel that calls itself america's most exciting and inviting well be that as it may vacation village on west mission bay is something to write home about 43 acres resembling a tropical island small picturesque bridges crisscross freshwater lagoons and the village even has its own marina for private or rented guest boats and skips actually we came to the vacation village to see and hear a young singer from vietnam starring in the hotels barefoot bar her name is miss bach yen and listen that she introduces in english a song from her native vietnam heroes means winter night it is the song about a man far from home as he keeps near to the fire in the cold night and he thinks of the day he will be with his family again [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] me them don't call [Music] [Applause] in the hours of midnight blue san diego gives the appearance of being a city that can't make up its mind whether to call it quits or stay up all night it has the expected number of cocktail bars lounges fine restaurants serving a variety of foreign cuisines and it has mickey finn's one of the gayest of the gay 90s spots west of chicago you put another nickel in and that old old nickelodeon sounds as good as new the blonde hostess is miss mickey finn her husband fred named the honky tonk after her but anyway here's a nickel's worth of music from way back when [Music] in the main salon which sounds a bit nicer than saloon mickey doubles on the banjo hubby fred pounds out the beat on the 88 and the customers whoop it up at mickey finn's you know everybody even if you don't know anybody in other words it's a nice place [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] well now it's time to go home to leave a vacation land that deserves far more fame than it has received in the past flying back in a helicopter over some of the places we have visited a very elementary thought came to my mind san diego is very much a part of america and america is the gift god gave the world a world that may come to know america as we know it including of course the city of the big surprise