Orange County and the SoCal Challenge | A Relaxed Drift by the Pacific

In Orange County, CA with Nima Kharrazi, Marco welcomes guest Nima Kharrazi for a gently meandering tour through the sun-soaked landscapes of Orange County. Rather than a high-energy travel guide, this episode unfolds as a calm, reflective conversation about the varied terrain of Southern California — from coastal views to mountain trails and desert expanses. Nima shares what makes the region feel dynamic yet surprisingly peaceful, painting a soft picture of life in the OC.
The discussion drifts into the idea of the “SoCal Challenge,” an adventurous exploration of the area’s geography — hiking, surfing, and discovering the quieter corners of the landscape. They also touch on local culture, food, and entertainment, highlighting the relaxed charm that defines much of Southern California. The tone remains easygoing and companionable, never rushed.
As always, this calming podcast is designed to help you fall asleep, ease anxiety, or quiet racing thoughts. It’s perfect for background listening at bedtime or during a middle-of-the-night wake-up — a gentle West Coast breeze carried through soft conversation.

Orange County and the SoCal Challenge

(Original airdate: Nov 30, 2023) 
Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax and listen as we have a calm conversation about the ordinary, mundane or, um, for some people, uninteresting things. A lot of people like to use this podcast M to find their way to sleep, but a lot of our listeners have been reaching out saying that it Helps them with anxiety. So I'm so happy to hear that as well. If you have friends who are, you know, feeling a bit of stress, recommend this podcast to them and see if it helps them. I'm your host, Marco Timpano, and this podcast today, this episode, I should say, is one of the things I've been talking about for a while. That's kind of a dream that has come true. Uh, you've heard this voice before. A dear friend, Nima Kharrazi. Welcome back to the podcast.

Nima Kharrazi Thank you so much, Marco.

Marco:  The reason I'm so excited is we're recording face to face.

Nima Kharrazi Oh, yeah.

Marco:  In the same room.

Nima Kharrazi That's right.

Marco:  In Los Angeles. In Santa Clarita to be exact. Because we talked about Santa Clarita on an episode prior.

Nima Kharrazi That's right.

Marco:  But, uh, our Patreon listeners will know this because they watched a video of this happening. Uh, we had to book a last minute flight to come into Las Vegas to drive into Los Angeles because Amanda had a premiere of the movie that she's in Thanksgiving that we've mentioned on the podcast before. And it was at this beautiful theater called the Vista Theater that Quentin Tarantino now owns. And it's one of those 1920s, um, theater with just one movie screen.

Nima Kharrazi Oh, yeah.

Marco:  And the art deco. And it was just wonderful. And it was a wonderful premiere. But we weren't certain that was going to happen because there was a strike prior that ended just in time for them to say, if you can come to la, come to the premiere. And that's what we did. And we're very grateful because we have dear friends here in la and that's Nima and Michelle. And now I'm sitting here with you, Nima. Thank you.

Nima Kharrazi This is so great. I love. This is, I think, the second time that we've recorded in person. And the first time was in Utah in Salt Lake City. And so this is my home turf. And now I can't wait to reciprocate the favor and record with you in Toronto someday.

Marco:  Uh, anytime. You guys are welcome. We tend to show up at Nima and Miracle's door, Michelle and Miracle's door, and just knock and say, hey, we're here. And they're like, what? Or we'll send them a text. We're in Los Angeles. Can we crash at your place?

Nima Kharrazi Yeah, yeah. It's awesome.

Marco:  You guys are always so gracious. I love it and have such a beautiful home.

Nima Kharrazi Oh, thank you. You're kind.

Marco:  No, I'm not. I'm actually not a kind person. I'm glad to hear that. So, since I am in Los Angeles.

Nima Kharrazi Yeah.

Marco:  And our listeners might not know this, but I'm constantly talking to Nima, um, over certain apps and whatnot, communication apps. And I'm always asking, where's this area in relation to this area in la? So I have a couple of areas of la. I don't know if you call them areas, but like zones or hamlets. Hamlets of LA that people tend to know. I'm gonna ask you, and you tell me something about that place, why you would go if there's an interesting coffee shop or something interested in these areas. And I'm just gonna randomly pick from a map.

Nima Kharrazi Okay.

Marco:  Does that work for you?

Nima Kharrazi That works. Great.

Marco:  Fantastic. And if there's an area that you want to talk about that I don't mention, hey, I'm cool. Just let's rap about it, I guess.

Nima Kharrazi Yeah.

Marco:  So I'm gonna start with Beverly Hills.

Nima Kharrazi Oh, yeah. So Beverly Hills. Uh, so I'm gonna start with this caveat.

Marco:  Yeah.

Nima Kharrazi So Michelle Miracle, my wife, the lovely Michelle, as I call her, she is going to be so critical of this episode because I grew up in the South Bay and Orange County. I've only been in LA for the last maybe four years or five years. So maybe. Sorry, maybe seven years. So I haven't really gotten too much around. And when you live in O.C. orange county, you tend to not spend a lot of time up in the LA area because everything that. That you need is in Orange County. I see. So I don't have a lot of experience here except for like maybe driving to LAX or maybe going to like, one or two cities. So most of my experience here is in the last, like less than a decade.

Marco:  So if I'm getting this right, ah, most of your life has been LA adjacent.

Nima Kharrazi Yeah, yeah.

Marco:  In Orange County.

Nima Kharrazi Yeah.

Marco:  Which is a large area, huge area. And where you have all your needs.

Nima Kharrazi Right.

Marco:  So there's only certain reasons you would come into Los Angeles property. Is that fair?

Nima Kharrazi That's right.

Marco:  Um, so then let me peel back a second.

Nima Kharrazi Okay.

Marco:  I. If someone's never been to Orange County.

Nima Kharrazi Okay.

Marco:  What would be three things you would say? Here's what you need to do.

Nima Kharrazi Oh, see, that's good because Orange county starts in like, Brea and La Habra and then goes all the way down to like, Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano. Uh, so you have so much coastal from Huntington beach to Seal beach to you have all the way down to Newport beach, which is so fancy in schmancy.

Marco:  And that's where the cigarettes were named after. That's not that we should, not that I promote cigarettes. But you know, I remember like on the back of my mom's magazines, there'd always be an ad for Newport Cigarettes.

Nima Kharrazi Ah.

Marco:  And so. And there was always like, you know, stylish people in a fancy car near the beach smoking cigarettes. I don't. This podcast does not recommend smoking cigarettes. But, you know, that's my association. If I think Newport. Yeah, I think Newport cigarettes.

Nima Kharrazi So, yeah. So new. So. Yeah. So Newport Beaches is really big. And then there's, uh, Balboa Pavilion. But here's what I would say that the big three places in Orange county you should go to Anaheim and not just Anaheim, because Disneyland is there. Disneyland is there. Sure. But there's just a lot of really good food and a lot of really fun places to go see in Anaheim. Uh, so that would be something great to go and visit. And there's, there's some, I mean, there's some fine dining. There's some great steakhouses out there. Morton's is out there. Houston's is out there. So that's really nice. Uh, the second thing I would say is go to Newport beach.

Marco:  Okay.

Nima Kharrazi And Newport beach is, is again, very fancy and schmancy. And it has like this really great, um, resort out there called Pelican Hill, which is a gorgeous resort that has this beautiful ocean view and these huge villas and casitas. And it's just amazing. The food is incredible and the people are nice.

Marco:  And do they smoke a lot?

Nima Kharrazi They do not. It's a non smoking facility, like this podcast. And then right next to Newport beach is a little town called Laguna Beach.

Marco:  Oh, I've heard of Laguna Beach.

Nima Kharrazi And Laguna beach has a bunch of things. It has this really fun little cutesy art area. It has a bunch of like, uh, little, um, like, uh, they have like little art studios that you can go and visit art galleries. You can go and visit little gelato places and little foodie spots, little hotels that you. The back door of the hotel goes out to the sand.

Marco:  Are there knickknack shops? So I don't know if you know this about me aplenty, Amanda. Anytime there's, uh, like a store that has a lot of vases or things that let's say an older British woman would love. Those are the stores I could spend hours in. And she's like, I watch you. She was like, watch you in these stores. And you're picking up candlestick holders and you're turning them over and you're looking at them, or you're picking up vases and you're feeling the weight of them when. Or salt and pepper shakers or candle snuffers or things like that. And she's like, you're in a different world. You look like a different person. You're, like, hypnotized. Uh, and so I used to buy a lot of those things, and then I end up with these things in my home, and I'm like, I don't need another candle snuffer or salt and pepper shaker. So now I'm allowed to go in and really admire. But it has to be something that's like, okay, this we can use necessity, but Amanda just lets me go in. So you're saying there's a lot of knickknack stores.

Nima Kharrazi There's a lot of knickknack stores. Although I will say San Diego has some of the best little. Like, you'll go into a place, and they'll have, uh, bonsai trees, and then they'll have, like, all the little accoutrements that you need for it. Sure. And then they'll also have, like, uh, Dara Moody dolls, and they'll. And then the. The shop next door is like, um, succulents and air plants. And then the store next to that has, like. That's really neat.

Marco:  What's a Daramootie doll?

Nima Kharrazi So this is a very interesting Japanese thing in that it's a doll that, if you. If you try to tip it over, it writes itself like a Weeble.

Marco:  Weeble Wobble, but they don't fall down.

Nima Kharrazi M. It is exactly like a Weeble Wobble. But the Japanese tradition with this doll is because it keeps getting back up. It comes with a painted face, but only, uh, with no eyes. Okay. So the eyes are white. So what you do is you color in one eye. Color in one pupil of the eye. Then you make a wish that I want to finish this podcast by the end of the year. I want to introduce this new podcast by the beginning of next year.

Marco:  Sure.

Nima Kharrazi And that doll sits on the wall in a spot that is constantly looking at you.

Marco:  Okay.

Nima Kharrazi And until you don't fulfill your wish, you can't give that doll its second eye.

Marco:  Okay. Okay.

Nima Kharrazi But it's paper mache, or as some people say, papierre mache.

Marco:  I like that.

Nima Kharrazi So then when it's done, you're supposed to set it on fire.

Marco:  Okay.

Nima Kharrazi But we just throw it away.

Marco:  I see.

Nima Kharrazi And some people keep it. Okay. But I will. One more thing. Of course, in this town, of Santa Clarita. Marco, I didn't know that about you that you love knickknacks so much. We have an antique museum.

Marco:  Oh, my goodness.

Nima Kharrazi It's just down the street.

Marco:  Okay.

Nima Kharrazi And we're doing nothing tomorrow. All right, so we're gonna go.

Marco:  All right, stay tuned, folks. You might hear another podcast about what, what I explore in the Knickknack Museum. I'll definitely take a little video and post it on the Patreon for them so that they can see both of us and see what happens to me. Now, you mentioned San Diego, but San Diego is not part of Orange County. It's its own.

Nima Kharrazi It's its own county.

Marco:  Yeah. And how far from LA of a drive is San Diego? Is it two hours?

Nima Kharrazi So from North OC To San Diego, it's about two hours. So from. We're pretty much, uh, North L. A.

Marco:  Right.

Nima Kharrazi So it'd be probably three and a half hours.

Marco:  Yeah. Because I've driven to San Diego from L. A many years ago. I interrupted you. We were in Newport Beach.

Nima Kharrazi That's right.

Marco:  I took you.

Nima Kharrazi And then Laguna Beach.

Marco:  And Laguna Beach. So, so continue.

Nima Kharrazi So Laguna beach not only has a lot of great little art galleries and all that stuff, but it also has these really great little kind of bay areas where you can go snorkeling or scuba diving. And it has these. Our state fish in California is the garibaldi, which is this really bright orange, big kind of heavy fish. And it's so pretty. And we have.

Marco:  Can you eat it?

Nima Kharrazi Yeah. You can? Uh, I don't know. I think you can. I think you can. I think it's edible, but I don't think you can actually. I don't think it's legal to hunt it in California.

Marco:  So I can't go to a place and say, I want fish and chips, but I want the garabaldi.

Nima Kharrazi I want garibaldi fish and chips. Yeah, that's not. I don't think that's not gonna work. But that. But. So Laguna has a lot of that. And they're like super hippie dippy out there. So they're constantly protesting something. And so it's great. You just see these like everybody from 20 year olds to 80 year olds just, they're just standing out there with their signs, um, and they're smoking their hand rolled cigarettes and they're just having a blast.

Marco:  All right, so you mentioned Laguna Beach.

Nima Kharrazi Yeah.

Marco:  You mentioned Newport, which I think has

Nima Kharrazi a beach as well.

Marco:  You're a kid from O.C. you know O.C.

Nima Kharrazi yeah.

Marco:  If you were to go to a beach, where would you and your friends or family, like, we're going to the beach. We're going to this beach.

Nima Kharrazi Okay. So it depends on what you want to do.

Marco:  Okay.

Nima Kharrazi So if you want to go and have a bonfire.

Marco:  Yes.

Nima Kharrazi You're going to have a bonfire in Huntington Beach.

Marco:  Okay.

Nima Kharrazi Because there's a lot of fire pits and there's a lot of areas for you to go and do that.

Marco:  And Huntington beach is in O.C. or in LA.

Nima Kharrazi It's in O.C.

Marco:  okay. Sorry.

Nima Kharrazi There's not really any beaches in LA. I mean, I'll get a lot of flack for that. There's a lot of beach cities like Manhattan Beach, Venice, Manhattan Hermosa, uh, Venice, Redondo. Uh, you're gonna have Malibu. Those are. Those are all, like. Santa Monica has a beach. Those are all beach, like cities with beaches or beach cities. But I don't know if you would. I wouldn't really consider them like a beach that. A beach that you don't actually go into the water and. Doesn't really feel like a beach to me. So Laguna, you get in the water and it's wonderful because there's no waves. It's like a bay.

Marco:  Okay, so Laguna is where you go to swim.

Nima Kharrazi Yeah. Newport, too. Newport, too, because they put breakers out so the waves don't hit Huntington. You go to surf and bonfire.

Marco:  And I thought Huntington beach was a fancy, expensive area.

Nima Kharrazi Oh, God, no.

Marco:  Oh, it's not.

Nima Kharrazi No, no. I mean, any beach town in Cali is going to be expensive. Okay. Uh, but no, Newport is going to be. Newport and Laguna are going to be the most expensive in Oscar.

Marco:  Hence the cigarettes. Fancy, right?

Nima Kharrazi Right? Yeah, that's right. Okay, so all that cigarette money.

Marco:  So you go to, um, Huntington for bonfires. You go to Newport or Laguna for swimming. For swimming, water activities. Where do you go for the sunset? You have a special somebody.

Nima Kharrazi You have to go to LA for that.

Marco:  Oh, really?

Nima Kharrazi So that's where you go to, like, San Pedro or Palos Verdes, because it's a peninsula. Yeah. You can get more of the sunset, more of the ocean view of the sun setting. Because in Cali, the sun sets in the west, but you can almost see the sun rise off of the water in California because the peninsula is facing south. Uh, okay. Does that make sense?

Marco:  Yeah, it does.

Nima Kharrazi So you can almost see the sun rise off of the water and see the sun set into the water, which is a very rare thing to be able to witness.

Marco:  I, uh, remember you telling me something where it's like, I want to spend a day where I. Can you remind me what that was?

Nima Kharrazi It was the SoCal challenge. Okay, so you want to, like, tell us this. Watch the sunrise on the beach, and then go to the mountains and do a hike, and then go to the deserts and do a hike in the deserts, and then go back to that beach and watch the sunset.

Marco:  And this is called what?

Nima Kharrazi The SoCal challenge.

Marco:  The SoCal Southern California challenge. Okay, so then I need to ask you this. So we're not talking about LA at all?

Nima Kharrazi No, no, we're just gonna. We're just gonna. This is all just SoCal.

Marco:  Uh, this is where. This is SoCal. And it sounds so natural when you say it, but when it comes out of my mouth, it sounds very phony because it's not something I've been saying all my life. I. I feel like I should be saying Southern California.

Nima Kharrazi You can say whatever you want. Yeah.

Marco:  Okay, so walk me through where you would do the SoCal challenge. If you're like, I'm gonna do the SoCal. This is where I start. This is where I go.

Nima Kharrazi There is an easier way to do it.

Marco:  Okay.

Nima Kharrazi If you do it in San Diego,

Marco:  it's still SoCal, right? It's still so Cal, because it's Southern California, San Diego being one of the most southern areas.

Nima Kharrazi I mean. Yeah, it's San Diego. And then you're in Mexico. Right?

Marco:  Uh, that's why I was in San Diego. I didn't want to say it because I was a younger man. And, you know, you can get up to a lot of no good in Tijuana, but. And we won't talk about that on

Nima Kharrazi this podcast, not this episode. So if you start in San Diego in the summertime, where the sun is out, the latest. Okay, if you start in San Diego and you watch the sun rise off of that beach, say, 6am 6am and then you would drive. I would drive to Joshua Tree, which is a desert, like, two hours out.

Marco:  So. So at this point, we're 8.

Nima Kharrazi 8am yeah. And then maybe we stopped for a

Marco:  coffee along the way.

Nima Kharrazi Yeah, great.

Marco:  Okay.

Nima Kharrazi So you stop for a coffee, then you go to Joshua Tree, you walk around for a little bit.

Marco:  And what's neat about Joshua Tree? If I'm not mistaken, that is the Mojave Desert.

Nima Kharrazi Correct?

Marco:  Or that's right, because only Joshua Trees. And correct me if I'm wrong, because I'm not a SoCal guy. Uh, you'll find Joshua Trees in the Mojave Desert, and you'll find Saguaro cactuses in the Sonora Desert.

Nima Kharrazi That's right.

Marco:  Okay, thank you so much.

Nima Kharrazi And Joshua trees in the. In the. In the Mojave. That the Mojave also incorporates Death Valley. Death Valley is the hottest point on Earth. Right. Not in America. Not even in North America. In the whole planet of Earth.

Marco:  Right.

Nima Kharrazi Death Valley is aptly named. And I think the highest temperature ever recorded was 134 degrees, which, to me, I know it's. This is going to sound ridiculous. It doesn't seem like it's that hot.

Marco:  No, it's hot.

Nima Kharrazi When I go in the sauna. The sauna is like, what, 170?

Marco:  Yeah, but that's like. That's controlled heat. You've got a towel, you've got water. I think it's different, but yeah, I think the. The soil or like the ground you stand on, um, makes a difference for sure. It's kind of like. It's not the heat, it's the humidity. It's not. It's not the sauna. It's the valley you're in.

Nima Kharrazi Right.

Marco:  You're slapped on all sides.

Nima Kharrazi It's also the idea that you could leave at any time versus the fact that if you were stuck in the desert at 130 degrees, you might go bananas.

Marco:  So, anyway, so we're admiring a couple of the gnarly Joshua trees.

Nima Kharrazi That's right. You're looking at those.

Marco:  Maybe we're listening to U2's album, the Joshua Tree.

Nima Kharrazi Joshua Tree album.

Marco:  That'd be great album.

Nima Kharrazi Hearing some crows.

Marco:  I should say that I've opened the door here at Anima's house, and he's like, we might hear a train. We might hear some birds. We might hear some trafficky sounds.

Nima Kharrazi We actually just missed the train. So I'm really happy about that, but. Yeah, me too. Okay. But we're going to hear some garage doors, for sure. Great. And, uh, so then we'll go to Joshua Tree. And then from Joshua Tree, I would probably go to just one of the mountains that are around there. If we wanted to get fancy, we could go to, uh, Idlewild.

Marco:  Oh, no. Okay.

Nima Kharrazi Idlewild is this little cute mountain town. And it's like. It's like, if you've ever been to, um, Golden, Colorado, if you've been. Do you remember when we went to Salt Lake City and we went to that cute little place that was like, um, on a hill where we found that little Argentine lady that was selling stuff? Yeah.

Marco:  It's a famous area. And I can't think.

Nima Kharrazi I can't Think of it. Either the Egyptian theaters right there.

Marco:  Ornament from there.

Nima Kharrazi Right.

Marco:  Um, they do a festival there, don't they?

Nima Kharrazi Sure, why not?

Marco:  Uh, what is it called? Park City.

Nima Kharrazi Park City. Utah City.

Marco:  Thank you.

Nima Kharrazi So. Thank God you figured that out. You already gotten so much flack from your Utah folks. I have.

Marco:  First of all, Utah. If I have listeners from Utah.

Nima Kharrazi Yeah.

Marco:  I gotta say, I love your state.

Nima Kharrazi I love it. Oh, um. I'm so happy you said that. I thought you were gonna go the opposite direction.

Marco:  Um, I put my hand to my heart and just think of it. It's so beautiful. If you haven't been to Utah and you're thinking, I should go to St. Moritz this winter, I say no. Not that I have anything against San Moritz. Go to Utah. It's special. It's spectacular.

Nima Kharrazi I mean, as soon as we started talking about Utah, the sun came out from behind the clouds. It's so beautiful.

Marco:  I could live in Utah.

Nima Kharrazi The only thing is, my wife, the lovely Michelle, is from Denver. And Denver people never stop talking about how it's mile high city. 5280 this, 5280 that. 5280ft in a mile. Okay, okay. They don't ever stop talking about it. Salt Lake City is just about a mile.

Marco:  Right.

Nima Kharrazi It's a secret. They don't tell anybody. I got off the plane, got to slc, and I was like, what is happening? Right. They're like, oh, we're at high elevation here. Oh, nobody told me. This is a secret. But anyway, so just.

Marco:  I don't want to offend my Denver listeners because I love Denver, too. I. It's a beautiful city, and I want to go back because I want to go to Steamboat. Um. Steamboat, uh.

Nima Kharrazi Oh, yeah.

Marco:  I've never been.

Nima Kharrazi I haven't been either.

Marco:  Colleagues, I've. Mine went there, but I met them in Aspen. This sounds so, like, bougie. But it wasn't. We had to do work. And it was like. I didn't really get to see, like, it wasn't like, party. It was like, we have to work. Anyway, so back to this.

Nima Kharrazi Idle wild.

Marco:  Idle, like idle hands and wild, like, uh, like, not tame.

Nima Kharrazi Yeah.

Marco:  Okay. Idle wild.

Nima Kharrazi So it's I, D, Y, L L and then wild. Okay, so it's idle Wild. It's this little sleepy mountain town with these cute little restaurants and these. All these little knickknack shops.

Marco:  How long does it take from Joshua park or the. The desert where we were to idle.

Nima Kharrazi Idle wild? I would say it's probably a two hour drive.

Marco:  Okay, so now eight, nine. We're about 10:00pm let's say 10:30. Just because maybe. Sorry, 10:30am um, we stopped for, like, snacks at a gas station. Okay, 10:30.

Nima Kharrazi So we're at 10:30 over in Idyllwild. We go, we grab like, a breakfast, and then we walk around the mountain area a little bit.

Marco:  What breakfast are we grabbing?

Nima Kharrazi So there's avocado toast.

Marco:  Or is it like more of a kind of Western feel where we're having, like, beans and eggs and sausage.

Nima Kharrazi Whatever you want. Because Idlewild has hipstery people that are like, I would like a grain.

Marco:  Ah.

Nima Kharrazi Free waffle pancake hybrid. A poffle, if you will.

Marco:  Listen, if you haven't had a poffle, put it on your list. Or the lumberjack.

Nima Kharrazi Or they have a lumberjack breakfast.

Marco:  Proper English breakfast. Yeah, got it.

Nima Kharrazi Okay. English slash Irish breakfast. Love it. You can drown it with a pint of Guinness. Great. So we have a little breakfast, we walk around the mountain, and then we're set to come back. So we're done there by about 11:30. 12. Come back to San Diego in about two hours.

Marco:  I'm gonna say 12, so that we have even numbers.

Nima Kharrazi Yeah.

Marco:  So now we're back in san Diego at 2.

Nima Kharrazi Great. And then we have to find something to do in San Diego for, like, you know, a few hours. A few hours before the sun sets.

Marco:  Okay, so we're in San Diego.

Nima Kharrazi Yeah.

Marco:  Where are you taking me? What are we gonna do? Because we've got some hours to kill, Marco. Okay.

Nima Kharrazi Little Italy. Really? It is. You have so many different restaurants and just the history of. I mean, I know every Little Italy is about the history and the people that were there and how. But when you have, uh. I'll give you a great example. Great. That has nothing to do with San Diego.

Marco:  Cool.

Nima Kharrazi In la, Little Armenia is now filled with Vietnamese people.

Marco:  And this is in Glendale, right?

Nima Kharrazi No, no, no, no, it's not. So Little Armenia, uh, was a section of downtown la.

Marco:  Oh, downtown.

Nima Kharrazi Downtown la. And what happened was all of the Armenians went and lived there for a while, and then they moved out of there and went to the Valley. So they then went to Glendale.

Marco:  Okay.

Nima Kharrazi And then Glendale became. Oh, well, if you're here, we're here. And then Glendale started booming. The restaurants started popping up. So then all of that happened. So all the Armenians moved out of Little Armenia.

Marco:  Okay.

Nima Kharrazi So Little Armenia now is basically like Little Vietnam.

Marco:  I see.

Nima Kharrazi Okay. But when you have a Chinatown, that's been. A Chinatown from Jump Street.

Marco:  Sure.

Nima Kharrazi That to me is more meaningful.

Marco:  Okay.

Nima Kharrazi So. So when you have a little Italy like you do in San Diego, that's been around since forever and it's a port city, that means that it's legit.

Marco:  Okay.

Nima Kharrazi Like, even a city like San Pedro, which has. It's next to La harbor, it's one of the largest ports in the world.

Marco:  Right.

Nima Kharrazi Even San Pedro doesn't have a little Italy.

Marco:  Right.

Nima Kharrazi It has almost like a Mediterranean kind of lot of like. Yeah. Different types of food. And it has Italian food and fair, but it has almost more British pubs than it has Italian dining spots. But when you have it like you do in San Diego, it's like the. All the lamppost. It's. It's almost like Mulberry street in the Bronx where the lampposts are painted red, white and green and. And every year they have the feast of, you know who.

Marco:  San Gennado. Mulberry Streets in Manhattan.

Nima Kharrazi Are you sure?

Marco:  Yes, because, um, uh, Arthur street is in the Bronx.

Nima Kharrazi Oh, okay. All right. Thank you for that. I've been.

Marco:  I've been missing, you know, that, um, RAO restaurant, uh, they make sauces. That's from Arthur street in the Bronx.

Nima Kharrazi Oh, okay.

Marco:  Because I've never been. I want to go to Arthur street in the Bronx. But I knew Mulberry street because I worked in soho many years ago.

Nima Kharrazi You know what confused me was I watched A Bronx Tale. Right. With Chaz Pomintary.

Marco:  Yeah.

Nima Kharrazi Which you, you're familiar with Chaz?

Marco:  Yes, I. Yes, I am.

Nima Kharrazi Do you know his actual name?

Marco:  I do. It's, um. They say it in the Cologero. Yeah.

Nima Kharrazi And so it's his life story, basically.

Marco:  Right.

Nima Kharrazi And so he hired a bunch of local people from there. And when he was being interviewed about the movie, he said, I wanted to do a story about growing up at the Bronx. Sure. In a neighborhood that's, you know, like Mulberry Street. And so then I just put those together, uh, that Mulberry Street's in the Bronx.

Marco:  Well, you know what we, we need to do? We need to take a trip to New York and go to Mulberry street

Nima Kharrazi and Arthur street and then compare and just enjoy.

Marco:  Contrast and compare, as they say in University. And there's some trucks coming by. Contrasting, compare. But sorry, we've gone on off tangent here because it is now about 2:33 o'. Clock. We're in little Italy in, uh, uh, San Diego. We've had a nice little meal.

Nima Kharrazi Yeah.

Marco:  What are we doing next?

Nima Kharrazi So then there's a bunch of little knickknack shops just up and down the streets over there, and the streets get kind of blocked off. I don't know if you have this. I'm sure there is, like a main street in, like, Toronto or whatever city you live in.

Marco:  High street in the UK that has,

Nima Kharrazi like, the major streets are blocked off and there's a bunch of shops and stores.

Marco:  Almost like a mall, right?

Nima Kharrazi Yeah, yeah.

Marco:  Okay.

Nima Kharrazi Like an open air street.

Marco:  Mall Avenue.

Nima Kharrazi Yeah, yeah, like a big avenue. And so that is in San Diego, they have that. So luckily, my cousin I son shout out to cousin I son, doctor a son took me and the lovely Michelle there, and we walked all up and down the streets and looked at all the different things, and it was so great and so much fun. And, uh, so then after the meal, we would walk up and down, probably go and have like a glass of vino or something.

Marco:  Love it.

Nima Kharrazi Head back to the beach and watch the sunset.

Marco:  Okay. That's wonderful.

Nima Kharrazi Yeah.

Marco:  And that was our day.

Nima Kharrazi That was our SoCal challenge.

Marco:  Wonderful challenge.

Nima Kharrazi Yeah. Yeah.

Marco:  I wanted to say the lovely Michelle is the moniker, the handle that she uses when she's on your podcast.

Nima Kharrazi Or that's.

Marco:  That's your.

Nima Kharrazi That's your thing. What do you call it? Just Miracle.

>> Speaker C: I call her.

Marco:  It's interesting because your wife's name is Michelle Miracle. That's how I know you, because I worked with your wife many years ago.

Nima Kharrazi Yeah.

Marco:  But she has such a beautiful and wonderful last name that we all started calling her Miracle.

Nima Kharrazi Yeah.

Marco:  And so friends of ours that have heard us talk about Miracle, meet Michelle and think it's her first name. And they're like, what a beautiful name. Miracle. Did your parents name you that? And she's like, oh, no, that's my last name. I've known Marco for years, and he's never said your first name.

Nima Kharrazi Right. So I had this issue because I worked with a girl named Michelle. And so when I was working with her, when I would talk to other co workers about my wife, I didn't want to say, oh, Michelle. And I went and saw a movie last night. What are you doing with this coworker? I thought you were married. So I would say, oh, my wife Miracle. And I would go, and all my friends call Miracle Miracle, of course. So I would say, oh, you know, Miracle. And I went and saw a movie, Miracle this, Miracle that. And finally one of my bosses said to me, do you. Do you refer to your wife as Miracle? Like, that's so cute. And I was like, oh, my God, that's disgusting. Imagine if I Was like my miracle wife.

Marco:  Listen, different strokes for different folks.

Nima Kharrazi But I was like, no, her last name is Miracle, and we work with a Michelle, so I didn't want to confuse anyone.

Marco:  Fair enough. Okay, before we end this episode, I need to ask you two more things about Orange County.

Nima Kharrazi Okay. Yeah.

Marco:  And then this episode's gonna trail off. 1. When you grew up in Orange county, no Doubt is from Orange County.

Nima Kharrazi Right.

Marco:  And they're like, famously from. And that's the musical band no Doubt. That was, um, the lead singer is or was Gwen Stefani.

Nima Kharrazi That's right.

Marco:  Um, and I know that their first album had her picking an orange in Orange County. Uh, did you listen to them? Was it a big thing when they became a hit when you were young. I know you were probably younger, kind of young when they became.

Nima Kharrazi I kind of caught them. I. I was. I didn't know them until they were like, into their second or third album.

Marco:  Okay.

Nima Kharrazi Um. But yeah, they were kind of like. They were kind of a. Like a ska band that. That would tour around. The interesting thing to me, yeah, they were. They were famous, but. But like, um, the White Stripes, right, Were from. Were. Were from. Uh. Well, I guess they're. I guess they were from la.

Marco:  Okay.

Nima Kharrazi But. But we would see them play. Play. Yeah, For a while in, like, little dingy park bars and pubs and stuff. That was really fun. Sure.

Marco:  Okay. My other question to you is Orange county got its name? Because I'm sure there was a plentitude of orange orchards there.

Nima Kharrazi That's right. Yeah.

Marco:  Uh, are there still orange orchards in Orange County? Where could one get. If I wanted to pick an orange from my. From a tree?

Nima Kharrazi Yeah. Ah.

Marco:  Could I do it in OC and where would I do it?

Nima Kharrazi I don't think you can anymore. They're groves, not gross orchards. Apples or orchards.

Marco:  Thank you.

Nima Kharrazi But orange groves, um, that is where it got its name. I would assume there's probably still some orange groves out there. But now the orange groves are up on your way to San Luis Obispo, which is further north than, like, Santa Barbara. So you're. You're going, like, maybe four hours north from here.

Marco:  Okay.

Nima Kharrazi To go on the coast. So there is one day when you come here for like a week.

Marco:  Right.

Nima Kharrazi We should take this. There's a. Called the. There's a train called the Pacific Surfliner. Right. And it takes you all the way from, um, from Orange county all the way up to San Luis Obispo. And we can do some wine tasting up there and back. And it's just a coastal Train. It is gorgeous. And you see the orange groves the other way to see them and smell them.

Marco:  Oh, I like this because orange blossoms are so delightful.

Nima Kharrazi Amazing.

Marco:  So delightful.

Nima Kharrazi You go to Disneyland, there's a, uh, there's a second park called California Adventure. They have a ride there at, uh, California Adventure.

Marco:  Is it part of Disneyland? California Adventure or is it's own park.

Nima Kharrazi But they're connected. Okay. And so California Adventure has a ride called Soaring. And it used to be called Soaring Over California. It would show you all the California stuff and now it's just called Soaring over the World and it shows you all these different things. And Soaring has a part where you go over the orange or the groves.

Marco:  Yeah.

Nima Kharrazi And it would, uh, spray the orange blossom smell.

Marco:  Right.

Nima Kharrazi But also we have a grove in la.

Marco:  Oh, you do?

Nima Kharrazi The grove.

Marco:  Oh, the grove, yes. Which is.

Nima Kharrazi And which is named after the orange groves.

Marco:  Okay.

Nima Kharrazi Because it was all the way up.

Marco:  Well, there you go.

Nima Kharrazi Yeah, man.

Marco:  Well, folks, thank you so much, Nima, for. You know, I start off saying we're going to talk about la, and we just had headed south to Orange county, the OC and you gave us great details. You were on the prices, right? I want to talk about that. For the Patreons.

Nima Kharrazi Oh, yeah.

Marco:  Episode. If you don't mind, let's just do a mini. So for our Patreon patron, patrons on Patreon, you're going to hear a conversation about the Price is Right. For everyone else. Thank you for listening. I hope you have a lovely rest of your day, evening or afternoon. Thank you to our listeners who've recently posted some reviews, some very positive reviews, which I will post on social media very soon. Until next time, we hope you were able to listen and sleep.