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El Dorado County - A Wild Ride Through Gold Country

Dyana Carmella:
When it comes to locations, there are countless hidden gems in the state of California that really feed the need of both film productions and just the weekend warrior. El Dorado County is one of those hidden areas that is so vastly rich in history, so much so that the county fueled most of the population and growth within the state of California starting in the 1800s. When you spend time here, it's a place where ideas and creativity really get harnessed.

Dyana Carmella:
The heartbeat of El Dorado is Coloma, a small town that butts up next to the south fork of the American River. This is where settlers discovered gold in 1848, which spawned the state's gold rush. The town looks untouched from its early years and has really kept the historical integrity of its structures.

Dyana Carmella:
Next, you move to the small town Placerville, which was originally part of the Pony Express, the mail carrier system that ran from Sacramento to St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1860. Within Placerville, you could stumble into buildings with enough history to fill a textbook, like Hangman's Tree Ice Cream Saloon and Placerville Hardware, which is the oldest hardware store west of the Mississippi, that dates back to 1852.

Kathleen Dodge:
El Dorado County starts coming in off of Highway 50, kind of low elevation, and we have a residential, beautiful community called El Dorado Hills. And then we go into the river canyons, and so we're at really low elevations and river canyons. It's so diverse, because then we move up to our orchards and our vineyards, and before we know it, we're in those majestic Sierras in Tahoe. It's extremely diverse, and I feel like we have a little bit of everything. We've actually been the Audubon before. We'll be big skies, different states, Montana. It's very, very diverse.

Dyana Carmella:
Located up the road on the historical Highway 49 on Pleasant Valley Road is Poor Red's, an award-winning barbecue pit stop.

Dean Hiatt:
The original building, which has the bar and the dining area, that was built around 1853, 1854 as a way station for Wells Fargo. It basically where the folks brought their gold from Coloma. We're sitting directly on the original Lincoln Highway, which was the first predominant road across the U.S. Highway 49 is the 49 Gold Rush Highway. If you've ever been to Disneyland, everything in California pictures is all Highway 49. There's street signs everywhere. That's this area right here. That is right here. That's our history. We look like a podunk biker stop in the middle of nowhere. But as soon as you walk in, your expectation is going to be elevated from the fresh local products, the quality of food, the amount of passion that every line cook in that kitchen puts on every plate.

Dyana Carmella:
El Dorado also plays to the modern times with the El Dorado Hills Town Center, an open-aired mall with fountains and European-inspired architecture. Throughout the surrounding areas, you can find Spielberg-like neighborhoods, as well as contemporary, rural, modern, and rustic buildings. One of the homes we spotlighted was Casa Bella Verde. This home is a concrete palace that sits on a hill overlooking the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Briana Alhadeff:
I designed it myself and then I built it with my partner, Nicholas Nikiforuk. It's definitely an open floor plan. We have over 14,000 square feet of house. There's three floors, so there's a lot of staging opportunities. There's a spectacular 230-foot curved, vanishing edge swimming pool that overlooks a breathtaking view of the Sierra Nevada. This house would be perfect for a big action film. It's just perfect for that.

Dyana Carmella:
We visited a couple of the wineries that are part of the El Dorado Winery Association, which includes around 40 wineries. The first one was Miraflores. The winery has a really strong, Mediterranean vibe mixed perfectly with that gold country feel. When you step inside, you look up and you see these spectacular wood beams that were salvaged from the Oakland Ferry Building, torn down in 1936. Next is Boeger Winery, the first modern day prohibition winery and El Dorado.

Lexi Boeger:
Well, a good description of our historic property would be that you have a mix of textures from really historic buildings, old stone, hand-built walls, old barns that are sort of dilapidated a little bit, rustic, old tin roofs. But at the same time we have right next to that modern day winery where you've got stainless steel and industrial stuff and a modern tasting room, so we have a nice mix of the old and the new all in one location.

Lexi Boeger:
And then we have really interesting, steep hillsides all around us, so the vineyards are not big and flat like you would see in a lot of regions. There's nooks and crannies with old time vines that are pruned in really neat ways where the vines can be kind of gnarly.

Lexi Boeger:
The room I'm in right now is a replication of a historic blacksmith shop. It was used from the Gold Rush era barns that we used to have here, so all of the materials that it's made out of are from the Gold Rush era. El Dorado is dive bars, renegade scene, wild outdoor experience and super unique, funky, fun, beautiful place.

Dyana Carmella:
As you move east, you hit Apple Hill with dozens of orchards, open agricultural land and apple barns. We visited two of these apple barns, including Larsen and Rainbow Orchards. As we made our way out to South Lake Tahoe, we stumbled into the Ice House Resort Restaurant. This is one of my top favorite intimate locations on the entire California locations tour. You have the 22-mile long Rubicon Trail, which passes right through the El Dorado National Forest and the Tahoe National Forest.

Kathleen Dodge:
El Dorado County is your perfect action-adventure location, because we have everything from the Sierras, the mountains in Tahoe, alpine lakes, just everywhere, alpine lakes. Almost every day of the year you can either go snow-skiing or water-skiing, because we're so diverse. From whitewater rafting to biking, hiking, mountain-biking, skiing, jet-skiing, kayaking, you can do it all here.

Dyana Carmella:
We drifted to the east side of the county to South Lake Tahoe. When you hit the shorelines, you find yourself in the hardy woods of Camp Richardson. Then we visit AleWorX for dinner, which was the most ingenious way to serve beer on tap with just a wristband. They have this fiery oven that is so stunning, because it's made out of pennies. At the end of the day, you find yourself flying over South Lake Tahoe, and the stillness of it is breathtaking.

Dyana Carmella:
El Dorado is famous for Emerald Bay, but really any part of South Lake Tahoe is poetically stunning during any season. El Dorado is a place where you really feel alive. As a filmmaker, that energy could really illuminate any project. El Dorado can really bring to life any script that chooses to utilize its unforgettable locations.

Elevate to El Dorado County

Okay. Maybe we haven't been shouting it from the rooftops, but it's time you knew that our future is bright. We may be a little modest about our hidden treasures. But stay awhile. We've got some wisdom to share on how to enjoy what really matters in life. We are developing some of the brightest minds in the country, and our leadership team is at the table, ready to be a partner in your success. Oh, yeah, we're also where the whole world comes to play. You know, we don't shout it from the mountaintops, but maybe we should. Elevate to El Dorado.

Placer County Locations: 90 Feet to 9,000 Feet in 90 Minutes

Dyana Carmella:
When you first show up to Placer County, you're not only greeted with some incredible filming locations, but you begin to dive really deep into California's history.

Beverly Lewis:
Placer County covers a lot of different terrain. We start in the Central Valley where it's flat like the Midwest, and we go up into the gold rush country in the foothills and the low Sierra. And as you continue East on Interstate 80, you get up to the high Sierra and Lake Tahoe. You can shoot from 90 feet to 9,090 minutes going across our county.

Dyana Carmella:
We start our journey in Lincoln, at one of America's oldest and largest ceramic factories, Gladding McBean, which was founded in 1875, right after the Civil War, by Charles Gladding. This was easily one of my favorite locations to spotlight, not just in Placer, but in all of California.

Joe Parker:
We sit on 63 acres and 29 acres is under cover. Just north of the plant is about 200 acres of mud mines, where we get our material from. If you're interested in ceramics for artisan purposes or for infrastructure, this is like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Her history in this country is extremely deep. Very rich. You go to any major city and look at a high-rise with terra cotta on it, Gladding had been had a part of it. If you really want to create something unique, you can create it here. We're not saying come here just to create a film or do a commercial. We want you to come here and take advantage of the fact that you can create art.

Dyana Carmella:
In the foothills, you have Auburn with two historic districts. The first one is Old Town, Auburn. What stood out for me were the multiple levels, incredible dimension and texture the town has. This district reflects true authenticity. In a small proximity, you have a shack constructed during the Gold Rush, and then down the street, you have a Queen Anne style firehouse. And then, the courthouses sprawled up into the sky. At the other end of town is Downtown Auburn, a Norman Rockwell townscape built between the 1880s and the 1940s. Today, the streets are filled with restaurants and boutiques. It can easily pass for a street anywhere in middle America.

Beverly Lewis:
We have a lot of high-tech companies in our county, and you wouldn't think about that. Lake Tahoe, it's snow, it's lakes, it's mountains, it's natural terrain. And a lot of them have actually spent money on their architecture, and the William Jessup University is one of those.

Dyana Carmella:
Located in Rocklin, William Jessup University was once a Herman Miller Distribution Center and designed by internationally-acclaimed architect, Frank Gehry, who designed incredible spaces, including the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. You have this perfect lines with a heavy splash of vivid color. It was stunning. The structure is unlike anything you would expect to find in this area.

Dyana Carmella:
Moving East towards North Lake Tahoe, we tackled Iowa Hill road located in Iowa Hill. This was one of the most insane curvatures of road I've ever seen in real life. Driving in the car, you really feel it, but as soon as you get a bird's-eye view, that visual impact is so dynamic. I would love to take this turn in a race car.

Dyana Carmella:
We crossed over forest Hill, California's highest. Next stop was the infamous Tunnel Chute on the Middle Fork of the American River. This is a class five rapid that shoots you on the ground for a hundred feet. The shoot is not a natural structure. Miners actually diverted the river in 1860 so they can search for gold in a stretch known as Horseshoe Bar. Over 60 films and television shows have used the Tunnel Chute in their projects.

Beverly Lewis:
We're at one of the classic Tahoe homes. Dates back from the 1920s and it features an absolutely beautiful Adirondack east coast style boathouse and pier. Featured in A Place in the Sun with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Cliff, is an upstate New York vacation home and it looks exactly the way it did when they shot it.

Dyana Carmella:
Right before we hit North Lake Tahoe, we stopped at White Wolf, prestigious 460-acre private ski mountain in the winter, and then transformed into hiking trails, woods, and a lake in the summer. You were surrounded by the majesty of some of the state's most stunning landscapes.

Dyana Carmella:
When you hit North Lake Tahoe, the magic really kicks into high gear. Speedboat Beach with the rocks that looked like they were just dropped in the lake from the sky, the aqua blue water goes on for miles and miles.

Dyana Carmella:
We visited three restaurants along Lake Tahoe shoreline in Placer County. Gar Woods, which was super rugged and can pass for any eatery on any coast in the country. You have deer antlers hanging from the ceiling as a chandelier.

Dyana Carmella:
Then, you have West Shore Market, an intimate deli store situated along the west shore of Lake Tahoe. Finally, we have Chambers Landing, which is this beautiful nod to the history of dining and adventure on Lake Tahoe, with a dock that sprawls down every direction on the turquoise water.

Beverly Lewis:
If your production is looking for a wide variety of locations, whether it's urban, suburban, or natural terrain, if you want a four season location, if you want to find locations between 90 feet to over 9,000 and you can drive to all of those within 90 minutes and stay in the same county and fly in and out at either end of that county, Placer County should be your first choice.

Dyana Carmella:
It's really hard to put Placer County into words because it represents so much. So much feeling and beauty. The history and diversity of this county is so profound and unique, not only to the state of California, but the rest of the country as well.

California’s Best Kept Secret

Sacramento Resident 1:
Growing up in the Bay area, I didn't know, Sacramento - like really know what Sacramento had to offer. What surprised me the most is just that there's just so much talent, so much creativity, so much drive and so much passion. I feel like we're in the middle of so much. We're always thinking, "Hey, let's go to Napa, get an Airbnb or stay in Tahoe." We're surrounded by so many different adventures. You can get to the beach in 90 minutes. You can get to the mountains to ski in 90 minutes. And if you don't want to go that far, you don't have to, but you can take that Bay Area level income, and it goes so much farther.

Sacramento Resident 2:
Sacramento is the perfect place. There's a lot of young talent here.

Sacramento Resident3:
I think being a young professional here works. It feels like the right vibe. You have the opportunity to really make an impact on the city and you become part of the foundation of the city itself.

Sacramento Resident 4:
It's thriving, super creative, really innovative. Sacramento is a little more progressive and forward thinking. It's the secret that never got out. Sacramento has the tendency to love certain things. You support and love Sacramento, Sacramento will support and love you back.

Sacramento Resident 5:
A lot of people that live around us, they're architects or designers, big creative types that were probably in the Bay area, 10 years or 15 years ago. I think Sacramento is growing very dynamically in a big way that a lot of people don't realize yet.