, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la ♪ >> you've probably heard about it. you may even have a pretty solid image in your head of what it looks like, what it is like. or, maybe, you can't picture it at all. the south bronx sounds familiar, as a bad thing. and the bronx, at one time, was said to be "burning," wasn't it? for the most part, the bronx is overlooked, the never visited borough in new york city, which is a shame because the bronx is a magical place with its own energy, its own food, vibe, and rhythm. you've been to brooklyn. maybe it's time you took a look at the bronx. >> lloyd: in august of 1973, the sister of dj kool herc was holding a birthday party for herself in the basement of 1520 sedgwick avenue. as kool herc was playing the music on his two-disc turntable, he began to slow the music down, slow the record. people stood up and took notice and then began asking him to do it again. he did it again. they asked him to do it again, and again. he did it again. he attracted more and more people to his performances a

la la ♪ sha la la la la la ♪ sha la la la la ♪ sha la la la la la la >> cuba has been sitting here half an hour away, basically giving the biggest superpower in the world the stiff middle finger. 50-plus years of animosity, embargo, rationing, and fidel castro is still hanging on. but recently, there are powerful indications that everything is about to change. we are in a little fishing town. this place is where two brothers go out and fish every morning and bring fresh seafood. >> humble fishing village, traditional fishing family? >> yes. >> what about the sushi? what's going on in this country, man? >> things are changing, anthony, what can i say? >> my name is hugo. i was born in cuba. i was in one of cuba's most prominent schools when i made a joke about president fidel castro. i was a teenager. the kid that slept on the bunk bed on top of me recorded our conversation and i was expelled from school. my mom said the only choice is for us to leave cuba. i'm a businessman. i've lived in miami 35 years. it's my home base. i come back and forth to cuba. i've been coming to cuba for

la la ♪ sha la la la la la ♪ sha la la la la ♪ sha la la la la la la >> cuba has been sitting herer away, basically giving the biggest superpower in the world the stiff middle finger. 50-plus years of animosity, embargo, rationing, and fidel castro is still hanging on. but recently, there are powerful indications that everything is about to change. we are in a little fishing town. this place is where two brothers go out and fish every morning and bring fresh seafood. >> humble fishing village, traditional fishing family? >> yes. >> what about the sushi? what's going on in this country, man? >> things are changing, anthony, what can i say? >> my name is hugo. i was born in cuba. i was in one of cuba's most prominent schools when i made a joke about president fidel castro. i was a teenager. the kid that slept on the bunk bed on top of me recorded our conversation and i was expelled from school. my mom said the only choice is for us to leave cuba. i've lived in miami 35 years. it's my home base. i come back and forth it cuba. i've been coming to cuba for over 20 years. cuba is a commu

, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, ♪ >>g place. bigger and more multifaceted than it's given credit for. >> partier: miami, where you at? >> anthony: we tend over the years to focus on miami's -- how shall i put this -- party zone. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ it's the kind of place we say that could never be me and then it is. ♪ it's a temptation that's almost irresistible. the seductions of flash, of palm trees, balmy nights, deco architecture, television shows made real, but across the causeway a few miles down the way there are other worlds, older ones. i think it's safe to say better ones. ♪ way out west 20 miles from the airport tucked in yet another strip mall is this place and you go there because, well, you need coffee. and because cuba, respect. and because michelle bernstein is there. >> anthony: is this miami? it was a long time getting here. >> michelle: you need a car in miami, and yes, this is like the heart of miami. >> anthony: michelle is one of my miami's most iconic influential chefs, born and bred her. >> anthony: when pe

, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la ♪ >> anthony" in new york city, tucked away on the fourth floor of the time warner center on columbus circle. it is america's most expensive restaurant. dinner here costs around $600 per person before sake or extra pieces of the most outrageously high quality tuna on the planet. the raw ingredients are unparalleled -- often flown in from japan or grown specially to this man's specifications. this is masa takayama. to call him america's most respected sushi chef would be an injustice, as he is more than that. much more. what was it about him that set him apart, took him from a rather bleak farming community in rural japan to become first the toast of los angeles and later the king of new york? it is a fascinating story. kanazawa is the capital of ishikawa prefecture on the west coast of honshu island along the sea of japan. it's known for its untouched by time traditional districts -- one of the few cities in japan left relatively intact throughout the war. it's famous for its crafts, for its beaut

la la ♪ sha la la la la la ♪ sha la la la la ♪ sha la la la la la la >> what are we drinking?t's going on? >> i usually go with a budweiser and a jagermeister. >> budweiser and jagermeister. any notion of going local right out the window. >> two jagers? >> yeah, two jagers. cheers. >> the firsts one's never good. the first one is never good. but it gets easier after the first one. >> so, look, this is not my first time to charleston, as you know. i did do a show here before, and i'm still taking [ muted ] about it. apparently i really [ muted ] up the first time i came here because i made a number of errors. apparently none more egregious than going out -- like, doing an oyster roast and drinking champagne. >> i never heard of such a thing. well, champagne and beers is okay with the oysters. >> so it must have been a -- >> got confused somewhere. >> anyway, i got it wrong. this time i'm getting it right which is why i've come to you. ♪ >> you can be forgiven for underestimating sean brock first time i met him. i saw a scruffy looking dude in a trucker cap who had a bottle of g

, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la ♪ >>s they am? maybe not. time is a mystery that could tip us upside down. yesterday i was seven in the woods. a bandage covered my blind eye. sixty-eight years later i could still inhabit that boy's body. i start thinking about a time in between. it is the burden of life to be in the ages without seeing the end of time. ♪ >> anthony: next time you turn off a news cycle filled with shouting bobble-heads, convinced that america is devolving into a moronic inferno, questioning the greatness of your nation; maybe you should come here. here are your purple mountains majesty. this is the landscape that generations of dreamers, despots, adventurers, explorers, crackpots, and heroes fought and died for. it's one of the most beautiful places on earth. there is no place like it. montana. many have come to claim their piece over the years but before the prospectors and explorers there were the plains indians. the absaroka have been master horsemen since they adopted spanish introduced mustangs in th

, la, la ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪ >> anthonyerican as anything could possibly be. yet, it also never shed what was there before and the layers and layers that have come since. it's a wonderful, tricky, conflicted, mutant hell broth. in what, for lack of a better word, you'd have to call paradise. >> paul: nowhere's paradise. paradises don't exist. paradise is, kind of, in your head. >> anthony: wait, wait a minute. you look out your window here and you look at those hills, those mountains, all that green, that blue sky, and gin clear sea. it, it sure looks like paradise to me. this guy knows, he's been everywhere. he's paul theroux. novelist, essayist, and legendary traveler and travel writer. of all the places he's been, all the places he's seen, he chose hawaii to live. and he's lived here for twenty-five years. does it matter that it's america? >> paul: no, that's a big thing, that it is america. it has elements of the third world. the nicest elements of the third world. >> anthony: right. >> paul: which is funky. there's thi

, la, la ♪ sha la, la, la, la, la ♪ sha la, la, la, la ♪ sha la, la, la, la, la >>> the western myththe american imagination. none of us can escape it. for ages, we identified ourselves with the image of the lone cowboy, the perception of frontier values, self-sufficiency, rugged individualism, the freedom of wide open spaces. few places in america still manage to embody that mythic landscape of the imagination like the state of new mexico. what does freedom mean? it's different things to everybody, it seems, but something about this place manages to capture the overlap between a whole hell of a lot of very different cultures. old route 66 runs through new mexico like a collapsed vein, right through santa fe and albuquerque. it must have seemed like magic once. families loaded in a massive chrome and steel chariots with powerful v-8 engines and took off down that blacktop highway. they slept in whimsical motor lodges and bungalows, swam in kidney-shaped pools. then it all went redundant. route 66 was decommissioned, chopped up, largely forgotten, except by desperate and lazy travel s

, la, la, la ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la ♪ sha, la, la, la, la ♪ ♪ >> anthonyhood. a cultural petri-dish, from which regularly issues forth greatness. new jersey, in case you didn't know it, has got beaches, beautiful beaches, and they're not all crawling with roid-raging trolls with reality shows. i grew up summering on those beaches, and they are awesome. jersey's got farmland. beautiful bedroom communities where that woman from real housewives who looks like doctor zaius does not live, nor anyone like her. even the refineries. the endless clover leaves of turnpikes and expressways twisting in unknowable patterns over the wetlands are, to me, somehow, beautiful. knojersey is to love her. ♪ fort lee, you may have heard of it. some of governor christie's minions allegedly conspired to jam up traffic for a few days. it's a town with a jokey history of corruption. it's also where my beloved hiram's is. open since 1932, and pretty much unchanged ever since, my dad started bringing me and my younger brother chris here in the '50s and they still honor tradition. >>

, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la ♪ >>the ale house forever. >> woman: what can't the ale house tell you about chicago? >> man: yes, my father did come here. i do a lot of cross word puzzles. >> anthony: as late afternoon gives way to evening in chicago's old town, it's time to drink. though to be fair, almost anytime is time for a drink at the old town ale house. >> woman: another favorite of mine, is anita. >> man: the difficult ones are the people who -- >> anthony: the chorus assembles, to give their opinions on matters of the day subjects of great import to this city on the lake, this city of broad shoulders, this true metropolis. >> bruce: but there's no shortage of characters in here. you know, i've lost a couple of really great ones, john fox the comic, died a few years ago. we just lost ruben four toes, this 400-pound mexican guy. we just called him ruben and then when he got his big toe cut off then he became ruben nine-toes. then when he had his other big toe cut off he became ruben eight toes. and then when he

. ♪ ♪ i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ sha la la la la ♪ sha la la la la la ♪ sha la la la la ♪ shaa la ♪ >>> right now we're in the middle of downtown jackson. farish street. >> a street with a lot of history. what did it used to be like back in the day? >> the street was packed with folks. folks all over. they had their own restaurants, grocery stores, juke joints, i mean, everything happened on farish street that happened in jackson for the african american community. >> the state capital of jackson, mississippi, located along interstate highway 55, just outside what's known as the mississippi delta. it's the kind of place that makes you wonder why did they make it the capital? until you grab hold of what used to be around here. farish street used to be the hub of african-american life in this city, its black commercial, cultural center. when dr. king came to town, he came here. everybody did. medgar evers had an office just upstairs here. musicians like tommy johnson, sonny boy williamson too, and elmore james all played here and the likes of duke ellington, cab callaway, count

, la, la ♪ sha, la, la, la, la ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la ♪ >>> there'slantic. it's majestic. i love the beach. pretty much had my first everything on a beach. you name it, first time i did it, beach. i was miserable in love, happy in love, alternately, as only a 17-year-old could be. this is where i lived. very happy summer in the early '70s, and that was my room on the left. it's an amazing spot if you think about it, a bunch of knuckleheads working as dish washers, pizza servers. we could live on a beach like this. happier, stupider times. you know, i can still hear the play list, the brothers johnson. if you put on marvin gaye right now, i'd burst into tears. what do you do? you're young, you go to the beach, you know, you get laid, and you get high. it was here, all the way out at the tip of cape cod, provincetown, massachusetts, where the pilgrims first landed. and it was where i first landed. 1972, washed in a town with a head full of orange sunshine and a few friends. provincetown, a wonderland of tolerance, long-time tradition of accepting artist

, la, la, sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, sha, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪ [ whistlences are you have never been here. in fact, it is likely that you may never have even heard of this place. tourists don't really come here. there are few hotels, no major attractions. [ man speaking portuguese ] >> anthony: the state of minas gerais, brazil. it's about the size of france, covered by farmland, mountains, and savannah. belo horizonte is the capital, a center for the brazilian banking and tech industry. a planned city. built in the late 1800s. five million people live in the metropolitan area. it's one of the fastest growing cities in brazil, in the world in fact, yet it's still relatively unknown in the outside world. but if you travel through brazil and you talk about food, which i have and i do, you hear about this place. you hear about it seemingly a lot. i've been told time and again, this is where the best chefs come from. the question is, why don't you hear that outside of brazil? why hasn't the cuisine of minas caught on worldwide? >> leonardo paixao: the pots her

, la, la, sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, sha, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪rk. you know? i still, like, i look at a plane and i'm figuring, "i understand scientifically how they fly but it doesn't look like it should work." >> nicolas: no, it doesn't. >> anthony: that's a big hunk of metal. >> nicolas: yeah. >> anthony: and who are these people? they're waiting for friends to arrive? or, no? they're just here lookin' at planes. >> nicolas: yes. it's popular to come here and you watch a couple of planes come and go. >> anthony: the whole family. >> nicolas: yep. ♪ >> anthony: buenos aires -- capital of argentina. second-largest country in south america. it's got a quirky, unique character all its own. [ dogs barking ] >> anthony: it looks like no other place and it feels unlike any other. ♪ >> nicolas: whoa. silence. >> anthony: yeah, right? it's very pretty here. i mean, it's really beautiful. i'm glad i came in the summer. it's -- when it's quiet. got, sort of, a mournful, sad, sweet quality that i like. fits with the architecture. ♪ ♪ >> anthony: where does

la la sha la la la la la ♪ ♪ sha la la la la sha la la la la la la ♪ ♪ >> anthony: it's where nearlyreat came from. the things the whole world wanted, made here. the heart, the soul, the beat of an industrial cultural superpower. a magnet for everyone with a dream of a better future, from eastern europe to the deep south. american dream? you came here. the one straight ahead with the green roof? >> charlie: yep, the big rococo building, completely empty. >> anthony: empty, unbelievable. >> charlie: the white one is being rehabbed. there's some money coming in. the one next to it, on the right, is completely empty. the gray pyramid with the spire on top sold for five million dollars. >> anthony: five million for that? that's -- you can't buy a garage in the hamptons for that. >> charlie: five million! for a skyscraper. >> anthony: it is post-apocalyptic. i mean it's -- it's like a science fiction film. what the hell happened here? >> charlie: well it is post-apocalyptic, except for the fact there's several hundred thousand people living here. >> anthony: detroit, 2013. charlie leduff

la la sha la la la la la ♪ ♪ sha la la la la sha la la la la la la ♪ >> chef: what if we just gethen go to robert's? >> chef 2: edgefield closes at midnight. >> chef: you gotta see -- have you been to robert's? >> chef 2: but dino's definitely -- >> anthony: i haven't been anywhere. >> chef 2: -- starter and that's it. >> anthony: i saw the hotel. the [ bleep ] do i know? [ laughter ] >> patrick martin: hold on, time out. stop, stop, stop. you've never hung in nashville? >> anthony: no. >> martin: you're gonna have a fun time. >> anthony: i have no doubt. [ laughter ] ♪ >> anthony: nashville. if you haven't been there, you probably know it as what? a country music capital, grand ole opry, and it is music city. and there is indeed plenty of country music, both genuine and fake-ass, but it's way more than that. nashville is one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in all america. people who grew up here will tell you the city is in a state of perpetual, never-ending change, and the rate at which things are changing is accelerating. eighty to a hundred new faces move to nashvill

la la sha la la la la la ♪ ♪ sha la la la la sha la la la la la la ♪ >> anthony: close-minded,s about places different than where we grew up. i'm not talking about texas. i'm talking about, well, me. and people like me, who are way too comfortable thinking of texas as a big space filled with intolerant, invariably right wing white people waddling between the fast food outlet and the gun store. that, of course, is wrong. ♪ but then, i'm used to being wrong. texas, houston in particular, is a very different place than you might imagine from the stereotypes and the sound bites of its national political figures. immigrants, refugees, and non-white americans have, in fact, been transforming the city, the food and culture of houston for years. welcome to america, people. ♪ just another day at the supermarket, a sleepy strip mall on houston's hillcroft avenue. keemat grocers, serving the community since 1994. today, they're hosting a quiet, low-key affair. >> sunil: good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen! how are we doing today? [ cheers ] we're here in little india in keemat grocers, a

la la sha la la la la la ♪ ♪ sha la la la la sha la la la la la la ♪ >> anthony: what are we drinking stuff? what's going on? >> sean: i usually go with a budweiser and a jagermeister. >> anthony: budweiser and a jagermeister? so any notion of going local right out the window. >> sean: yeah. >> bartender: two jagers? >> anthony: uh, yeah, two jagers. yeah. cheers. good to see you again, man. >> sean: cheers, man. the first one's never good. the first one is never good. but it gets easier after the first one. >> anthony: so, look, um, this is not my first time to, uh, charleston, as you know. i did do a show here before and i'm still taking -- about it. apparently i really -- up the first time i came here because i made a number of errors, apparently none more egregious than going out for, like, doing oyster roasts and drinking champagne. >> sean: i'd never heard for such a thing. well, champagne of beers is okay with oysters. >> anthony: right, see that's what -- it must've been a typo. >> sean: maybe somebody got, yeah, confused somewhere. >> anthony: yeah. anyway, i got it wrong. th

la la sha la la la la la ♪ ♪ sha la la la la sha la la la la la la ♪ >>> bondi: i can go to theg to get there by accident. but that's part of the whole experience of the desert, is that you know, it ain't friendly, it ain't nice, it ain't good, you know? you're, you're out here, you know, a half a mile. it doesn't matter if you're a half a mile out or you're 20 miles out. you know, there's no reason to walk a mile further, because you're already in infinite desolation. sin city was true, it was real. part of moving out here was that you were never going to see the family again. i mean, that was it. i'm moving to vegas and you ain't coming to see me and i ain't coming to see you, and i mean, that's the character of the city. but it was really was the, you know the pit of the -- of america. it wasn't that somebody came out here because, "i want to make a million bucks." it was, "i'm going to come out here, i'm going to survive, and you all ain't going to bug me anymore back home." >> anthony: in vegas, there's winners and losers, and god knows, i've been both. in a place like this

shoulder ♪ ♪ found something good in this beautiful world ♪ ♪ i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ sha-la-la-la-laa ♪ >> cuba has been sitting here for what, 55 years now, half an hour away, basically giving the super power in the world the stiff middle finger. 50 plus years of animosity, embargo, rags rationing and fidel castro is still hanging on. but recently there are powerful indications that everything is about to change. ♪ >> we are in a little fishing town. this place is called casa santione, two brothers that go out and fish every morning, bring fresh seafood. >> humble fishing village, traditional fishing family? >> yes. >> we're about to eat sushi. what is going on in this country, man? >> things are changing, anthony. what can i say? ♪ >> my name is hugo. i was born in cuba. i was one of cuba's most prominent schools but i made a joke about president fidel castro. i was a teenager and the kid that slept in the bunk bed on top of me recorded that conversation, and i was expelled from school. my mom said the only choice is for us to leave cuba. i'm a businessman. i have lived in miami fo

shoulder ♪ ♪ found something good in this beautiful world ♪ ♪ i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ sha, la, la la, la, la, la, la ♪ >>> close-minded, prejudicial, quick to make assumptions about someplace different than where we grew up. i'm not talking about texas, i'm talking about, well, me, and people like me who are way too comfortable thinking of texas as a big space filled with intolerant, invariably right-wing people, waddling between the fast-food outlet and the gun store. that, of course, is wrong. but then i'm used to being wrong. texas, houston in particular, is a very different place than you might imagine from the stereotypes and the sound bites of its national political figures. immigrants, refugees and nonwhite americans have, in fact, been transforming the c y city, the food and culture of houston for years. welcome to america, people. ♪ >> just another day at the supermarket, a sleepy strip mall on houston's hillcroft avenue. the grocer who's been serving the community since 1994. today they're hosting a quiet, low-key affair. >> good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen! how are