Pacific sunsets are spectacular all along the California coast, such as this one in Cambria,CA near the Hearst Castle.

                     Bob Lindsey photo

Old Hollywood & California Preserved in the

Hearst Castle, Steinbeck House and Museum

By Pat Lindsey

There’s something magical about a castle. Maybe it’s because there are few real castles in the U.S., but visiting one almost always transports our imaginations to another place and time. At the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, CA, visitors witness unfathomable wealth as they walk through history and take a peek at old Hollywood and Depression-era America.

Newspaper publisher and media mogul William Randolph Hearst commissioned architect Julia Morgan to design a Mediterranean Revival-style estate to be built atop a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean in 1919. It took 28 years to complete the 68,500 square foot residence that contains 115 rooms, three detached cottages, an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, tennis courts, a movie theater, and an esplanade through a botanical garden of native vegetation.

From Highway 1, it is nearly a 15-minute drive up the five-mile winding road to the massive front doors of the Hearst Castle. During the drive, you can visualize horse-drawn carriages or Rolls Royces filled with Hollywood stars making that slow trek for a lavish party or a few days of elegance “back in the day.” From the summit, the views of the Casa Grande (big house) and the 250,000-acre ranch that sprawls to the ocean are simply breathtaking. Visitors can still see zebras grazing among the cattle. They are descendants of some of the original exotic animals that lived in Hearst’s zoological park.

For more than 50 years, the Hearst Castle has been a California State Park. The state maintains the property and operates four distinctly different guided tours daily. We only had time to take the Grand Rooms Tour, but I would highly recommend taking a full day to take all four tours and experience every facet of the castle. The Grand Rooms Tour, Upstairs Suites Tour, and Cottages and Kitchen Tour are $25 for adults, but the Evening Tour, which is a combination of all the tours, is $36.

The 45-minute Grand Rooms Tour took us through the immense social rooms of the castle. Everything in those rooms—from the fireplace to the tapestries on the walls to the dining table—is dark and massive. The furniture is original and walking through those rooms was just like stepping back in time. The catsup containers and paper napkins on the dining room table seemed out of place for that period, but we learned that Mr. Hearst wanted to be informal with his guests and this was one way to show them that they were dining among friends.

Even though his California residence could have accommodated hundreds of people, Hearst never entertained more than 28 people at one time. The guests were allowed plenty of freedom to swim in the pools, play tennis, go horseback riding, watch movies in his theater, or just enjoy the interior rooms or terraces and gardens, but at 7 p.m., everyone was expected to be in the social rooms for cocktails and dinner. Anyone who over-indulged in alcoholic beverages was never invited back again.

Each tour allows visitors to walk through the terraces and gardens surrounding the castle, admire the works of art, and view the indoor and outdoor pools. The 104-foot long outdoor Neptune pool is guarded by a 17^th century Italian statue of Neptune and surrounded by Roman columns. There was a time when the pool was heated with oil burners and filtered with a sand filtration system, but due to the current drought in California, it is currently bone dry. The indoor pool, however, is kept filled as a safety precaution in case of fire.

Beginning Thanksgiving weekend through the end of December, the main house and guest houses are decorated just as they might have been on Christmas in the 1920s and 30s.

Sometime during your visit, be sure to see the historical film, “Hearst Castle: Building the Dream,” at the Hearst Castle Theater in the visitor’s center. The DVD is available in the gift shop for $9.99. For ticket information, call 1-800-444-4445 or go to www.HearstCastle.org for additional information.

John Steinbeck House and National Steinbeck Center

     Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck is one of my favorite American authors and, after visiting his boyhood home in Salinas, CA, it’s easy to see how the geography and demographics of that valley influenced his writing and developed his characters.

From Monterey, Salinas is a scenic 17-mile drive through some of the country’s most fertile fields of lettuce, strawberries, artichokes, cauliflower, and asparagus.   The town of Salinas is just as flat as those fields.

At 132 Central Ave. is the 1897 two-story Queen Anne Victorian home where Steinbeck spent his entire childhood and began his writing. An organization of volunteers named the Valley Guild purchased the home from the diocese of Monterey in 1973 and completely refurbished the first floor. It is now a delightful place to spend an afternoon savoring a delicious lunch. The fixed lunch menu changes weekly and is served in the parlor and dining room by members of the Valley Guild. Reservations are recommended ((831) 424-2735). Downstairs in the basement is “The Best Cellar Gift Shop,” also staffed by volunteers. All proceeds from the restaurant and gift shop go to charities, scholarships, and the maintenance of the house.

Steinbeck lived in the house from his birth in 1902 until he went off to Stanford University in 1919. He wrote his first two books, The Red Pony and Tortilla Flats, in his upstairs bedroom above the reception hall. He eventually achieved worldwide acclaim for his keen observations and powerful descriptions of the human condition, which he witnessed firsthand while growing up in the Salinas Valley. Although his family was comfortable financially for most of the years they lived at 132 Central Ave., Steinbeck experienced his own personal suffering and near starvation during his post-college days as he was struggling to become a writer.

Several blocks from the Steinbeck House at One Main St. is the National Steinbeck Center—a must-see for all Steinbeck fans. In a word, it’s wonderful. Be sure to watch the 24-minute orientation film about Steinbeck’s life before you visit the exhibits.

The Center offers three distinct visitor experiences in literature and history, agriculture and art, as well as special events and educational programs. Interactive, multi-sensory exhibits for all ages feature rare artifacts and seven themed theaters showcasing East of Eden, Cannery Row, Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, and more. The exhibit on the plight of the migrant farm worker is especially well done. The Center not only chronicles life in that region of California, but it reveals the life of John Steinbeck, the war correspondent, as well as John Steinbeck, the ecologist who raised awareness for the conservation of marine life and resources.

Adult admission to the Center is $15. For more information, go to www.steinbeck.org or call (831) 796-3833.

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