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Caption to come that acts as a point of entry for our read- ers. Caption to come that acts as a point of entry for our read- ers.

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TRIP OF A LIFETIME Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez Valley, : Waves A Central Coast road trip makes a vintage romantic getaway and Wine Sunset at the beach: the staple of personal ads, romance nov- els, and Playmate turn-ons. Thee and me and we. The biggest of all clichés. But trust me—as sunsets go, this is an epic, a masterpiece. As if van Gogh had decided to work in Cinerama. We’re at Oso Flaco Lake, on California’s Central Coast. My wife, Becky, has never been to this spot, so I wanted to show her Sthe lake and, beyond it, a beach with churning, restless surf. BY MATTHEW JAFFE g PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID ZAITZ tmj0905c_CoastalGrandTour.qxp 7/29/05 5:32 PM Page 132 WT: CA Coast grand tour grid ver PF: 03 page grid 2 E ZO: AZ 132 2

Glimpses of a golden coast (clockwise from top left): Santa Bar- bara’s shore- line; the Four Seasons Resort; tast- ing at Foxen Vineyard & Winery; Foxen vintage; vine- yards near Inn at the Pinna- cles; Foxen winery sign; La Super-Rica.

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We follow the boardwalk along the lake and then through the shifting dunes. The day has been overcast, but the sands begin to brighten to gold. By the time we reach the ocean, the set- ting sun has emerged beneath the layer of clouds along the horizon. Every- thing—ocean, dunes, underside of clouds—is suddenly on fire with spin- ning oranges and reds and purples. Even though we’ve both lived in California for a while now, Becky remains a genuine Jersey girl at heart, and I’m still a Chicago guy. Neither of us has ever seen a sunset quite like this. But while we’re astounded, we’re not entirely surprised. Because when we began our 670-mile round-trip drive through the Central Coast’s wine regions and along its incompara- ble coastline, we were venturing into the California of our dreams.

z2 DAYS, 30 MILES Santa Barbara to Santa Ynez Valley In my mind, Santa Barbara is Califor- nia: Mediterranean architecture, palm trees, the beach, and islands veiled in mist. (Chicago winters will do that to you.) But it’s a city that has always remained just out of reach. I’ve lived an hour to the northwest and now live an hour to the east, but never in Santa Barbara itself. We splurge with a night at the Four Seasons Resort. It’s Santa Barbara con- densed, all ocean and gardens, arch- ways and decorative tile, trailing bougainvillea and rambling Moreton Bay figs. The mood here is decidedly relaxed, especially compared to posh oceanfront spots in other beach cities that have an almost white-gloved fussi- ness about them. This too seems to be a reflection of Santa Barbara, where the surf vibe and sea breeze seem to chill out loftier pretensions. Santa Bar- bara is a city that reveres not just its Dons but its dudes too. In that spirit, we eschew some of the fancier dinner spots in town for one of the best. La Super-Rica is really

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a glorified taco stand, with a zigzag least opulent and most un-faux- roofline and a covered patio. But what finished spots. Near Los Olivos, Foxen it lacks in decor it makes up for in Winery’s tasting room is little more authenticity, from its handmade than a tin shack, while Garretson tortillas to fire-roasted pasilla peppers Wine Company up in Paso Robles stuffed with cheese. is located in a generic, hard-to-reach With its long lines, La Super-Rica industrial center better suited to a demands some strategizing. The patrons plumbing-supply business. It’s sym- in line ahead of us are weighing their bolic of how the wine industry has choices with the solemnity of the con- become engrained in the life of the demned choosing a last meal. Becky, a Central Coast. In , every much nicer person than I, senses my young dreamer is an aspiring screen- escalating impatience. She gives me a writer. Here the dream is to create sweet but firm “Be nice” look as I feel great wines, with waiters, store clerks, the declamation “Holy pozole, just and winery employees all eager to talk make a choice!” rising about their vines. Road food up from the molten core With our tastings done, I cleanse g Café Quacken-

K of my being. But it only my palate with a full-bodied and slight- bush. Gourmet sandwiches and art takes one bite of my ly assertive root beer from the 21st gallery just off U.S. taco to make me a Street Drive-In in Paso Robles. Mis- 101. $; lunch Tue– contented man. souri may be the Show-Me State, but Sun,C breakfast Sat– Sun. 458 Bell St., California is the What-If State. And as Los Alamos; 805/ z2 DAYS, 170 MILES Becky and I drive past rows of vines 344-5181. exaggerating the contours of the A Santa Ynez Valley g Fiala’s Gourmet rolling hills, we ponder the possibilities Deli, Espresso Bar to Pinnacles N.M. & Chocolatier. Ital- of a life in . ian deli with out- Let the Sideways back- It’s the life that Jan and Jon

standingN panini lash begin! Brosseau have been building with their sandwiches in Edna Valley wine country. I issue this fatwa not own hands since they bought land $; 8–5 daily.1653 out of any dislike for here in 1978. They’re the owners of S Old Price Canyon last year’s best movie. the Inn at the Pinnacles, a Monterey Rd., San Luis Obis- po; 805/543-1313. But having watched the County bed-and-breakfast set in the g Taco Temple. A Santa Ynez Valley’s middle of acres of Pinot Noir, Syrah, great spot for fish emergence from languid and Chardonnay grapes. During the tacos, hidden on a ranchland into a top week, Jon works in aerospace in the State 1 frontage road. $; lunch and wine region over the Bay Area, then the couple loads up dinner Wed–Mon. past few decades, it was their car with provisions and heads to 2680 Main St., a shock to suddenly see the inn for the weekend. Their proper- Morro Bay; 805/ 772-4965. favorite haunts on the ty sits adjacent to the historic Chalone big screen. Think of it Vineyard and a few miles from Pinna- this way: You live in the Amazon rain cles National Monument, the land- forest and Angelina Jolie or Sting visits mark volcanic outcrops that Becky and your village. You appreciate the atten- I are eager to explore. tion but also know that things will nev- Roughly 36 million people live in er quite be the same again. California, but we’re the only 2 at Pin- The joy of the Santa Ynez Valley and nacles. And for good reason. Just as its fellow Central Coast wine regions Becky steps out, the threatening skies has always been their blend of kick- stop their threatening and deliver the back vibe and knockout wines. These goods. The rock formations disappear are places to discover wines without behind a curtain of rain and fog. The being intimidated by adjective-spouting rain goes all Ringo on the roof and we pedants. Terroir without terror. listen to the pounding while scanning Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but the skies for the slightest hint of blue. our favorite wines come from the Finally we give up and opt for—what

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The sweet life (clockwise from top): 21st Street Drive-In in Paso Robles; Cannery Row; Ed Ricketts’s Lab; Carmel City Beach; Pinnacles National Monument.

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dinner daily. On State 1 at Henry Miller Memorial Pinnacles National Monu- Pheneger Creek; www.big Library. Gallery with con- ment. Dramatic volcanic to San 33 5 The road trip surriverinn.com or 800/ certs, lectures, and other outcrops and even Califor- Francisco 101 CONTACTS 548-3610. events. 11–6 Thu–Sun; nia condors. $5 per vehicle. Merced 17 140 g Monterey County visitors bureau Big Sur Roadhouse. Cal- free. On State 1, Big Sur; From U.S. 101 in Soledad, 1 (www.montereyinfo.org or 888/221-1010) Latin fusion cuisine with www.henrymiller.org or take State 146 12 miles Gilroy 831/667-2574. east. www.nps.gov/pinn or g funky roadhouse decor. $$; N 152 99 San Luis Obispo County visitors bureau 831/389-4485. 152 Los Banos (www.sanluisobispocounty.com or 800/634-1414) dinner Wed–Mon. On State Julia Pfeiffer Burns State 1, about 25 miles south of Park. About 10 miles of Point Lobos State Reserve. 25 33 152 g 156 Chowchilla Santa Barbara visitors bureau Carmel; 831/667-2264. trails, including the 0.5- The 1.4-mile North Shore (www.santabarbaraca.com or 800/676-1266) Hollister Treebones Resort. Upscale mile round-trip Overlook Trail offers the best look 156 Trail, which offers a view at the reserve’s coves and camping, where roughing it Pacific 183 MONTEREY AND of a waterfall dropping 80 forests. 9–7 daily; $8 per Salinas PACIFIC GROVE includes a morning waffle Grove bar. Campsites from $55 feet into the ocean. Free. vehicle. www.pointlobos. Monterey Green Gables Inn. Victori- On State 1, 37 miles south org or 831/624-4909. and yurts from $129, two- Carmel 68 an elegance by the sea. of Carmel; www.parks.ca. night minimum on week- Sebastian Store. Restored Point Lobos Pinnacles From $120. 301 Ocean gov or 831/667-2315. ends. 71895 State 1, 1 mile 19th-century general store State Reserve N.M. View Blvd., Pacific Grove; north of Gorda; www.tree Aquarium. at San Simeon Cove. Closed Fresno 1 Carmel www.greengablesinnpg. bonesresort.com or 877/ The nation’s top aquarium Thu. 805/927-4217. com or 800/722-1774. Valley Soledad 146 424-4787. has added a new octopus Point Sur AVA 33 Inn at the Pinnacles. Ideal habitat and a walk-through Los Santa wine country setting at wave-crash exhibit. 9:30–6 Big Sur Padres the gateway to Pinnacles. daily; $22, $10.95 ages Lucia N.F. Highlands 5 Open weekends only; from 3–12. 886 Cannery Row, 25 $200, two-night minimum. Monterey; www.monterey AVA S Big Sur Roadhouse 32025 Stonewall Canyon bayaquarium.org or 831/ A N 198 198 Rd., Soledad; www.innat 648-4888. T thepinnacles.com or 831/ A Coalinga Oso Flaco Lake. Rare Dining and L 678-2400. coastal lake and dune U Gorda C I lodging Loulou’s Griddle in the habitat. $5 per vehicle. A

Some of our lodging choices Middle. Updated take on About 3 miles north of R 101 33 1 A Kettleman are splurges; for more op- waterfront breakfast joint. Guadalupe, turn west at N $; breakfast and lunch dai- Oso Flaco Lake Rd. and Garretson G Paso City tions, see “Contacts.” Ragged Point E Robles ly. On Municipal Wharf II, continue about 3 miles to Wine Company SANTA BARBARA COUNTY San AVA Monterey; 831/372-0568. Inn at the Pinnacles parking area at visitor cen- Point Piedras Blancas 41 Four Seasons Resort Santa ter (closed Mon; 1055 Hearst Miguel Monterey Bay Inn. Newly Wineries San Simeon Castle Barbara. Oceanfront clas- renovated hotel on water- Guadalupe St./State 1, Paso sic. From $500, two-night front. From $199, two- Attractions Guadalupe); www.dune There are many distinct Robles minimum on weekends. center.org or 805/343-2455. wine regions (American night minimum on week- California missions. There 46 46 1260 Channel Dr., Santa ends. 242 Cannery Row, are eight missions along Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. Viticultural Areas, or AVAs) Barbara; www.fourseasons. Monterey; www.monterey the way: Santa Barbara, Plenty of redwood-shaded along our route. Our Atascadero com/santabarbara or 888/ favorite wineries include: 41 bayinn.com or 800/424- Santa Ynez, La Purísima picnic space and trails that P 424-5866. Morro Bay 6242. (now La Purísima Mission lead to swimming holes; Chalone Vineyard. 11:30–5 A C 5 La Super-Rica. Mexican CARMEL State Historic Park), San try the 1.5-mile round-trip Sat–Sun and by appoint- food well worth long peak- Luis Obispo, San Miguel, Pfeiffer Falls Trail. $8 per ment; $5 tasting fee. State I San Luis Obispo hour waits. $; lunch and Casanova Restaurant. San Antonio, Soledad, and vehicle. On State 1, 26 146 E. at Stonewall Canyon F Edna Classic romantic setting, I dinner daily. 622 N. Milpas San Carlos (Carmel). We miles south of Carmel; Rd., 9 miles east of C Valley Mediterranean cuisine. St., Santa Barbara; 805/ like Purísima for its meticu- www.parks.ca.gov or 831/ Soledad; 831/678-1717. AVA 963-4940. $$$$; lunch and dinner lous restoration and Santa 667-2315. O Domaine Alfred. 10–5 C daily. Fifth Ave. between Barbara for its sheer beauty. Patrick’s Side Street Cafe. Mission St. and San Carlos daily; $6 tasting fee. 7525 E Oso Flaco Lake Santa Maria 33 Wine country cuisine in Fees vary by mission. www. Orcutt Rd., San Luis Obis- A Valley AVA St.; 831/625-0501. missionsofcalifornia.org for N Guadalupe relaxed setting. $$$; lunch po; 805/541-9463. Santa Maria and dinner Wed–Sun. 2375 La Playa Hotel. Onetime locations and details. Carmel estate a couple of Garretson Wine Company. 1 Foxen Alamo Pintado Rd., Los Ed Ricketts’s Lab. Men- 11–5 daily. 2323 Tuley Canyon Olivos; 805/686-4004. blocks from Carmel City tioned in John Steinbeck’s Court, Paso Robles; 805/ 101 Rd. Beach. From $180, two- Cannery Row, the historic ATASCADERO AND night minimum on week- 239-2074. Los Alamos PASO ROBLES site is occasionally open to Santa Ynez Los ends. Camino Real at the public. On Cannery Foxen Vineyard & Winery. Valley AVA Padres The Carlton Hotel. Hand- Eighth Ave.; www.laplaya 11–4 daily; tasting fee from 246 Row, Monterey; visit www. CALIFORNIA Lompoc Los Olivos N.F. some, restored hotel near hotel.com or 800/582- canneryrow.org for details. $5. 7200 Foxen Canyon Buellton Paso Robles wine country. 8900. Rd., Santa Maria; 805/937- Santa Ynez 1 From $225. 6005 El Hearst Castle. A classic 4251. Solvang BIG SUR example of California his- Camino Real, Atascadero; 154 Big Sur River Inn. After a tory and architecture. Five 1 www.the-carlton.com or Oso Flaco Lake 101 877/204-9830. meal of fresh fish and different tours available organic produce, kick back this month. From $24, Los 192 21st Street Drive-In. Sip a Santa Barbara in a chair in the river. $$; reservations recommended. Angeles 150 root beer at this vintage breakfast, lunch, and 750 Hearst Castle Rd., San drive-in. $; lunch and dinner Simeon; www.hearstcastle. 0 25 mi to Los 33 daily. 2110 Spring St., Paso com or 800/444-4445. Angeles Robles; 805/238-0360.

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nu- nic to San 33 5 ifor- Francisco 101 hicle. Merced 17 dad, 1 140 s Gilroy or N 152 99 152 Los Banos

25 33 152 erve. 156 Chowchilla ore Hollister ok 156 and Pacific 183 er Grove Salinas es s. av Monterey W Carmel 68 red Point Lobos Pinnacles ine tore w State Reserve N.M. nd a Fresno Road tunes osed 1 Carmel Valley 146 California has always Soledad 33 Point Sur AVA ur represented the promise o of better days, and Los t Big Sur Santa Rocks in Padres Lucia songs about the state the rain are filled with seekers in N.F. Highlands 5 AVA 25 search of their dreams, A whether good times, night in S A spiritual uplift, or the N 198 a yurt 198 T kind of beauty found A Coalinga

L nowhere else. We chose U tunes spanning nearly 40 Gorda C I A years that capture the

R 101 33 excitement that comes 1 A N Kettleman with this quest. G Paso City Ragged Point E “California Dreamin’” Robles San AVA The Mamas & the Papas 41 Point Piedras Blancas Hearst Miguel “Going to California” San Simeon Castle Paso Hezekiah & The House ct The Robles Rockers n “California Sun” historic 46 46 AVAs) Sebastian The Dictators Atascadero “Estimated Prophet” de: Store 41 P Morro Bay Grateful Dead 30–5 A “A Thousand Songs About t- C 5 California” I San Luis Obispo tate Milton Mapes nyon F Edna I “Bottle of Red Wine” C Valley Knockout Eric Clapton 7. AVA O sunset “The Late Great Golden C State” 525 E Oso Flaco Lake Santa Maria 33 bis- A Valley AVA Dwight Yoakam N Guadalupe Santa Maria We find “California” Gina Villalobos any. 1 Foxen great wine Canyon “Monterey” 5/ 101 Rd. Eric Burdon and the Los Alamos Animals Santa Ynez Los ery. Valley AVA Padres “Big Sur” from 246 The Thrills CALIFORNIA Lompoc Los Olivos N.F. n Buellton “King of California” 937- Santa Ynez San Francisco 1 Solvang nd Dave Alvin art a O St I D “California Stars” here U 154 end T

1 S

Billy Bragg & Wilco

101 N A M

192 H Los S R

Santa Barbara E

Angeles 150 H / T O N 0 25 mi to Los 33 I Go to www.sunset. M

Angeles : T com/tunes to buy F E

L this song list.

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else—a glass of Pinot by the fire. Both the old arts colony that was home to warm with nary a hint of smoke. some of the greatest artists that Cali- fornia ever produced: poet Robinson z2 DAYS, 40 MILES Jeffers and photographers Edward Pinnacles N.M. Weston and Ansel Adams. The fog comes back just in time for to Monterey Peninsula our hike at Point Lobos State Reserve, “The hour of the pearl,” John Stein- south of Carmel. Harbor seals haul beck called it: The early-morning fog out in hidden coves, and the fog drifts hangs low over Monterey Bay and through a grove of rare Monterey muffles the calls of seagulls and the cypress, where lace lichen dangles barks of sea lions as we walk past the from the branches and an orange algae Victorians of Pacific Grove, bound for crusts the trunks. Here nature is more Cannery Row. perfect than art: wind-sculpted trees The mist obscures the crossovers, placed just so on granite rocks rhyth- the bridges used to mically washed by waves rising from a Road lit transport millions of jade-colored sea. California’s Central sardines during the CoastD has inspired some great works heyday of Monterey’s z2 DAYS, 30 MILES of literature. Here fishing industry. Fish- Monterey Peninsula are eight perfect ing boats with upturned

roadA companions. bows and low-slung to Big Sur g Beyond the Outer Shores: The sterns bob along the Trailed by a collie mix, the woman Untold Odyssey of E Monterey Harbor, with appears in the doorway of the Henry Ed Ricketts, by Eric its corrugated-iron Miller Memorial Library at Big Sur. Enno Tamm buildings and lines of Clad in a fuzzy fake-fur coat, she’s in g Big Sur and

the OrangesR of heavy wheelbarrows her 70s and is carrying some paintings. Hieronymus Bosch, for transporting fish. It takes a moment before the library by Henry Miller Otters swim close and cultural center’s director, Magnus g Cannery Row, by enough to hear them Toren, notices her, but the woman John Steinbeck chew, and I prove my turns out to be the day’s speaker, Gui g The Chief: The Life of William theory to Becky that de Angulo Mayo. Gui, who chronicled Randolph Hearst, every harbor has at San Francisco’s Beat Generation in by David Nasaw least one boat named photographs, is here to discuss her g East of Eden, by Sea Wolf. biography of her father, Jaime de John Steinbeck Later in the day we Angulo, a legendary Big Sur figure and g The Old Coyote of Big Sur: The head to Carmel, where celebrated Native American linguist Life of Jaime de people don’t name and anthropologist. Angulo, by Gui de boats, they name cot- I had already decided to buy the Angulo tages. My tastes run book before Gui arrived, and she signs g Sideways: A Nov- el, by David Nasaw more toward the rusted it as Toren praises her work. “Well, I g The Wild God of and weathered, so I think it’s accurate,” she says simply, the World: An find today’s Carmel then explains how her father didn’t anthology of Robin- quotidianly quaint. We think Henry Miller was very smart son Jeffers, by Robinson Jeffers watch as husbands, and mostly ignored the author and and Albert Gelpi hearing that most painter who settled in Big Sur in 1944. dreaded of spousal It’s very much a Big Sur moment: orders—“Honey, let’s go in here”— slightly eccentric and wholly serendipi- look on with envy at jovial foursomes tous. Gui, after all, provides a connec- of guys straight off the 18th hole at tion through her father to that Pebble Beach. Fortunately, Becky is pre–State Highway 1 Big Sur, when it not a professional shopper, and soon was an even more pristine and wild we veer off into the side streets, where frontier than it is today. “What a we’re able to get more of the feeling of scene!” Jaime de Angulo wrote as he

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Green and easy (clock- wise from top left): Pfeiffer Falls Trail in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park; relaxing at the Big Sur River Inn; Big Sur over- look; McWay Falls at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park; Treebones Resort; ice cream bus at Big Sur River Inn.

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rode horseback down the coast on Morgan, where Hollywood stars and trails so steep he became dizzy. “Yes, I the San Francisco elite were brought lost my heart to it, right there and together by perhaps the only man colos- then. This is the place for a freedom sal enough to stand astride both worlds. loving anarchist. There will never be a Near the wharf where much of the road into this wilderness … ” treasures used to build Hearst Castle There is a road along the Big Sur came ashore, we stop at another San coast now, but also much that Jaime de Simeon landmark. The Sebastian Store Angulo would recognize. Big Sur has a dates back to 1852, when the whaling way of perpetually remaking itself yet industry thrived along this coast. It’s retaining its essence. The fog repaints now run by Neil Hansen and has been the Pacific, the ocean keeps carving the owned by his family since 1914, when land, and the land changes from gold his great-grandparents bought the store to green with the arrival of the rains. from the lighthouse keeper at Point Beautiful as it is to look at, I’m not Piedras Blancas. But Hansen’s roots run sure any landscape smells as good as even deeper: He’s a sixth-generation Big Sur either. We stop at a canyon, Californian and can date his father’s where the first rains have unleashed side of the family back to mission days. the oils in the sage, which join the pine Hansen spent his summers exploring spice of redwoods and the salt air of the grottoes and caves along the coast- the ocean into a fragrance that should line, surfing its waves, and playing in be bottled as Eau de Sur. the forests on San Simeon Point. He I’d like to claim that, inspired by left California to work in Florida before Jaime de Angulo’s story, we decided to returning to renovate and run the store. camp alongside a creek with only the It’s no longer the nuts-and-bolts gener- redwoods and stars above us. But al store that it once was, and Becky instead we semi-rough it at Treebones browses through its CDs and gifts. But Resort, where we stay in a yurt—com- Hansen also points out the vintage plete with electricity and a hardwood equipment that the last of San Simeon’s floor—that overlooks the ocean at the whaling captains gave to his grand- southern end of Big Sur. The yurt’s father, and the old postboxes see a insulated canvas walls and wooden lat- steady stream of locals from up and tice supports rise to a roof, where a down the coast. Just as it always has. round skylight offers views of the Hansen is clearly thrilled to recon- night sky. Becky sleeps soundly, lulled nect both to his family’s history and the by the rhythmic crashing of the waves, place he considers home. “For people but I wake up frequently to watch the who are native Californians, it’s good passage of the stars across our private to go away for a year or two to see how Central Coast heritage: galactic porthole. the rest of the world functions,” says William Hansen. “But there’s always a piece of Randolph Hearst’s 1 DAY, 65 MILES California that calls you back.” z castle still Big Sur to Unlike Hansen, we’re basically new- enchants; comers to California, but I think we’ve Neil Hansen Hearst Castle heard the call of this coast too. It’s a runs the Sebastian William Randolph Hearst wasn’t satis- call where many parts harmonize: the Store, which fied with just gazing out on the uni- wind, the waves, the high cries of has been in verse. He wanted to own it too. seabirds, and the low moans of ele- his family since 1914. We drop down from the cliffs of Big phant seals. You never know. One day Sur to the more open coastline of Point our question may change from “What Piedras Blancas and San Simeon. if?” to “Why not?” and this gorgeous La Cuesta Encantada, better known coastline of ragged bluffs, sea stacks, as Hearst Castle, is the and mountains could become home. writ large: a Mediterranean fantasy, cre- Or maybe not. But there’s certainly no ated by the great Berkeley architect Julia harm in dreaming, right? z

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