VolumeThe 105 No. 1 CarmelOn the Internet: www.carmelpinecone.com Pine ConeJanuary 4 - 10, 2019 TRUSTED BY LOCALS AND LOVED BY VISITORS SINCE 1 9 1 5 Something unexpected for tourists at Bixby Bridge Council to consider By CHRIS COUNTS As residents waved their signs, many motorists honked and emergency ordinance gave them the thumbs up. The mood was festive. JUST AS they do every Saturday when the sun shines on Organizers said Bixby Bridge was chosen as the site of the Big Sur’s world-famous landscape, several thousand motor- event because it’s become a magnet for selfie-taking tourists on street vendors ists slowly snaked their way down Highway 1 last weekend — and as a result, it’s become a traffic hazard as motorists — many of them expecting to take selfies at places that have n New state law says they must be allowed become ubiquitous on Instagram and Facebook. But when the See PLEDGE page 8A tourist convoy reached Bixby Bridge, it was greeted By MARY SCHLEY by two surprises: locals waving signs about “taking a pledge,” and orange plastic cones blocking access to IN RESPONSE to a new California law preventing cities parking spaces along Highway 1 and the Old Coast from banning street vendors on public sidewalks and in parks, Road, where many expected to leave their cars while planning director Marc Wiener wrote an ordinance aimed at photographing the bridge. regulating people selling hot dogs, jewelry and other goods The gathering of locals with signs and the presence from carts, and will ask the city council to adopt it at its Jan. of the cones were unrelated — the residents planned 8 meeting. their action with no official sanction, while the High- According to Senate Bill 946, the Safe Sidewalk Vending way Patrol asked Caltrans to place cones near the Act signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last September, “Sidewalk bridge between Christmas and the New Year to reduce vending provides important entrepreneurship and econom- gridlock at the site. ic development opportunities to low-income and immigrant communities,” “increases access to desired goods, such as Not protesting, educating culturally significant food and merchandise,” and “contributes The gathering at the bridge was the latest — and to a safe and dynamic public space.” most visible — step in an ongoing public information “Historically, we have not allowed sidewalk vending, so campaign by residents to call attention to the impacts this will change business in the city,” Wiener told The Pine of over-visitation. It may have looked like a protest, but Cone Wednesday. one of its organizers insisted it wasn’t. “This is not a protest, but an opportunity to educate PHOTO/CHRIS COUNTS Health, safety, welfare visitors in a positive way,” explained Butch Kronlund, The effect could be dramatic, but to help control how much executive director of the Coast Property Owners As- To raise awareness about the impact of mass tourism, Butch Kronlund holds a the new law will impact the city, Wiener drafted an ordinance sociation. sign near the Bixby Bridge Saturday encouraging visitors to “take the pledge.” that would establish a system of requiring permits and restrict- ing where vendors can operate. While banning vendors from sidewalks and parks is no longer legal in California, it’s still $28M home has rich golf, Prohibition-era roots OK to regulate them — but only based on health, safety and welfare concerns. n P.B. Co. says Canary Cottage a secluded after-hours spot in the 1920s where high rollers, golfers and other high-society folk could gamble and drink See VENDORS page 17A will become part of ‘resort operations’ liquor during Prohibition. Last September, the Pebble Beach Company bought the By KELLY NIX compound on Stillwater Cove, which consists of six build- ings, including a large house, totaling more than 6,600 square Teardown gets OK, but THE EXCLUSIVE oceanfront property that the Pebble feet, and has stunning views of Carmel Bay and Point Lobos. Beach Company purchased last fall for $28 million served as According to county records, the seller was the Ortons Equip- could it be a Comstock? ment Company. “It was a unique opportunity to acquire By CHRIS COUNTS the 2-acre Canary Cottage property right next door to The Lodge,” Pebble Beach Company A COUPLE who bought a Carmel Point home want CEO Bill Perocchi told The Pine Cone, re- to tear it down and replace it with something larger — and garding the property at 1498 Cypress Drive. the county’s land use advisory committee has endorsed their “We have no definite plans for the property at plans. this time, but we will eventually incorporate it But one member of the committee told The Pine Cone the into our resort operations.” old house should be preserved because he believes it was de- signed by Hugh Comstock. At a Nov. 5 meeting, the commit- Speakeasy tee voted 4-1 to approve plans for the home with some chang- With the sale comes a property with a sto- es, over his objections. ried past. “It absolutely is a Comstock,” Jack Meheen told The Pine During Pebble Beach’s early days, and Cone. “Much to my chagrin, my colleagues did not listen to when alcohol was illegal in the United States, me.” Canary Cottage allowed Pebble Beach Com- Built in 1920 or 1921 for playwright Charles Van Riper The Canary Cottage (center) offers some of the best views on the Monterey Peninsula pany founder Samuel F.B. Morse to offer his and his wife, Helen, the 1,411-square-foot home is located at and was recently purchased by the P.B. Co. for $28 million. This photograph was on a Coldwell Banker Del Monte website when the cottage was for sale. See CANARY page 12A See TEARDOWN page 18A HISTORIANS AND TREE LOVERS FACE OFF IN DEBATE OVER OCEAN AVE. MONUMENT By MARY SCHLEY hands of another commission. Public works director Bob Harary suggested the group with ASKED TO pick between the preserva- that authority — the forest and beach com- tion of the World War I Memorial Arch and mission — “would be more inclined to move the future of two oak trees growing next to it the monument to keep the trees.” An early-1960s post card shows the in the median on Ocean Avenue at San Car- World War I Memo- los Street, the forest and beach commission ‘Enough trees’ rial Arch on Ocean chose both. But the significance of the 95-year- Avenue with all sides At their December meeting, the commis- old arch and its architect, Charles Sumner exposed and visible. sioners decided to put off a vote on a request Greene, “eclipses anything having to do with A preservation group to cut down the trees to see if they and the me- the trees,” historic resources board member wants to remove two morial can coexist, in spite of a preservation Thomas Hood said at that meeting. “To me, oaks now growing group’s insistence that they can’t. this is about the monument, not about the next to it. Last September, when the historic resourc- trees. We have enough trees in town.” es board approved the Friends of the Memori- A couple of weeks later, the group behind al Arch’s plan to restore the monument, there the effort to restore the arch applied to have was some discussion about the trees — and an acknowledgment that their fate was in the See OAKS page 10A Have the complete Carmel Pine Cone delivered every Thursday evening to your iPad, laptop, PC or phone. Free subscriptions available at www.carmelpinecone.com 2A The Carmel Pine Cone January 4, 2019 SALE! Sandy Claws By Lisa Crawford Watson Retriever rescue sport shirtshirts HUNTER WAS maybe 5 years old when his people got him with the help of the nonprofit Rescued Love from Taiwan, making him the fifth golden retriever his sportcoatsats person has had. Her first one, a puppy, was a gift from her husband, outerwearear shortly after they were married. She was just finishing her master’s degree, and he asked her what gift she sweatersrs wanted. She said a dog. Every other retriever has been a rescue. trouserss Hunter also was a gift from her husband, for Moth- er’s Day, just before he died of cancer. Goldens were leather among her first and final gifts from her husband. The dog’s name was Ding-Ding when they got & more him, but they renamed him after their favorite Major League Baseball player, Hunter Pence. “Hunter actually rescued me,” his person said. “Throughout my process of grieving and healing, this dog was so amazing, I realized he would make a good therapy dog for others. So, I had him certified through the Humane Society. For three years, he’s been help- ing others heal.” Once a month, she and Hunter depart their Belmont home and drive to the home she inherited from her fa- GIFT WRAP • SHIPPING • PERSONAL SHOPPING N OW CONSIGNING FOR CARMEL PLAZA, OCEAN AVE 831-625-8106 ther in Pacific Grove. She’s pretty certain Hunter loves J ANUARY 27TH A UCTION it there as much as she does. “We go to the beach every time we’re in town, ei- CONSIGNMENT DEADLINE IS JANUARY 10TH ther Asilomar or Carmel Beach. The first time Hunter Early heard the noise of the sea, we could tell he’d never Sarouk heard it before,” his person said. “A retriever, he’s sup- Carpet posed to like water, but he won’t get a paw wet. He just loves walking in the sand, meeting people and other dogs.” Hunter also likes to visit Tiffany on Ocean Avenue, where he laps water from their Tiffany-blue bowl while HELPS SUPPORT PETS WITH his person shops.