About 6 or 7 years ago, we drove down the coast of California along route 1. It was a beautiful drive. However, we took a pass on the Hearst Castle which is along the route and have always wanted to see it. It’s half-way between San Francisco and Los Angeles at the small town of San Simeon, and It’s only an hour from where we are now. It’s not really a castle but a large estate which William Randolph Hearst built over many years.
Hearst’s father, U.S. Senator, George Hearst, using some inside information, bought 670,000 acres in California for only 20 - 40 cents per acre after he had received advanced notice that Geronimo had surrendered. The family built upon this original holding and used this land as a working ranch. They visited often and young William enjoyed every minute. However, the land and buildings remained rustic until 1919, when his mother died. He had preciously asked his mother if she would allow him to ‘improve’ upon the accommodations but she told a friend later that she hesitated because she was afraid that Will might get carried away.
And, he did. He began building in 1919 and hadn’t finished by the time he moved out due to ill health in 1947. He changed the plans then added to them then changed them again and then added some more. His first idea was to build a bungalow and he asked noted architect Julia Morgan to come up with ideas. His directions began with: ‘I would like to build something upon the hill at San Simeon. I get tired of going up there and camping in tents. I’m getting a little too old for that. I’d like to get something that would be a little more comfortable.’
In the end, besides featuring 3 ‘small’ homes on the property, the Hearst Castle had 165 rooms over 70,000 square feet with 38 bedrooms and 17 living rooms and ONE kitchen. Surrounding this were 127 acres of gardens, terraces, pools and walkways. He also had one of the largest private zoos in the world, a tennis court and a private theater. The estate supplied much of its own food with ranching, gardens and fruit trees. Morgan , being a licensed engineer also devised a gravity-based water system so that they could get water from a mountain 7 miles away.
He had the largest collection of ancient wooden ceilings and thus had to design the rooms to fit them. He covered all of the walls with tapestries and other works of art. The question always was whether he bought art to fill his home or built his home to fit in all his art. Most experts come down on the second. None the less, there is a lot to see in his ‘Castle.’
We arrived at the Visitor Center, showed the tickets we had purchased online and boarded the bus for the circuitous trip up the hill. And, what a winding path it was around the hills and canyons. We exited the bus at this cement wall - what an inauspicious beginning to the tour.
Then we climbed the steps, and stood in front of the main entry.
Unfortunately, we could not use this entry since the tire experts had recently restored the tile in it and wanted no more tourists to walk on it. So, we were taken around to a side entry and into this room, the sitting room where the guests gathered before going to dinner.
Then into the dining hall. Hearst sat in the middle of the long table and seated his newest guests next to him. You always knew who had been the longest at the Castle - they were sitting on the ends.
One guest said that if he had stayed one more week, he would have been sitting on the floor. For all his money and for all the ostentation of the home and its furnishings, Hearst put paper napkins on the table, ketchup, mustard, jams and jellies from the local grocer and served his guests on the most common pattern of the day - blue plates. Yet his guests dressed formally for dinner.
Invitations to his home were coveted in the 20’s and 30’s and he entertained the elite of the Hollywood and Washington set. Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant, the Marx Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, James Stewart, Bob Hope, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Roosevelt, Dolores Del Rio, and Winston Churchill were among Hearst's A-list guests.
The tour took 1 hour and we covered the living room, the dining room and the movie theater. As we moved from the dining room to the theater, we saw a man using a Q-tip to clean one of the ceilings. The ceilings were painted Spanish ceilings and had faded with time. This ceiling was going to take 10 years to clean and cost $100,000.
They had some lame story about its being delicate but I could have cleaned it really quickly with a power sprayer and an RV brush for lots less. I guess they didn’t take bids. On the other hand, I’ve also pictured a ceiling which tool 7 years to clean and you can certainly note the difference
It was an amazing home and many people have different opinions of it. Some view it as opulence gone wild, some say it shows that money doesn’t buy good taste and others are in awe at its magnificence.
When we toured the grounds we saw the Neptune Pool which has a Roman portico which came from Rome.
As we were driving away from the Castle, we looked to the left and saw this herd. These are left over from Hearst’s private zoo. They just graze the fields with the cattle now.
After we had visited the castle we headed down the coast to Piedras Blancas where the elephant seals stay when they are in town. Actually, much of the time they are swimming near Alaska and in the northern Pacific but they always return here to give birth, molt and sun themselves. At this time of year, the young pups are lolling on the sand prior to learning how to swim. Although there was one big mama who was in a real snit and biting at each of the young pups as she lumbered past.
Males can grow to 14 - 16 feet and 5000 lbs while the females grow to 9 - 12’ and 1600 lbs. Below is a graph on the fence showing the relative sizes along with the size of a typical pup. Elephant seals form harems, in which the dominant male is surrounded by a group of females. On the periphery of the harem, other bulls wait in hopes of an opportunity to mate and assist the main bull in keeping away the less dominant males. Fights between males can be bloody affairs in which the combatants rear up and slam their bodies against each other, slashing with their large canine teeth. However, not all confrontations end in battle. However, some of this is for show.
Finally, we toured Cambria a real artsy, touristy town along the coast. We visited some of the art shops, walked the coastline trail and ate at a local restaurant. We also visited Nitt Witt ridge, a home designed by Art Beal. This is a fascinating juxtaposition with the Hearst Castle but is also reflective of one man’s vision. It’s just that the visions of these two men are different. For 50 years, Beal, who was the local trash collector and poet, built his hillside home out of bits of scrap he found in the trash. Beer cans, old toilets, stuffed deer, car rims, abalone shells, bits of piping, wood scraps, you name it, it’s here. It is now a State Historic Landmark and we wanted to tour it but it was closed this day.
Home then.
No comments:
Post a Comment