A little background on Hearst Castle, known formally as"La Cuesta Encantada", or "The Enchanted Hill", but more familiarly called "the ranch". The palatial estate was owed by William Randolph Hearst, one of the most, if not the most, influential newspaper publisher of all time. The land was originally owned by his father, George Hearst, a millionaire mining engineer, goldmine owner, and US senator, who purchased the property in 1865. When Hearst was a child, the land was used as a cattle ranch, Rancho Piedra Blanca. By the time George Hearst passed away and William Randolph Hearst inherited the land, it had grown to 250,000 acres with an additional 14 miles of coastline.
Hearst first approached is architect of choice in 1915. The architect Julia Morgan was the first female licensed architect in California, and she was ready to make a name for herself. Hearst really couldn't make up his mind about the aesthetic he wanted used throughout the dwelling, often switching back and forth from Japanese and Korean themes to Spanish Revival. Finally settling on a Spanish theme, they set off to work, creating not one, but four "houses": the largest and main where Hearst would live and entertain, Casa Grande (about 60,645 square feet), and three "smaller" guest houses. The smallest guest house was 2,604 square feet.
Hearst was an avid collector as well as a prolific buyer who had a massive amount of art and antiques in storage that he was happy to incorporate throughout the home. He also bought centuries-old ceilings that where used in parts of the first floor. Overall, Hearst Castle features 56 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms, 19 sitting rooms, 127 acres of gardens, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, a movie theater, and airfield, and the world's largest private zoo. The land was also still used as a cattle ranch and dairy, and Hearst also grew most of his fruits and vegetables. With his own water supply, he was almost completely self-sustainable.
Now that you know almost everything there is to know about Hearst Castle, I'll tell you about my experience there.
When we arrived, we entered not straight to the castle, but the welcome center. Like I said before, the clouds hung low in the sky and I was a bit sad because I'd heard what beautiful sights could be seen from the castle. From the welcome center, we boarded a bus that took us up the winding roads towards the castle, travel time about 15 minutes. Meanwhile through the speakers of the bus, Alex Trebek narrated the drive, giving us some history and pointing out things of note on the way.
Just as we were making it to the top, it was like we passed through the clouds. I mean, it is definitely a completely different elevation from where we started, but the skies were blue, the sun was warm, and the only clouds you could see were the ones below you.
Because the property is so large, there are many different kinds of tours. We chose the Grand Rooms tour which began at the "front door" of Casa Grande. Having been to Spain, I can really say, the architect really hit the nail on the head. The facade of the building made me think I was looking at a basilica in Madrid and the gardens surrounding it looked like a slice out of Barcelona.
We entered through the grand hall. Tapestries hung on the walls, marble statues looked on from the corners of the room, centuries-old ceilings hung above. Our guide said this is where Hearst would meet his guests for the evening. Drinks in hand, A-list guests like Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant, Greta Garbo, Jimmy Stewart, Bob Hope, and Joan Crawford would mingle, sit by the fires, or play dominos until it was time for dinner.
Passing through a small door to enter the large dining room. This long table would be full almost every night. Hearst would sit in the center across from his lover, they would be flanked by the newest guests to the property. The further you sat from Hearst, the longer you had been at the ranch. Again, all the food they ate their was grown on the property.
From the dining room, you walking into the Morning Room, named because the morning light would illuminate the room. However, it was rarely used in the morning, instead used for after dinner drinks. The ladies in the party would stay here, while the men moved on the the Billiards Room.
Two huge billiards table. One the traditional style of pool. The second a more complicated game with three balls. The object of the game is to hit the ball on three sides of the table before making it into the pocket. Ya, I'm just going to stick with the after dinner drinks if you don't mind.
After a couple of rounds of pool, everyone would come together again for a showing of a movie. This is where our tour ended after we watched some of Hearst's home videos.
Leaving the theater, we got to walk around the property as much as we liked. We walked through gardens, passed the guest houses, saw incredible views, and finally stumbled on the first of two pools.
This is the Neptune Pool, the outdoor pool of the facility. It is so named because it features an ancient Roman temple front, Roman style tiles and many marble statues. It is drained now due to the drought and because there were some leaks that needed fixing.
Passing through more gardens, we found the tennis court. Although it was used by many of Hearst guests, he often invited winners of Wimbledon to play with him or sat as he watched them play. The tennis courts are located on top of the Venetian Pool, which was our last stop!
The tiles that line the pool, walk around the pool, and up the walls are all Murano Glass, made in Venice, Italy. Some of them are even have inlaid gold leaf. The water was kept at a constant 78 degrees. There are diving boards on either end of the pool, as well as a diving platform in the center of the pool about 8 feet from the water that is constant 10 feet deep. If you wanted to wade into the water rather than jump, just behind the diving platform is an area that is about 3 and a half feet deep.
I honestly didn't want to leave. I kept asking our tour guide if I could buy it. He said that the only competition I had was Leonardo DiCaprio who comes and take a tour of the house every couple of months. Well, hell.
From San Simeon, we drove straight to Santa Barbara. Of course, we had to make one very important stop. Lunch time. At In 'n' Out. If you don't know what In 'n' Out is, it's a burger joint that's only in California that has a cult following. Seriously, they do. Because I got a little too excited, I got a Double Double (double cheese, double beef) with Special Sauce (basically just Thousand Island), Animal Style fries (french fries, with melted cheese, sauteed onions, and Special Sauce) and a chocolate milkshake. Delicious in the moment. Terrible about three hours later. Meh, no regrets, right?
My dad lived in Santa Barbara for a couple years growing up. He asked that I find his old home and take a couple of pictures. Well, after walking up the long driveway, I got to the top, looked in the huge glass window in the front of the house, and saw the owner of the house on the computer. I got really embarrassed and booked it. In hindsight, if I had just knocked on the door, told her my dad used to live here, and asked to take a couple of pictures, she probably would of said yes. But I got too scared. I did, however, call my dad to confirm I was at the right place. Long driveway, check. Lots of cacti lining the driveway, check (apparently they are fruit bearing cactus, kind of like a prickly pear). Huge houses on stilts behind his house, check ("Oh, good, they haven't washed into the ocean yet. That's good.) Mission Santa Barbara on the adjacent hill where my dad had his First Holy Communion, check. Even thought I didn't get to see the house, my dad was glad that I got to see where he grew up.
Our day was done. All we had to do now was check into our hotel. From there, we split up. I headed to the beach while Eliza sat by the pool. The beach was lovely but so windy that when Eliza sent me a picture of a frozen Pina Colada, I booked it to the pool. Seriously, I'm not kidding when I say that the beach was 20 degrees cooler than the pool area.
After sunbathing and Pina Colada, we walked to the pier at sunset and had a quick dinner. We packed lots of things into our day and we were both exhausted. Lots more to come in our second day in Santa Barbara. Stay tuned!
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