We did go to Hearst Castle late Saturday morning. Weather was still chilly, low lying fog and the Pacific barely visible a few dozen yards to the west as we drove to the visitor center. That’s where you park, get your tickets if not arranged in advance (ours were part of the hotel package), buy souveniers and such. Behind the main building are the National Geographic theater, with an oversized movie screen, showing a very flattering 40 minute biography of William Randolph Hearst himself–no mention of Citizen Kane–and an exhibit hall.
That’s also where tourists load onto buses for the five mile ride up the hill to the castle. With all the switchbacks and narrow passes, and no guardrails to block off the wandering bobcats and zebras, I’m not surprised the cars are left at the base. The climb also took us over the clouds into bright warm sunshine.
The place is so big that four separate tours are offered, plus a nighttime highlight walk. We took the introductory “Experience” as TS1 had never been before and my last visit was around 1975. Simply awesome, you can use just about any adjective you like and not be far off. Construction took almost 28 years: planning began in 1919, after Hearst finally inherited the 360,000 acre family ranch from his mother, and ‘the first half’ of his mental picture was completed in 1947.
Julia Morgan was the architect who partnered on the vision that quickly evolved from a two floor, 32 room bunkhouse to a small, ornate village centered on a four story, 100+ room castle. Ceilings, wallcovering, furniture, grills, fireplaces and all sorts of artwork came from Hearst warehouses in New York, San Francisco and locally with instructions to find a suitable location, even if that meant tearing up a steel reinforced, concrete floor, terrace or wall. She must have had an incredibly strong personality and sense of self-worth to survive the project!
Most people will probably name the huge, illusionary indoor swimming pool as the highlight but, while I did find it fairly amazing, my choice would be the dining hall. The pool saw many more orgies, acknowledged on the tour with a wink-wink, but considering the guest lists the mealtime conversations would have had to beat even that pleasure zone.
My feet were the only happy body part as we loaded back onto the bus for the downhill ride where, sure enough, the clouds and chill were waiting.
BillSaysThis 