![]() ![]() On Monterey Peninsula’s south side, explore artsy Carmel-by-the-Sea (locals just call it Carmel), a town that deftly straddles the balance point of rich history and new wealth. Rent bikes to follow the coast south around the peninsula to Pacific Grove, Asilomar State Beach, and the sea-and-spray beauty (and gazillion-dollar homes and celebrated Pebble Beach golf courses) along the 17-Mile Drive. Step outside and find yourself among hotels, shops, and restaurants filling former fish-packing plants along Cannery Row, made famous by local author John Steinbeck. World-renowned Monterey Bay Aquarium, with its psychedelic jellies and bat-ray petting tanks is a must-visit, especially for families. As Pebble caddies like to note, it fetched $27 mil in 2015, which would get you about 51,000 PBGL rounds - excluding caddie fees.Wrapped by the Pacific on three sides, the Monterey Peninsula at once offers wind-tossed beaches and quiet coves, fine dining and casual eats, early history and postmodern art. Witness the 12,000-squarefoot seaside spread that sits behind Pebble’s 10th green and once belonged to the actor Gene Hackman. GENE HACKMAN’S HOUSE The rich are no different from the rest of us they just require more floor space. The older, larger one looms here, a natural cathedral equally magical in the gloaming or in dappled morning light.ġ7. One stands a short drive south, in Point Lobos State Park, which resembles Cypress Point minus the golf course. CROCKER GROVE There are only two native Monterey cypress forests on earth. CYPRESS POINT LOOKOUT Just beyond the famously exclusive club of the same name one finds a famously exhilarating overlook, with million-dollar views that stretch south to Big Sur.ġ6. CHINA ROCK The discoloration on many of the rocks here dates to the late 1800s and was caused by cook fires from a Chinese fishing village, one of many that dotted the Monterey coast.ġ5. PESCADERO POINT If you spy a spectral figure in a white evening gown drifting down the center of 17-Mile Drive as you cruise past Pescadero Point, she might well be “The Lady in Lace,” an oft-sighted apparition around these parts.ġ4. THE LODGE AT PEBBLE BEACH As you pass the turnoff to the Lodge, consider the many notables who have graced its rooms, including Frank Sinatra, who late one evening sucker-punched a well-intentioned soul in a fit of rage after being told that dinner was no longer being served.ġ3. On a horse-drawn coach ride in 1891, President Benjamin Harrison stopped to buy a trinket with a $10 bill, but the vendor demanded “real” money, forcing Harrison to rummage through his pockets for coins.ġ2. STILLWATER COVE In the late 1800s, pre-Pebble Beach Golf Links, 17-Mile Drive ran hard along the water at Stillwater Cove and was flanked by souvenir stands selling seaside collectibles. In 1962, when the surrounding land was used for Spyglass Hill, the Gingerbread House became the home for successive Spyglass greenskeepers.ġ1. THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE Noted artist-turned-architect Pedro de Lemos designed this whimsical cottage for himself in the 1940s. GHOST TREES When locals here speak of “Ghost Trees” (or “Ghost Tree”), they either mean the bleached white, dead Monterey cypress trees along this haunted-looking stretch of shoreline, or the deadly big-wave surf spot that breaks offshore.ġ0. LOCATION SHOT There are horses for courses… and horses for movies, like the steed ridden along the 14th hole at Pebble Beach Golf Links by Elizabeth Taylor in 1939’s National Velvet, one of many films shot in the area.ĩ.
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