………………..”San Simeon Castle”……..On one of Jac and my vacations to California…we traveled from LA to the Napa Valley with our friends….Patti and Laurance Taylor…..On the way up the Pacific Coast Highway Laurance organized a private tour of the San Simeon Castle which was built and owned by William Randolph Hearst Sr……Hearst was a communications Media Baron, and extremely wealthy…..The movie “Citizen Kane” starred Orson Welles, who also directed it. It was inspired by Hearst. The movie is considered the greatest picture of all time [debatable]……..Hearst was married three times, but had a 34 year relationship with the actress Marion Davies. The castle was a place they could be free to entertain and live…and entertain they did!!!!….The stories are legendary, and every actress and actor of worth at the time spent weekends at the castle…….We are standing at the outdoor pool where many a pool party took place!…You can only imagine what went on in this Roman setting….The castle, the grounds, the separate guest bungalows are incredible. At the time he lived there he also had a huge zoo with all kinds of wild animals….The indoor pool is supposed to be the finest in the world and it is magnificent. The two photos at the right show the “Great Room”, and the “Library”…….There is a secret staircase that we went down that Hearst used to spy on his guests!…..This is a stop well worth making if you are visiting the west coast with a trip up the PCH!!!!
I have been there many times through the years beginning in my childhood when you had to take an old school bus up the hill. It is always worth a stop if you are headed up PCH to Carmel or San Francisco.
I was fortunate to tour San Simeon Castle years ago. Truly beautiful and fascinating!
Beautiful. I really enjoy the posts that take us to places we could never go ourselves. Thanks