I left my heart at Hearst Castle...

I have been thinking about the beautiful Ranch
in the hills of San Simeon
all week.

The birds were chirping,
the waves crashing on the beach,
(we even saw some blue whales breaching)
and I felt a calmness I'm not used to feeling in the city.

While there,
I got thinking about the guests who got to stay
for a weekend at the request of W.R. Hearst,
and wished I was one of them.

The spectacular views, the amazing gardens,
and most admirably,
the POOLS.

There, of course, were two.

The outdoor Neptune pool for catching some rays
after a long ride on the property,
or a challenging game of tennis...

*Scenes from Spartacus were filmed here

and the indoor Roman pool,
for evening swims,


*the diving platform


was decorated with 1" mosaic glass tiles,
detailed with 23K gold leaf,

and glistened by antique candle-lit fixtures.

I would have loved to have enjoyed a night cap and
taken a dip with a young Cary Grant...

*he was a frequent guest...

before turning into my room at Casa Del Sol,
the 3600 sq. foot guest house.

*Casa del Sol

Maybe I would have asked him to tuck me in...

I know, there are many who would argue that he would have been
much more intrigued by Clark Gable than me,

but I'm willing to wager he would have found me enchanting.

Who knows?
Maybe in a past life, he did.

xx

And not for $1.00 more...

I spent the weekend in San Simeon,
at 'The Ranch' as they liked to call it.

(Hearst had 7 other estates of this magnitude,

the actual 'Castle' was in Wales, I found out,
and he had an additional 30 individual homes.)

When George Bernard Shaw visited 'The Ranch',

he is quoted as saying that it was
"what God would have built if he had the money."

I was awestruck by the incredible detail,

how nothing was spared in the creation of this remarkable place.

And I will discuss that at length in the posts that follow.

But one of the most intriguing parts of my visit,

what had me completely romanced,
was Hearst's affair with actress Marion Davies.

They were in love.

And although he was married, with a wife in the 90 room estate

on Long Island, raising the 5 children,
he was throwing lavish parties at The Ranch,
with her by his side.

They would swim, horseback ride, and play tennis by day,

have cocktail hour at 7:30p,
dinner in the dining room at 10p,
and then a movie afterward in the ornate theater
(normally staring her)
before retiring to bed.

Guests included all the biggest stars: Douglas Fairbanks,

Charlie Chaplin,

and even a young JFK.

What a decadent life.

And then,

When Hearst died, he left 51% of his wealth to Marion.
And in a spirit of solidarity she sold it back to his wife and children.

For $1.00 per year.

You see, she was never in it for the money.

She was just in love.

Imagine that, a man literally on top of the world.
And the true treasure in his life couldn't be bought.

Now THAT's priceless.

xx