John and I were the lucky guests of a good friend of ours who is quite the philanthropist. She recently gave a generous donation to Planned Parenthood , which resulted in a private tour of Hearst Castle followed by a swim in the Neptune Pool and Roman Pool at the Castle!
Hearst Castle is part fantasy, part folly. Its fanciful towers dance up a hillside above San Simeon--a palace perched on a most unlikely site. www.hearstcastle.org Its eccentric and energetic founder and creator, William Randolph Hearst, was a powerful businessman and icon of the early 20th century.
Photo Credit: Claire Turner
Hearst's taste for art was developed on a trip to the Louvre in the 1870's as a child, where he asked his wealthy mom, Phoebe, if she would buy the museum for him! That was the beginning of a lifetime of collecting art and creating venues for his ever-expanding collection. From the sublime to the bizarre, the collection amassed and stored at Hearst Castle is truly impressive.
It seems implausible that someone as prolific a collector and builder could actually do any other work in their lifetime, but the Hearst media empire was one of the largest of the media conglomerates of the 20th century, spanning film to newspapers.
Hearst castle, the 100,000 square foot self-sustaining city that was erected in the 1920s on this hilltop, was a favorite camping spot of the Hearst family when WR was a child. Hearst contracted with the amazing Julia Morgan, a muse and architect of great accomplishment, to create the magnificent folly at San Simeon he called his "ranch."
Today, Hearst Castle happens to be the most visited state park in the California State Park system, but the stories that one could imagine occurring on that hillside in the 1920s and 1930s with every luminary from Winston Churchill to Louis B Mayer, from Mary Pickford to Errol Flynn, must have been magic! It seems that through actress, Marion Davies,' longterm relationship with both WR Hearst and "the bottle," spirits were limited to 2 cocktails per day during ones stay at the "ranch." Like most things in Hearst's life, everything was tightly controlled.
Our swim was followed by a private dinner for 6 poolside in the Roman Baths. To have access to the seldom-visited areas of the Castle where no tours go, and to access archives filled with volumes of original plans, notes and artifacts that filled this museum of a home, was a treat.
Our tour was guided by the director and curator of the collection. We were shown the archive vault where all of the correspondence and architectural drawings between Julia Morgan and Mr. Hearst are safely stored. It was fascinating to witness the "intellectual affair" these two were having over the design and construction of Hearst Castle.
Photo: Claire Turner John's jumping into the Roman Pool from the beautiful dive platform was an experience. But, the best part of the day was to share it with friends and to have the house all to ourselves, just we six, taking a step back in time. Here we were, living like movie stars! Thank you Cyndee!
