Bill Hearst's Crib

Last week I visited Hearst Castle for the first time since Sep 19, 1970; I remember the date precisely since it was one day after my 19th birthday, and one day after Jimi Hendrix died. (RIP guitar master!) After 38 years plus, I reckoned it was time for another tour, so I visited on the way home from Pismo. This is the Neptune Pool...wouldn't be shabby to have this in your back yard! This is the third pool built on the site...Hearst rejected the first two. It's closed to the public, but our tour guide said that he and his fellow employees can swim in it during the summer when the water warms up...it's no longer heated. The portico at the far end of the pool is genuine Roman architecture imported by Hearst from Italy.

This is the main house, 1600 feet above sea level with a vast view down to the Pacific. This place had 42 bedrooms, if I remember correctly. There are also guest houses on the property that have another dozen or so bedrooms. Hearst had large parties, including lots of Hollywood types; most of the folks who were stars in the 1930s came up. There are movies of Charlie Chaplin playing tennis here. Clark Gable and Carol Lombard were also visitors, and many others. One remarkable thing that I remember from my 1970 tour, reiterated by our guide this time, is that Hearst imported entire centuries old ceilings from Italian buildings, then nailed them into place in various rooms here. Never heard of another bloke who collected antique ceilings! I toured the Castle with about half a dozen adults, and around 50 Australian teenagers.

There is also an indoor pool at San Simeon, ideal when it got a bit chilly in the winter. It was tough to get photos of the interior; you could use cameras, but not flashes, and I didn't have a tripod. I got this pic by propping the camera on a rail and taking a time exposure. It's all very opulent; as our guide said, Hearst was just showin' off in many cases. I don't think I would have particularly enjoyed a visit here in the old days. You had to dress formally for dinner (yeech!) and I read once that at least most of the time Hearst would only let people have one drink per evening...he disliked folks who drank heavily. Except for swimming in the Neptune Pool, the place would have been a bit too foofoo and sober for me.