The Central Coast of California – Road trip in the American West #13

I don’t know if it’s the fatigue or the lack of research, but we couldn’t enjoy California’s central coast like others do.

This article is part of our series of articles on the American West road trip. If you haven’t read the previous travel diaries, here they are: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12

Part 1: Travel Journal
Part 2: Practical Tips

Part 1: Travel Journal

Days 21 to 27 of the road trip:

When I see other tourists able to do a road trip just by hugging the California coast, I wonder how they do it because it’s the least interesting part of our whole trip. Luckily there were some unforgettable highlights, but it can all be done in 3 days, not the 7 we initially planned.

Between San Francisco and Monterey, I had planned a night in the forest, in a State Park, in a quiet motel with a view of beautiful trees. JB books the hotel on their website. While searching on Google Maps to see if the hotel has a washing machine, I spot a word that often appears in the hotel’s reviews: “ghost”. It’s the most haunted hotel in the area (by a young ghost apparently). If I hadn’t known, I probably wouldn’t have seen or felt anything, but now that I know, I can’t possibly spend the night there, especially since it’s in the middle of the woods. It sounds too much like the start of a horror movie: “road trip, motel, ghost”. However, it’s too late to cancel, but there’s no way I’m going to be scared out of my wits, so JB is tasked with finding another hotel very, very far from that one. UPDATE: In the end, by blocking online payments on the card we used for the reservation, the hotel canceled it on the same day and we didn’t lose anything in the end.

The central coast thus starts for us with Monterey. JB found a charming hotel in an old house, not haunted this time.

A few minutes from the hotel, we saw surfers.

There are plenty of beautiful houses along the beach, as well as in the downtown area. Everything is gorgeous and super expensive (1.5 to 2 million dollars minimum for a small house).

The town thrived on fishing, they even had a canning company. Now, it’s more of a retirement spot.

We dine at the only Thai restaurant in town, it’s super, super good! They also make an effort with art deco everywhere. It’s the city of stained glass, I love it!

Time seems to stand still here, and we enjoy the small downtown, checking out all the shops, especially vintage items. For a few days now, I’ve been searching high and low for where to find books from the old publishing house Limited Editions Club (or Heritage Press, from the same owner, but less luxurious). An online forum points to Monterey, where some (well-stocked) forum members are located. They don’t give the names of their favorite bookstores, but I managed to find one. Unfortunately, the bookseller seemed hostile and wanted to hide the fact that he had books from this publisher (weird!). But at Vintage Finds, I found a huge collection of books fromHeritage Press. It must have belonged to a great local collector.

The three books I had my eye on were all there: Gone with the Wind, The Innocents Abroad, and Kim, but for the latter two, based on my research, the Heritage Press version has fewer colors than the Limited Editions Club version, so I didn’t get them.

For Gone with the Wind, I feel the two editions are comparable, so after much hesitation, I buy it, but only volume 2 is available. That’s fine, I’ll find volume 1 online later. I took some photos of volume 2 for you here.

They don’t make books of such high quality anymore, so when they’re available at $15 a pop, it’s a sign from the universe 😀

Highway 1 towards Big Sur

Due to fatigue, when leaving Monterey, we forget to hug the coast and completely miss the 17 Mile Drive between Monterey and Carmel-by-the-Sea. As well as the Lone Cypress (which serves as a logo for many companies and book covers). Also, we later learn that we missed Filoli Historic House when leaving San Francisco. It’s the villa that hosted Xin Ping during his meeting with Biden in November 2023, and apparently he was very impressed by the house. So, we miss so many things when we’re tired.

Driving along the Highway 1 towards Big Sur offers several impressive viewpoints…

…but unfortunately this road is blocked from Big Sur onwards, and they’ve been trying to clear tons of dirt from a landslide for months. The drive that should take 1.5-2 hours to Morro Bay turns into an endless 4-hour detour. To top it off (and still due to fatigue), JB discovers he booked our hotel for January instead of December, and we have to book another hotel last minute. JB, who imagined resting in a nice hotel with a gym and breakfast, suddenly finds himself with a motel with no amenities. But the good news is we get to spend 3 nights here to recover.

Morro Bay is a very, very quiet town, where you get a beautiful sunset from a volcanic rock about a hundred meters high.

It is also only 30 minutes from Hearst Castle.

The next day, we visit Hearst Castle, the work of an incredibly wealthy man who wanted a beautiful home to house his collections of art and exotic animals. The exotic animals (including a few polar bears and giraffes) are gone, but the house remains as it was, now managed by the state of California. The heirs still have rights to the land, where they raise organic beef (which is served in the sandwich at the Visitor Center).

We leave the car in the parking lot and have to take a bus to get to the top of the hill, where the house is. A guide is waiting for us. I opted for the “upstairs rooms” tour; it’s less crowded, and I prefer it because you get to see two beautiful libraries (my thing).

There are two pools, one outside and one inside. The house was completed just before World War II, so forget heated water, especially since it comes from a mineral spring, so to swim, you have to wear a wetsuit, not a swimsuit. Its first owner surrounded himself with Hollywood stars, and in those days, being invited here meant you had made it in Hollywood. It’s worth noting that despite 28 years of work, the house isn’t quite finished. There’s still an unfinished fountain, undecorated exterior walls (none of which will ever be completed because the state of California wanted to keep the house as is), but the interior is impeccable. The façade looks more like a Spanish church than a castle.

What I really loved were the two libraries. Apparently, G.R.R. Martin, grumpy and in a bad mood, came to tour the house (private tour, of course) and got stuck in the elevator (which never works). After that, he supposedly claimed to have no more writer’s block (but we’re still waiting for the next book in his series, right?).

It’s really sad to see wealthy Americans forced to bring in European and Asian antiques instead of hiring American artisans. There’s barely anything American in the house (except some successful wall murals), even the ceilings were sourced, bought at auctions, picked up from who knows where. The whole thing still works together thanks to the talented architect (who lived in San Francisco and made a hundred round trips to oversee the construction). She could have put a little more effort into the staircase, which is tiny and spiral… I asked if it was a service staircase, and the guide said no, it’s the only way to get to the bedrooms. You can feast your eyes on Greek vases, Italian sculptures, French beds, but when it comes to making a staircase that wows, there’s no one left. The more time I spend in the US, the more I see through the façade of this country; it’s all empty when you try to dig a little. I can no longer be in awe, or even want to live here. Their soft power doesn’t impress me anymore.

We finish with the indoor pool with over a million mosaics. The ceiling is ugly because it’s under renovation. It reminds me of the pool at our hotel in Sapa, but this one is much, much bigger and deeper.

Hearst Castle remains my favorite visit on the Central Coast. Tourists usually opt for the tour of the reception rooms, but if you have time, you can do two guided tours if you like.

We opt for the organic beef burger raised right here. It’s good but not extraordinary.

10 minutes away is a beach with lots of seals sunbathing. JB tells me that given their stillness, you could clearly write an article with an alarming headline: “Thousands of seals found dead on a California beach.” Without the seals dueling at the end of the beach, you’d believe they were dead. Anyway, they look like babies, they’re so small.

We visit San Luis Obispo which has a very lively downtown with nice shops and some beautiful houses. To the south, there’s a nice beach, and if you go a bit further, there’s a sort of cave and below it, it’s empty.

Santa Barbara has a pedestrian street with organic farmers and fast-fashion shops. Nothing special. Well, maybe I didn’t research these towns enough. The “issue” when you’re on your 3rd world tour is that it takes a lot more to impress us now.

Fortunately, Solvang which looks totally fake, is more interesting. It’s a mini-Denmark with Californian wine (wine cellars every 5 meters). The houses look like Disneyland, but it’s fun to walk around here, especially in the evening when the Christmas lights remind us of “Home Alone.”

We visit the museum dedicated to Hans Christian Andersen. I discover that besides his storytelling talent, he also did paper cutting.

And then, big surprise: right next to it, there’s a section of old books, and I see a row of books from the publisher I’ve been looking for for days: Limited Editions Club !!! It allowed me to touch the paper, look at the illustrations, feel the binding. It’s a step above Heritage Press, and if I had the choice, Limited Editions Club would indeed be my top priority. These books sell for between $20 and $100 depending on condition, but new books of equivalent quality, if released today, would cost around $500-600. So if you’re looking for a classic, it’s better to go for these old editions rather than new ones.

Downstairs, there’s a large collection of Franklin Library books. They don’t interest me, but I know there are plenty of collectors who would be interested.

In short, I spent more time in bookstores than at the beach during that week. We’re both looking forward to getting to Los Angeles for a change.

Part 2: Practical Tips

All our routes and points of interest are available on this Google Maps map. I’ve already explained how to use our custom maps here