Hotel Del Monte
I try to make a habit of checking out the Monterey Weekly to see what's going on around town in case something cool is happening. This weekend was no different, and I noticed that the Maritime Museum was opening a new exhibit on the Del Monte Hotel, a Monterey landmark that is today owned by the Navy (and is therefore off limits to us mere civilians).
Besides the opening of the gallery, there were a couple of presentations, with the one today promising a history of the place followed by a walking tour of the grounds - sign me up!
Both the gallery and the presentation were very interesting, explaining how the hotel was built by one of the four California rail tycoons and what a large part it played in the history of Monterey - in its day, it was a major vacation resort and sports destination.
After the presentation, we went on the walking tour from the museum to the hotel (naval base) with two guides, one from the museum called Tim who talked us all the way to the hotel and one called John who gave the presentation and the tour of the property.
It turned out to be a lot more than a tour of the grounds - we did tour the grounds and we went into the main building of the hotel (now still a sort of hotel - short term billeting for visitors to the Navy base), and we even got to go to the top of the tower and check out the amazing view.
The picture below is looking towards the main entrance of the hotel.
Once inside, we saw the cool artwork, architecture and tilework before we headed to the top of the tower to take in the view.
Although the Navy has done a good job of preserving the hotel's history, the main swimming pool is now full of sand (done for various reasons about 10 years ago), which resulted in the interesting photo below.
The Del Monte Hotel spawned a lot of what is famous in the area - 17 mile drive officially starts and ends at the hotel, Pebble Beach was a lodge of the hotel back in the day, the hotel had a lot to do with explaining why Cannery Row is where it is, the area's fame in the golf world - they're all thanks to the hotel and its owners over the years.
Some things are no longer around - there was a mile oval race track at one time, and the cool maze is now a parking lot - but in its day it was a world class resort destination complete with its own railway station (the foundations of which are still around).
Very cool.
Besides the opening of the gallery, there were a couple of presentations, with the one today promising a history of the place followed by a walking tour of the grounds - sign me up!
Both the gallery and the presentation were very interesting, explaining how the hotel was built by one of the four California rail tycoons and what a large part it played in the history of Monterey - in its day, it was a major vacation resort and sports destination.
After the presentation, we went on the walking tour from the museum to the hotel (naval base) with two guides, one from the museum called Tim who talked us all the way to the hotel and one called John who gave the presentation and the tour of the property.
It turned out to be a lot more than a tour of the grounds - we did tour the grounds and we went into the main building of the hotel (now still a sort of hotel - short term billeting for visitors to the Navy base), and we even got to go to the top of the tower and check out the amazing view.
The picture below is looking towards the main entrance of the hotel.
Once inside, we saw the cool artwork, architecture and tilework before we headed to the top of the tower to take in the view.
Although the Navy has done a good job of preserving the hotel's history, the main swimming pool is now full of sand (done for various reasons about 10 years ago), which resulted in the interesting photo below.
The Del Monte Hotel spawned a lot of what is famous in the area - 17 mile drive officially starts and ends at the hotel, Pebble Beach was a lodge of the hotel back in the day, the hotel had a lot to do with explaining why Cannery Row is where it is, the area's fame in the golf world - they're all thanks to the hotel and its owners over the years.
Some things are no longer around - there was a mile oval race track at one time, and the cool maze is now a parking lot - but in its day it was a world class resort destination complete with its own railway station (the foundations of which are still around).
Very cool.
posted by Tim H at 10:14 PM
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