Four signature Central Coast experiences.
Four signature experiences on the Central Coast
Imagine a summer camp: s’mores, horseback rides, archery lessons, making crafts and splashing in the pool. Now imagine a posh golf and tennis resort, with upscale dining and estate wines, luxurious lodgings and an indulgent spa.
Billionaire John Pritzker of San Francisco envisioned both in 2009 when his private equity firm acquired 500-acre Carmel Valley Ranch, a former pear orchard that had opened as a private golf club in 1981 and became a somewhat stodgy resort a few years later.
Drawing on fond memories of summer camp that punctuated his childhood in Chicago and travel industry expertise gained as son of the founder of Hyatt Hotels, Pritzker quickly began sowing the seeds for a multimillion-dollar, largely nature-based transformation.
The first phase reaped acclaim at its debut in 2010, with new programs and luxurious rooms continuing to sprout on the hilly resort. A brand-new corral and stables offering horseback trail rides cropped up last summer, along with the first round of spacious, indoor-outdoor treetop suites. An olive grove planted this spring is already fruiting, with plans afoot for pressing olive oil.
This summer saw the advent of archery sessions, an “equine perspective” program — focused on relating to horses, rather than riding them — and tours of the new butterfly garden. A handsome adult lap pool and sprawling hot tub also debuted at the River Ranch, the resort’s family-friendly enclave on the valley floor that includes eight tennis courts, bocce courts, a locally sourced cafe and a children’s recreation area.
Next month will see the release of the Ranch’s first estate Pinot Noir, under the Swing label, named for the resort’s iconic swings that hang from live oak trees; guests can help crush this year’s grape harvest at a special event Saturday, Sept. 19. The Ranch hired respected winemaker Peter Figge — one of a half-dozen designated Ranch “artisans”— to tend the 4-acre sustainable vineyard and produce house wines, and Carmel Lavender’s John Russo to manage the lavender fields and lead tours of the apiaries, built to house the fields’ most frequent visitors.
“I love watching people experience our vineyard with no hesitation, diving into the plants, and knowing they can taste and experience the natural way the vines behave throughout the year,” Figge said.
Andrea Weiss, the Ranch’s wildlife expert, said she often stops in the vineyard while leading one of her frequent bird-watching walks or scenic hikes. “Sometimes I sneak a few grapes off the vine to offer the guests,” she said sheepishly. “I tell them about the wine, the lavender, its relationship with the bees, and how our beekeeper is the lavender distiller. ... I admire (Pritzker) for having the vision to make it more than a golf and tennis resort.”
Beekeeping tours depart from the recently renovated clubhouse of the 18-hole Pete Dye golf course, the only one in Northern California, which Pritzker also has had restored. Between the clubhouse and the hillside main Lodge (the Ranch offers free shuttles) is the terrain of farmer Mark Marino. His large organic herb and vegetable garden with towering sunflowers blooms next to a deluxe chicken coop and salt house, which turns Monterey Bay seawater into salt. All are the site of frequent educational talks — and frequent raids by the Ranch’s executive chef, Tim Wood. Valley Kitchen, his renamed and refurbished restaurant, includes a terrace overlooking the garden, vineyards and golf course.
While Wood recently revamped the menu to showcase even more local produce, meat and seafood, the resort’s signature dish may well be the gourmet s’mores, a free treat offered nightly outside the Lodge. For frequent guest Jackie Broad of Mill Valley, making s’mores is the “hands-down favorite thing to do” of her three children, ages 15, 12 and 9. “It’s an upscale camp version,” she said. “We can’t leave without having at least a half dozen.”
The kids also rush to get on the swings when they arrive, “something they’ve done so many times over the years — I even get on the swings sometime,” said Broad, a former senior analyst with Levi Strauss. “As a grown-up, it’s fun to enjoy the simple things. At the Ranch, you can have great wine and food, but there are still ways to connect with your kids and do things you enjoy from your childhood.”
Jeremy Beaver, vice president of a conglomerate in San Jose, decided to get married at the Ranch three years ago, after seeing the first phase of its renovations. He said he has returned “about 30 times” since then, for corporate and personal events, including friends’ weddings.
“It can be romantic, it can be for kids, it has great food, it’s its own compound,” Beaver noted. “There aren’t a ton of places of like that.”
The Pacific Coast Highway may be one of the most traveled, most photographed roads in the country, but Big Sur hasn’t changed all that much in the decades since Highway 1 was built into its rugged cliffs.
That’s exactly the way the locals like it. This sparsely populated region, which stretches roughly from Carmel to San Simeon, is known for its dramatic landscape, where the Santa Lucia Mountains cascade into the Pacific Ocean, redwoods carpet the valley floor, and the serpentine highway seems to hold onto the mountainsides for dear life.
Many people choose to drive through Big Sur and consider Highway 1 (called the Cabrillo Highway along that segment) the destination itself. This trend likely is due to the fact that zoning and building restrictions, not to mention the rugged topography, have kept development in Big Sur at bay, meaning the area doesn’t have a surfeit of lodging options. Tourists either have overnighted at a campground, rustic lodge or motel — or they’ve shelled out big bucks to stay in a five-star resort.
But what about the savvy traveler who wants something in between — something updated, hip and still authentic to Big Sur’s bohemian and eco-friendly vibe? That’s the question Basil and Tracy Sanborn were asking when they decided to purchase Glen Oaks Motor Lodge in 2006. Basil, whose grandparents moved to Big Sur in the 1950s, and whose parents operated Ripplewood Resort for two decades, grew up next door to the Glen Oaks property.
“I worked at both Ripplewood and Glen Oaks as a teen, cleaning rooms, washing dishes, selling gas and waiting tables,” he says. “The seller of Glen Oaks was the second owner and a close family friend. He decided to sell the land and business to my wife and me.” The couple jumped at the opportunity to reimagine it for the next generation of Big Sur visitors.
The purchase included the lodge — built in 1957 — and a campground, nestled in the nearby Redwood Grove, which had been in operation since the 1940s. The motor lodge was always a place for travelers to stop and spend the night before heading out the next morning. A simple motel with humble, adobe-walled rooms, clean bathrooms and a priceless address on the Cabrillo Highway, it had great bones. And the campground, which had many incarnations over the last several decades, had a few humble cabins and a coveted position along the Big Sur River. But the Sanborns were envisioning something more for the motor lodge and campsite, which they renamed Glen Oaks Big Sur.
“At the time we purchased the property, there was quite a disparity between the types of lodging available to guests of Big Sur,” says Basil. “Reimagining our product was actually pretty simple. We asked ourselves, ‘What would we want?’ It seemed pretty clear that there was a market for an upscale but reasonable accommodation. It still took a bit of a leap of faith, trading loyal budget-conscious customers for an unknown volume of new guests interested in high quality for good value, but it turned out OK.”
Basil, who’s trained as a civil engineer and previously worked in construction management, wanted to honor the integrity of the landscape and the original architecture. But he also wanted to give everything a tasteful update. So he brought in San Francisco architect and designer Steve Justrich to reimagine the interiors in a hip — and green — way.
“I like to call it ‘homegrown modernism,’ ” says Justrich. “We did not take the idea of midcentury design too seriously. We made a conscious choice to be just on the inside edge of trendy and hip — everyone should be comfortable here.”
Inspired by the adobe walls in the lodge, Justrich took his cues from nature when choosing materials. “I feel that the best way to be green is to be minimal, with a thoughtful, conscious and appropriate use of materials,” he says.
Floors and tabletops are made of recycled stone. The sofa upholstery is actually recycled tent canvases, and the bed frames and dressers were made out of recycled peroba wood. Even the mattresses are custom-made from natural and organic materials by local Monterey Mattress Company. The color palette is subdued yet striking — amber, chartreuse, burnt orange and forest green nod to the hues of nature outside.
Over at the campground, they extensively remodeled a few existing cabins and slowly added more small structures, which were built off-site by Cavco Homes and placed among the ancient redwoods. “It’s a beautiful site, and we’ve worked really hard to maintain and enhance its natural beauty by maintaining its historic lowimpact use,” says Basil. Light on the land, the new cottages required no grading or foundation. Compact and energy-efficient, they seem to blend into the forest, which was the intention all along.
Just above the river sits the Big Sur Roadhouse, Basil and Tracy’s latest endeavor. Opened in 2013, the restaurant — also impeccably designed by Justrich — gives Glen Oaks’ guests an on-site dining option for breakfast, lunch, dinner and drinks throughout the day.
With its modern farmhouse aesthetic and thoughtful, hyper-local menu, the restaurant makes a stylish and cozy place for guests to linger by the fireplace or fire pits and enjoy a noteworthy meal — without leaving the property. Executive Chef Brendan Esons blends classical techniques with sustainable practices and keeps hungry patrons coming back for more of his signature dishes, such as duck confit with skin cracklings, or local sea scallops bathed in a sherry pan sauce.
And almost no one leaves without trying his famous homemade pretzel, served with a porter and cheddar rarebit so decadent you’ll use your spoon to scrape the bowl clean.
The Sanborns hired Jeanette Kenworthy, who had worked for 17 years at the famed Post Ranch Inn, to manage Glen Oaks and deliver the kind of customer service for which Post Ranch Inn is known.
“I was really drawn here because of Basil’s vision to create a welcoming and beautiful getaway for guests to experience what I like to call the ‘real’ Big Sur,” says Kenworthy, who’s lived in Big Sur for 21 years. “You can experience the beauty of the Pacific Ocean and coastline all along the West Coast — however, being enveloped in a redwood grove next to the Big Sur River, with the green grass below and sun filtering through the trees above — this is truly Big Sur to me.”
“We made a conscious choice to be just on the inside edge of trendy and hip — everyone should be comfortable here.”
Steve Justrich, architect and designer