I’ve come to learn that our favorite local places to visit are all about the “culminated” effect, it’s not just one memory that makes us love a place so much, but the culmination of many happy memories of a place. Take for example a trip to one of our California beaches, whether it’s Santa Cruz, Monterey or Carmel. We can bring a visiting friend to these areas and they can take a step onto our beaches and say “what’s so great about it?” But when we stand on the beach and look out over the water we see in our minds eye every good experience we have ever had there.
We see bonfires on the beach with friends, singing songs to a guitar strumming while we toast marshmallows. We see ourselves body boarding in the cold waves, hikes along the bluff, grilling artichokes on the beach and volleyball. We remember roller coaster rides, whales bones on display, picnics on a beach blanket with friends. Charcuterie boards on washed up drift wood, wine with friends, stunning sunsets and long talks. We remember napping with family under the warm sun, toes in the sand and children laughing while they play in the waves. So many memories and so many good times.
It still amazes me that no matter how many times I have come to these beaches, I always see something new. This time I visited Carmel, the little town near Monterey. Carmel has a wide expanse of soft white beaches studded with gnarled and twisted cypress tress overlooking turquoise water. I don’t know why the water looks so much more turquoise here in Carmel than it does in neighboring Monterey, is it the white sand? Monterey is stunning on its own merit but the look is different. I love Carmel for it’s tolerance of bonfires on the beach in designated fire rings and it’s beautiful Seaside town, Carmel-by-the-Sea.
This story is about that little Seaside town of Carmel-by-the -Sea and how it especially caught my attention on this October day. I’ve always loved to drive down highway 1 to Ocean avenue, dropping down through the adorable town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, hanging a left onto Scenic Road and hugging that gorgeous sweeping California coastline past the Clinton Walker Frank Lloyd Wright house, curving around the craggy Carmel point, passing the Robinson Jeffers “Thor” house until we arrive at the Carmel River State beach. We usually pile out of the car burdened down with beach blankets and ice chests heading for a day at the beach.
This drive is one of the best parts of a trip to Carmel-by-the-Sea. Blue, blue water rolling and pounding the white beach, always turning and churning under the deep blue sky. The area is full of gnarled and twisted Cyprus trees that have have been bent by the relentless winds, assuring us that everyday in Carmel-by-the-Sea is not always as tranquil and exquisite as it is today, Large purple coastal flowers dot the landscape and provide a beautiful contrast to the blue water amd white sand. But even though the natural beauty is enough to grab your attention and make your jaw drop, I still find myself distracted by the whimsical homes along the shore of Carmel-by-the-Sea.
Everytime I come here, I gasp and say “look at that house! it’s so cute it makes my heart hurt!” I say that about every fourth house I see! Each home seems to have a story to tell and a garden to gasp at! Even the flowers seem to bloom out of season and in response to the microclimate around it. Hydrangeas, Callalillies, peonies and black eyed Susan’s all winking to the sun. Well, on this particular visit I finally asked the question “why?” And I got my answer, it was a community built and established by artists, writers and dreamers.
California was relinquished to America from Mexico in 1850, and slowly people started to make their way to this rustic, exquisitely beautiful, remote area far from population. In fact it wasnt until the 1906 earthquake and fire in San Francisco that people started to relocate themselves here, many of them were artists and writers. Carmel’s early residents, which included authors George Sterling, Jack London and poet Robinson Jeffers, lived in Carmel in tents, they warmed themselves with camp fires in the woods and picnicked on the beach, much like we like to do today!
Tent life wouldnt last forever, soon land devepor Frank Devendorf arrived in 1902 with a vision for Carmel. He had purchased land in Carmel and wanted to parcel out the land with affordable houses. He needed a builder and found one in young, 17 year old Michael Murphys who had just arrived in Carmel with his mom and sister. They had sold their farm in Utah to come out west. Michael Murphy was a carpenter but had only ever built one house, a little 800 square foot house for his mom and sister, right next to the tent they had been living in. The house is still here in Carmel and is called “The First Murphy House”, it currently houses the Welcoming Commitee for Carmel. Frank Devenport hired young Murphy and he would later come to build over 300 buildings in Carmel.
One interesting story of their early development was when Devendorf ordered 100 “portable houses”, but what arrived was 100 doors! These were solid oak doors from Victorian houses that had burned down in San Francisco, part of a larger delivery that would come in shipments but in the meantime what would they do with all of these doors? As the story goes “necessity is the mother of invention”, so John Columbus Stevenson, decided to use the doors and build his family a vacation home. Using 32 identical solid wood four-panel doors he lined his house inside and out with doors. This “door house” is still in Carmel and is available to tour.
Other than the development of these interesting homes, Devendorf and his associate Frank Powers, planted 100 of the iconic Cyprus trees that now are so characteristic of the region. One other notable building that can be contributed to these men was the “Thor House”, designed and build by Murphy for the famous American writer Robinson Jeffers in 1918.
This house and it’s stone tower called “Hawk tower” was built with Jeffers own hand, to the delight of his wife and twin sons. You can also arrange a tour of this beautifully unique stone home along the Scenic Hwy off the Carmel point.
Murphy and Devendorf may have started the ball rolling but it was Hugh Comstock, from the cornfields of Illinois that brought the real architectural charm to Carmel. Hugh was 31 when he came to Carmel in 1922 to visit his sister, Catherine and her husband, George Seideneck, who were already artists living in Carmel. Hugh Comstock only meant to have a short visit to Carmel but when strolling the early streets of Carmel he saw a lady hanging hand made rag dolls on a line, hand painting their faces. He was immediately struck by the young lady, they married and shortly afterwards her rag doll, the “Otsy-Totsy”, was a success!
Not having enough room for her dolls, she asked her new husband, Hugh Comstock, if he could build her a cottage to display the dolls. Hugh had no prior building knowledge or experience, but he knew that his sister Catherine and her husband had built their home in Carmel, he thought “why not?” and commenced building her a fairy tale dream house to house her dolls. They named this 244 square foot house “Hansel” and later he also built her “Gretel”.
He designed the homes straight from the pages of the Grimm Brothers fairytales illustrated by Arthur Rackham. This English cottages inspired him as he built the whimsical chimneys out of the local Carmel stones and carved the eves and banisters from local wood.
In the 1920’s many of the buildings in Carmel were irregularly built wood or canvas tent cabins. There were no building inspectors or codes to deal with so residents built their homes with what was available. As tourists visited Carmel they were drawn to the newest attraction in this charming town, the enchanting doll houses that seemed to spring from the enchanted surroundings, like the mushrooms and toadstools in the woods.
These “doll houses” with high pitched gable roof and stone fireplace became the local favorite of every Carmel resident. Hugh’s gift to his doll maker wife blossomed into a career, as the orders for more “fairy tale” cottages came rolling in.
Many jumped on the idea and soon Carmel was filled with adorable Tudor style “doll houses” instead of the Spanish style that was the current trend everywhere else. Adding to the charm of Carmel was the town ordinance that forbid the cutting down of any tree, rather the streets and homes mingled among the old oak trees and an intertwined symphony. Carmel does not use numbered addresses, rather each home is named, like “Hansel”, “Gretel” and “Tuck Box”, adding to the whimsy.
This artist community added another interesting architectural home when in 1948 Mrs. Clinton Walker commissioned Frank Lloyd Write to design her a home on Scenic Drive, perched on a rocky outcrop. She wanted it to be as sturdy as the rocks but as clear as the water. This Frank Lloyd Wright house now anchors itself to the Carmel Point as it looks out over the magestic water.
Thank you for joining me on this little tour of homes in Carmel. There are so many beautiful things to do and see here in Carmel-by-the-Sea, most of them involve walking on the soft beaches, gazing at a beautiful sunset and watching the waves come rolling in. But now we can also close our eyes and see the artists and writers of another era sitting by their canvas tents warming themselves by a smokey fire in the woods of Carmel dreaming of their own futures. We can imagine young 17 year old Michael Murphy building a house next to his tent to the delight of his mother and sister. We can see Hugh Comstock stumble upon the love of his life as she hung her ragdolls on the line, the dolls that would inspire him to build the fairytale houses of Carmel. A love that would last a lifetime and start the spark of “fairytale” homes in the town that is Carmel-by-the-Sea.
