The Area, Carmel-By-The-Sea

Beverly Hills has Rodeo Drive. Carmel-By-The-Sea has Ocean Avenue. With its mix of chi-chi boutiques, art galleries, and bistros, this tight-knit neighborhood caters to a stiletto-heeled clientele. In a town where Clint Eastwood was once mayor, neon signs, billboards and food stands are banned, its residents voted overwhelmingly to remain address-less and not receive home delivery of mail.

The authentic European walking village is styled in a Bavarian tradition with its gingerbread architecture, famed alfresco dining options and a labyrinth of quaint cobblestone side streets. Situated along the famous white sand of Carmel Beach, this artist colony has been a haven for artists, retirees, and beach lovers.

Father Junipero Serra, father of California missions, was one of Carmel’s earliest European settlers to establish a presence by building a mission in 1771. He chose the location near the ocean as his favorite spot to live and is buried at the Carmel mission, a magnificent adobe structure with a lost-in-time feel. A century later, the land was snatched up by San Jose land developer Frank Devendorf, who subdivided it with dreams of creating a village of writers, poets, and painters. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake drove many creative types including Mary Austin, Sinclair Lewis, Xavier Martinez, David Starr Jordan, and Jack London to the area.

Nowadays, Carmel-by-the Sea and its countless bed and breakfasts is a laid back, romantic refuge for discriminating tourists and newlyweds who appreciate a sophisticated, yet slower place of living. Aside from the wellheeled clientele, dogs reign supreme in Carmel-by-the-Sea and most retail establishments greet their four legged friends with bowls of water and biscuits. Many restaurants offer petfriendly outdoor dining patios; some even doggie menus bearing quirky entrées such as The Quarter Hounder or Hot Diggity Dog. When Fido isn’t mixing and mingling at Carmel Beach, cafés or at the Fountain of Woof at Carmel Plaza, there are pooch-centric parades, including the annual Reindoggie Parade, where hundred of Carmel’s canine citizens come out to compete and raise money for the SPCA of Carmel.

For the culturally minded, Sunset Theater, a regional center for the performing arts, presents world-class programs worthy of any urban arena, such as the Carmel Bach Festival, a longstanding music tradition in Carmel. Since its 2003 renovation, Sunset Theater has hosted more than 50 classic musical performances each year, and welcomes artists such as Wynton Marsalis and his jazz ensemble and Lyle Lovett to its stage.

GUESTLIFE DON'T MISS

Picture This

The art world doesn’t get much more authentic than here, where galleries per capita averages more than one for every 100 residents, due in part to the patronage of celebrity residents and affluent tourists. For photographic prints, the Weston Gallery showcases great 19th and 20th century American photographers Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, and Morley Baer, as well as emerging artists. Stop by the nation’s second-oldest artist cooperative, Carmel Art Association, a local secret when it comes to art collecting. More than 100 artists’ paintings and sculptures start at under $100.

Information: Weston Gallery, (831) 626-4453 Carmel Art Association, (831) 624-6176

GUESTLIFE ROMANCE

Space To Dream

Since husband-and-wife team of David and Kathleen Fink renovated the 1929 landmark into a voguish 20-room boutique hotel, L’Auberge has gained a reputation as one of the loveliest hotels in the area. Just four blocks from Carmel Beach, it is the ethereal beauty of L’Auberge’s European-influenced architecture and the slow idyll and intimacy of its setting that make it so beguiling. The inn is intentionally romantic. Furnished in an updated between-the-wars décor, rich dark woods set off thick silk curtains, gorgeous upholstery, and plump bed cushions. Rooms with French window peek-a-boo ocean views are kitted out with a comfy king-sized bed, decadent Hungarian down bedding, an oversized sunken tub, and heated bathroom floors. It’s hard to leave the cosseting and luxury, but L’Auberge’s 12-table restaurant, reminiscent of Europe’s elite Michelin-starred hotel restaurants, is worth making a reservation for.

Information: L’Auberge, (831) 624-8578