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Podcast title	Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
Website URL	http://www.carmelcalifornia.co...
Description	The Official Travel Site for Carmel-by-the-Sea, California offers you an inside's view of Carmel's rich history, culture, lifestyle, accommodations, arts, entertainment, and stunning natural beauty. World-renowned for its European charm, beautiful white-sand beach, performing arts, and hundreds of shops, art galleries, and restaurants, Carmel-by-the-Sea was rated a top-ten destination in the U.S. by Condé Nast Traveler. Visit California's jewel city for an unforgettable getaway and save with specials and incentives available only at CarmelCalifornia.com.
Updated	Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:41:24 -0800
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Category	Places & Travel
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1. Carmel Dog Calendar 2008 download (video/x-m4v, 16.06Mb) Description: 2008 Carmel Dog Calendar Gets Unleashed Just in Time for the Holidays Carmel, CA—As anyone who lives in Carmel-by-the-Sea knows, dogs are distinct and important personalities here. The 2008 Carmel Dog Calendar takes this notion to another level.This year the Carmel Mission is the backdrop for the cover image, featuring Toby, a huge Newfoundland dog, standing proudly at this historic site. The other locations include Carmel beach, Fourtané Estate Jewelers, Pacific Repertory Theatre, Caffe Cardinale, Carmel’s 70-year old fire station, Casanova Restaurant, the landmark Thatcher House, Carmel Bay Company, Forge in the Forest, Carmel Art Association, and Carmel Plaza. “The Carmel Dog Calendar shows off unique Carmel locations that match each dog’s personality and style,” says Jeff Burghardt, who oversees Carmel-by-the-Sea’s marketing. “The real challenge is getting the dogs to stand still during the photo shoot. A lot of squeaky toys, tasty treats, and patience are essential to getting the perfect shot.” The dogs were less concerned, though. For the most part, they were just themselves. Some calm, some spastic, and some with human characteristics. For instance, a longhaired mini named Sophie poses at Caffe Cardinale as if she is a supermodel. So model-esque, there’s a cinnamon-sprinkled cappuccino next to her paws. Another great example of a human-like dog is Harry, a Sheltie wearing a Santa hat and smiling for the month of December. And then there’s Xebi, a wirehaired pointer who wears a red scarf and is ready for a top-down ride in an antique toy car at Carmel Bay Company. Of course, this car-themed month is August, announcing the 2nd annual Concours on the Avenue. This year’s calendar dogs were selected at the annual Carmel Dog Calendar Casting Call sponsored by BARK, the modern dog culture magazine. More than 175 enthusiastic dogs, along with their nervous two-legged escorts, strutted their stuff on Carmel Beach for a chance at being the next dog calendar pinup. Local newscaster Erin Clark and esteemed judges Walt deFaria, Denny LeVett, and Sherrie McCullough selected the 12 lucky dogs who grace the pages of the 2008 Carmel Dog Calendar. All 12 dogs were photographed by Paul Schraub who spent more time lying on the ground than any other photo shoot in his career (aside from the 1st annual Carmel Dog Calendar). Burghardt, the City’s marketing guru, says that Schraub’s low-key personality and unbelievable patience makes this year’s calendar a statement in dog photography. The 2008 Carmel Dog Calendar is available at select stores and online at http://www.carmeldogcalendar.com. Retailers can also purchase the calendar for resale by logging onto www.carmeldogcalendar.com/retailers. What’s more, all sales benefit the SPCA of Monterey County.
2. A Day in the Life of Robbie download (video/x-m4v, 69.45Mb) Description: First Dog makes acting debut By MARY BROWNFIELD UNLIKE Paris, Lindsay and Nicole, the star of the latest film shot in Carmel-by-the- Sea was a consummate professional. "He was mellow and didn't do anything a celebrity shouldn't do," enthused the director. For instance, he didn't gobble up anybody else's lunch or swallow the cork from the wine bottle - one of the things Robbie, the First Dog of the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea, did as a young pup. But during the filming of "A Day in the Life of Robbie," which will be screened at city hall Aug. 8, Mayor Sue McCloud's Dandie Dinmont terrier acted with the utmost poise. "He must have been another dog I picked up along the way," McCloud commented. "I guess it was his show-dog heritage - he just did his thing all the way along the line. He was quiet. He was great." Known to interrupt phone conversations with enthusiastic barks and wander around city hall when his owner is working, Robbie kept it cool during a long day of shooting and re-shooting scenes for the 15-minute film, which has also been compressed into a fiveminute podcast that will be available on the city's travel website. Robbie's owner also behaved herself. "Sue is a natural on camera," said director Maria Goodavage, author of "The Dog Lover's Companion to California," and the co-owner of a new San Francisco business, Smiling Dog Films, with her husband, Craig Hanson. They immortalize pets, and sometimes their people, on video. "We love dogs," said Goodavage, who met Hanson when he and his dog came to interview her and her dog about the first "Dog Lover's" edition for a television program in 1992. "And there aren't really any dog videography companies out there, though there are lots of photographers." She came up with the idea of a videography service after encountering a woman who wished to catch her ailing pup on film. Keepsake turned marketing tool The Robbie project grew out of Goodavage's work on a written piece commissioned by Bay Woof, an online and print publication providing "news with bite for Bay Area dog lovers." After interviewing McCloud extensively about Carmel - which Goodavage considers paws-down the most dog-friendly city in the state - Goodavage asked advertising executive Jeff Burghardt, who holds the city marketing contract and helped arrange interviews for the piece, if he thought the mayor would like a free Robbie-based video. "He saw the opportunity," she said, to turn it into something the city could use. "I thought it would just be a keepsake for Sue." McCloud, always happy to talk about Carmel's reputation as a canine-accommodating community, agreed to help disseminate the dog's-eye view. "I'm the talking head, and Robbie is the four-legged critter," she said. In the film, McCloud talks about the town as "Dog Heaven on Earth," and shares its history as she and Robbie visit various historical, commercial and city sites, from the beach, to lunch at the Village Corner, to shopping at one of Carmel Plaza's upscale retailers. "It's just to promote Carmel's uniqueness as a dog-friendly town," McCloud said, adding that she spoke extemporaneously on camera. And, of course, some of those who paused to pet Robbie (and read his official calling card, which McCloud carries for him and distributes to those curious about the First Dog and his breed), ended up on film as well. The duo stopped for coffee at Caffe Cardinale on Ocean Avenue, where they encountered kilted resident Gene McFarland and his ever-present companion, Sir Shedsalot. McCloud said Robbie shopped for collars at Wilkes Bashford, but at $2,000 a pop, the alligator and crocodile pieces were outside the mayoral dog's budget. "They were lovely, as you can imagine, and unusual," McCloud said. "But they would be gone in two gulps." (While well behaved on movie day, Robbie is known to chew on expensive items generally not approved for canine consumption.) The outtakes The full day of filming, which left two-legged and fourlegged stars tuckered out, included plenty of material that failed to make the final cut. McCloud recalled one such moment: In the sophisticated dog domain of the Cypress Inn, co-owner Dennis LeVett's standard poodle, Strutz, sidled up to his owner for a scratch on the head as the group enjoyed their tea. "The next thing you knew, his big head went right into the middle of the sandwiches and inhaled them, and then he sat back on his haunches and let out this big burp," she said. The mayor said she enjoyed seeing the finished products - the 15-minute version and the five-minute podcast. "It isn't schlocky," she said. "There's lots of history and local color. They did a good job of editing." McCloud and Robbie, as well as Goodavage and Hanson - and their 5-year-old rescue dog, Jake, who's "99 percent yellow Lab" - will be at the screening of "A Day in the Life of Robbie" in city hall at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 8. Members of the public and their pooches are also invited. Snacks, including "pupcorn," will likely be offered, though McCloud said she's still working out the details. "We won't have big searchlights out front à la Hollywood," she promised.
3. Carmel Mission download (video/x-m4v, 47.84Mb) Description: If you're in a California public school, you know that fourth grade is "Mission Time." A new project about the Carmel Mission, thought by many to be the crown jewel of the mission system, hopes to make a critical portion of California history more accessible to 21st-century students and their families, and to travelers in general. Carmel recently became the first of California's 21 missions to create a podcast. Podcasts are videos or radio-like files that can be downloaded from the Internet for playback on MP3 players. (Apple's iPod is an example of an MP3 player.) Carmel's video podcast is available for free on the city's travel Website (www.carmelcalifornia.com). It contains vintage photos and a colorful narrative tracing the Carmel Mission's 236-year history. "For 30 years, I've said that if I could just touch my forehead to my students' and pass on information about the missions, that's what I'd do," says Susan Weinberg, a fourth-grade teacher in Oakland. "This technology, to me, is the closest thing to that. Plus, students who are confused can reverse and hear it again, and it makes learning easier for those kids who are auditory learners." MP3 technology is steadily making its way into education's hallowed halls. Two years ago, Duke University made history when it gave an iPod to each of its incoming freshmen. Nearly 100 colleges have followed suit, and today iPods have become a curricular norm in some school districts at as low as the elementary grades. "I think (the Carmel podcast) is a brilliant idea," says Daniel Krieger, a history professor at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, who is also president of the California Missions Studies Association. "It takes a complex, antique concept and makes it contemporary and easy to understand. Anything that makes (the missions) more relevant is welcome, particularly if it introduces a young audience to the profound beauty of the Carmel Mission." The mission podcast takes viewers back some 240 years to a time when Carmel was a vital religious center rather than a world-famous tourist destination. Founded in 1771, Carmel became headquarters for California's 21 missions, and was home to their founder, Father Junipero Serra. At one point, the mission was like a small, self-sufficient city unto itself, with several thousand people living on the premises. Sitting just a half-mile from the beach and steps from Clint Eastwood's famous Mission Ranch, the Carmel Mission still functions as a thriving parish and school. It contains what is thought to be California's first library, as well as the famous Serra monument and a statue that was on the altar when the mission first opened its doors. In all, there are fives museums on the mission's grounds. One Carmel hotelier says she's ready should iPod-savvy families suddenly become more engaged with the mission by way of the podcast. "It's not unusual for entire families to stay with us while they research their fourth-grade project," says Carrie Theis, owner of Hofsas House near Ocean Ave. "It's incredible how the parents and siblings get involved. Hopefully, being the first to have a podcast will excite kids and their parents about Carmel and make them want to come here." The priests who populated the mission two centuries ago lived famously spartan lives, sleeping in small cells furnished with nothing but a cot, a desk and a candle. While they probably would have thought an MP3 player an extravagance, Carmel's marketing guru says the new podcast will be welcome news to the 100 million-strong iPod nation that is revolutionizing the way learning and travel are done in the 21st century. "The iPod is becoming a cultural norm, much like the Walkman once was," says Jeff Burghardt, whose Anda-Burghardt Advertising created the Carmel podcast. "It's not at all uncommon to see someone walking through a tourist destination with their earbuds in, listening to audio tours or regional music, or looking at downloaded maps.""The mission's podcast builds a bridge to visitors in a way that's consistent with how folks are getting their information these days." The Carmel Mission podcast can be downloaded by visiting www.carmelcalifornia.com. A printable outline of the video script with associated pictures is also available here. Carmel lies 51 miles south of San Jose, and 120 miles south of San Francisco. From State Highway 1, exit at either Carpenter Street or Ocean Avenue and head west. All-day parking lots are located at Mission Street and 8th Avenue or beneath Carmel Plaza at Mission and 7th Avenue. Travelers can pick up maps and other helpful guides at the Carmel Visitors Center (San Carlos St. between 5th and 6th avenues; 831/624-2522). For information on lodging, dining and holiday activities, visit www.carmelcalifornia.com.
4. 2007 Carmel Dog Calendar download (video/x-m4v, 18.59Mb) Description: Every dog has its day. But in the world's canine capital, some get their own month. It's a fact that in Carmel-by-the-Sea, four legs are better than two. Dogs in this white-sand hamlet are greeted, seated and feted; dressed, tressed and obsessed over. And in 2007, a select few of them appear in the world's first city-sponsored dog calendar. Yes, Carmel is officially unleashed, as a handful of the town's pampered doggie denizens --- call them "puppy pinups" --- dropped everything to raise money for a good cause. The Carmel community embraced the idea right away, and in October, more than 300 dogs and their owners lined up for blocks for the chance to participate in a casting call at Carmel Beach. The pet pageant, resembling a hybrid of "Best in Show" and "American Idol," featured double the number of participants organizers had anticipated. The casting call began at 1:30 p.m. and lasted more than four hours. A line of contestants stretched two blocks from the foot of Ocean Ave. In all, it was an afternoon of canine pageantry that managed to net more than $1,000 for the SPCA. Judges evaluated the contestants --- each of which crossed a stage with their owner, who answered a question or two about their pet --- in categories like personality, charm, face and first impression. The announcement of the event created a frenzy in a place known as one of the globe's most dog-friendly towns. Contestants in the audition ranged from the big (a Bernese Mountain Dog named Matterhorn and a 210-pound Leonberger called Gustav) to the small (a lasso apso named Truffle and an Italian Spinone called Lady Godiva). Some were fabulous, including a standard poodle with painted toenails and an Italian Greyhound named Armani. Still others came in Carmel casual: several dogs — including winners Wilfredo, Twinkie and Daisy— are just plain mutts. Carmel, which ranked sixth on Conde Nast Traveler's 2006 list of America's Top 10 Travel Destinations, is also consistently rated as one of the world's best cities for dogs and their owners. In addition to the canine Shangri-La known as Carmel Beach, dogs are welcome at various hotels, restaurants and retail establishments throughout the village. At the Cypress Inn, a welcoming jar of dog biscuits greets guests waiting to check in, and pets are welcome to spend the night. Restaurants like Portabella and Forge in the Forest seat canine companions with their masters. While some shops boast hitching posts outside, most allow dogs to come right on in. In fact, when high-end newcomer Wilkes Bashford opened his new Ocean Ave. store in August, he included designer dog collars to his inventory of couture. To purchase a calendar, please visit www.carmeldogcalendar.com.
5. Most Pet Friendly City download (video/x-m4v, 4.06Mb) Description: Without the long stretch of white sand flanking the hamlet known as Carmel-by-the-Sea, the tree-lined streets and ambient air, it may never have happened. No one is exactly sure when it began or how, only that it has. Carmel has gone to the dogs. Frankly, there's an entire social order of dogs and their owners that show up on the sand at designated times to converse or cavort along the shoreline. Soon after sunrise and just before sunset, a cadre of canines convene at the beach for a little exercise and a lot of patience as their owners stand clustered like kelp on the shore, tossing sticks and catching up on local news. Finally unleashed, the canine companions race along the shore, chasing one another and trying to catch sticks, balls, Frisbees and anything else that sails overhead. If you haven't brought your dog to the beach, you aren't a member of the club. Certain restaurants cater to them and so does the Cypress Inn. Just inside the revered adobe lodge owned in part by animal-lover Doris Day, a welcoming jar of dog biscuits greets guests waiting to check in, not unlike the chocolate chip cookies provided at Doubletree Hotels. Dogs are welcome to spend the night with their owners in guest suites and, by reservation, may attend afternoon tea. Portabella restaurant seats canine companions with their masters in its covered patio toward the back of the restaurant, and a dog or two are always visible under the tables in the open-air patio at the Village Corner restaurant. Various shopkeepers hide a cache of biscuits at the counter or place water dishes at the door, while the landmark Cottage of Sweets includes doggy treats in its mix of American and European candies. While some shops have miniature hitching posts outside, others don't mind if the dogs escort their owners in. The recently renovated Carmel Plaza shopping center boasts the "Fountain of Woof," a designated "dogs only" drinking fountain. Anchoring the Plaza, newcomer Wilkes Bashford opened in August, but not without designer dog collars to cater to the canine companions of its local clientele. Also located in the Plaza, Mackie's Parlour caters primarily to pets, as does nearby Diggity Dog boutique and bakery. This commitment to canines is why, in 2004, Carmel artist Gerrica Connolly came up with the idea of sculpting "Companion Pieces," cast resin canine sculptures painted by local artists and auctioned off for youth art charities during the annual Carmel Art Festival. "These dogs," said Connolly, "added a whole other dimension to the event. I sculpted the dog to look kind of like a little Jack Russell terrier. I felt there would be no room for anything larger. This is, after all, the home of the Carmel cottage. Who has room for a mastiff?" Regardless of how or why it happened, Carmel is definitely a dog-town destination.
6. Acclaimed Performing Arts download (video/x-m4v, 5.94Mb) Description: Rarely does a community attract a cadre of artists and writers without luring actors to town. Since its inception at the turn of the last century, Carmel has been the stage for scenic beauty playing across the landscape, its curtain rising with the sun and setting, moments after the signature green flash on the horizon at sunset, as night falls across the stage. To foster the arts in early Carmel, the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club was formed in 1905. A year later, the club built the town's first cultural center and theater, The Carmel Arts & Crafts Clubhouse. Poets Mary Austin and George Sterling often performed their works there. The site continues today as the historic Golden Bough Playhouse, owned and operated by Carmel's Pacific Repertory Theatre. The facility includes the 330-seat Golden Bough and 99-seat Circle theaters, presenting more than 175 performances in Carmel every year. Five years after the Arts and Crafts Club was established, local actors took their inspiration into the forest, creating the oldest outdoor community theater west of the Rockies. Built in a stand of pine and cypress trees, the Forest Theater was the brainchild of Mary Austin, author of The Arrowmaker, who first suggested the community theater in 1908. Supported by poet and dramatist Herbert Heron and author Michael Williams, Austin shared her vision of an open-air theater where plays could be produced by locals, who also would have fun acting, directing, lighting, costuming, and staging. Nearly a century later, the theater is renowned for stage and film productions, including works of Shakespeare, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Elton John, Tim Rice, and many others. What began as the local school on the edge of town, Carmel's Sunset School had an artistic vision in 1931 that led to construction of a new auditorium, whose Gothic-inspired architecture made it the finest assembly hall in the region, with seating for 700. It frequently doubled as a performing-arts venue for the community. Carmel finally bought the school complex in 1964 and converted the auditorium into the Sunset Theater, the town's cultural hub. More than 40 years later, and following a $21.4 million renovation, the new Center, which reopened in 2003 to host the 66th annual Carmel Bach Festival, has become an architecturally spectacular, acoustically transparent venue worthy of such performers as Wynton Marsalis and his jazz ensemble, Lyle Lovett, k.d. lang, Jose Carreras, the Vienna Boys Choir, and the Monterey County Symphony Orchestra. Whether you come for the clear light and scenic beauty, the spectacular shopping and spa services, the fine wines and fantastic dining, or to visit Grandma, once the sun sets and the sidewalks roll up, your Carmel experience just won't be complete without a little night music.
7. Girlfriends Getaway download (video/x-m4v, 10.35Mb) Description: The sun rose without you this morning. Not to worry; you're on the ultimate women's weekend in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Besides, you've heard the sunsets are spectacular. So ease into it. Toss on the sweats you picked up when you pulled into town, grab the girls and wander down to that white stretch of sand known as Carmel Beach for a friendly fitness stroll. It's a good warm-up before your appointment at one of the day spas in town for a rejuvenating morning of massages, facials and maybe even a mani-pedi before lunch, overlooking the gardens at La Playa Hotel. After a little more shopping at the Aspen-style Carmel Plaza, you wander out onto Carmel's main shopping street, which rolls through the middle of town. Styled in a most Bavarian tradition, with its gingerbread architecture and floral window boxes, cobbled passages and café dining, this is Ocean Ave., a legendary street the locals once resisted paving. Today, Ocean Ave. is home to many of some 90 art galleries, as well as clothing boutiques, cafés and bistros, specialty and souvenir shops. Locals and visitors alike know that an entire day can be quickly ransomed by shopping one's way down one side of the long, downhill slope and looping around to the other before it reaches the sand and spills into the ocean. The ocean-bound boulevard invites beachcombers to take a break from the sun and walk uptown for a snack or change of scenery. But don't forget to cover up; a century-old covenant still restricts bikini-clad shoppers from shocking the streets of Carmel. While Ocean Ave. has much to offer, a myopic shopper would spend all her time on "Main Street," missing out on the labyrinth of side streets and passageways whose offerings are equally rewarding. Such as Dolores St., which bisects Ocean Ave. and has become a haven for art galleries and antique shops of all genres, as well as its own eclectic array of clothing boutiques, bistros and specialty shops. Another "artery" is Sixth Avenue, whose three-block expanse parallels Ocean Ave. to offer yet another vein of interesting art galleries and restaurants. Along a valley road that wanders some 15 miles through the verdant terrain, you will encounter three 18-hole golf courses, among them Rancho Cañada, Quail Lodge and the Carmel Valley Ranch. Characterized by warm days and cool nights, the climate, coupled with a course, gravely soil that challenges vines but enhances the flavor in the fruit, creates an ideal environment for growing grapes in what has become one of the finest wine regions in the world. Not everybody knows that. Renowned for its coastal splendor, the Monterey County landscape is also dedicated to nearly 40,000 acres of wine grapes and some 75 wineries and growers, whose tasting rooms clustered throughout the valley and in Carmel-by-the-Sea provide testament to the quality of the crush. With great golf, fine wine and a wonderland of extreme sports and outdoor activities, it's also a great getaway for the guys. Maybe next time.
8. Celebrity Lifestyle download (video/x-m4v, 13.28Mb) Description: Privacy was only part of the package S.F.B. Morse envisioned for the rich and recluse, the wealthy and wild he would lure to the jewel of the Monterey Peninsula when he began developing and preserving the coastal splendor of the Del Monte Forest. Scenery and celebration, glamour and golf were the promise for those who could earn their way inside the gates of the enchanted forest by the sea. The craggy coast of golden granite, guarded by the lone sentinel whose gnarled branches and windswept foliage against a Pacific blue backdrop, proved an ideal setting for golf courses and polo fields and created the ideal invitation for such Hollywood glitterati as Gable & Lombard, Gardner & Rooney, Hilton & Taylor, Fairbanks & Pickford. It was an era of extreme entertaining a la Salvador Dali dinners and Crosby Clambakes. "It was a time when a black-tie event was available every night of the week," said the late Virginia Stanton who, with architect-husband Bob, made their home in Pebble Beach before venturing out into the Carmel Valley. "But not everyone could tolerate the weather or the social climate of the Forest. Eventually we began making our way into Carmel." Today, while much of young Hollywood seems equally happy to bask in the glow of the spotlight as the flash on the street, seasoned celebrity residents come to Carmel to blend like a chameleon into community by the sea, going to great lengths to protect their investment and their privacy behind the gates and gardens that reveal only a peek of the ocean and a glimpse of the glamour. And it works, said Stanton, because here, everyone is special. "People come here to relax, blend in and enjoy the fruits of their labor and the beautiful aspects of this area," said Judith Profeta, owner of Alain Pinel Realtors in Carmel. "Higher-end clients come here to entertain a sense of normalcy or what we envision that to be. We all have a fantasy of what life should be like, filled with flowers and trees, peace and tranquility, and beautiful views." When the actress you enjoyed in last-night's film shows up in this morning's yoga class, you don't mention it. Either you didn't notice, you didn't care or you honored the code of Carmel anonymity. It's why movie stars can come to Carmel for a romantic getaway, talk-show hosts can join girlfriends at a spa, writers can hang out at a local pub and dignitaries can make reservations for dinner. In public. In Carmel, anybody you pass on the street could be somebody. And once in awhile, it's Clint.
9. Famous Artist Colony download (video/x-m4v, 8.80Mb) Description: There is beauty to behold in the freshly washed sands, the silvery mist of early morning and the shades of afternoon fog that textures the endless western coastline. Yet, there's something about the California light that is as legendary as the place where artists come to capture it on canvas. Since the turn of another century, artists have come to the Monterey Peninsula, some as legacies of founding generations, others to cultivate individuality, all in search of the light. They come with their pens and their brushes, their chisels and their lenses to foster a personal vision of art yet a shared understanding that art has preceded them in the crashing sea and windswept shores, the sturdy cypress and mysterious green flash at the close of a scarlet sunset. It is, as the late landscape painter Francis McComas christened it, "the greatest meeting of land and water in the world." Although artists and writers, academicians and wealthy vacationers had been quietly retreating to the Central Coast for years, one of the more dramatic influences on the populous of the Peninsula was the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, an event whose artist refugees found shelter in the cabins and tents erected in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Their colony was preceded by the 1875 arrival of Frenchman Jules Tavernier, a flamboyant bohemian artist who stayed at the legendary French Hotel until his tab at the neighborhood bar reportedly contributed to his departure in 1880, a bit of colorful history that has never overshadowed his artistic contributions to the area. While the artists and writers brought creative energy to town, the establishment of the Carmel Art Association gave it structure, stature and sustenance. The second-oldest art cooperative in the country, it has been defining the community of art for 80 years. "I just came from the Tuesday lunch a group of artists has shared for more than 35 years," said local artist Dick Crispo. "Sometimes it's lunch, sometimes it's just coffee. And sometimes it's four, sometimes six, sometimes ten artists. We talk, we listen, we eat, we swap stories about art, about each other. I've enjoyed this kind of support, this camaraderie, the friendships with artists over the years. The arts are not terribly forgiving, right? But to have artists who respect us, who will sit down and talk with us, artists who have been there and have experience to share is priceless." The idea of local artists bound by talent and perspective is the foundation on which this community was built. Carmel was once and for many still is a bohemian enclave, a haven for artists and a refuge for writers and intellectuals. It is the setting that inspired Robinson Jeffers to build his tower from which to write poetry about the anguish of waves against a rugged shore; whose spectacular sunsets illuminate the secrets of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and which served as a stage for the lives and times on which Jack London and George Sterling composed their allegories. A coastal city of now has nearly 100 art galleries continues to celebrate both the heritage and the future of a community whose vision is still to advance the knowledge of and interest in art, and to create a spirit of cooperation and fellowship between local artists and the public.
10. World Destination download (video/x-m4v, 7.85Mb) Description: Never mind that Carmel-by-the-Sea is a quaint coastal enclave tucked somewhere between the sites and sophistication of San Francisco and Southern California. The historic little station on the way from one place to another has evolved into a world-renowned destination of its own. This is a place to get away from it all without sacrificing the big-city offerings of art, theater, music, and dining. You can put on a black tie and take in the symphony, Bach Festival, or k.d. lang at the multimillion-dollar Sunset Center, or slip on sweats and a pair of sneakers to hike the trails of Point Lobos, window-shop, or wander the shore. You can fine-dine at a number of four-star restaurants or eat al fresco at the beach. You can curate art, collect art, or just covet the art and artifacts among more than 100 galleries and antique shops, and you can buy anything from t-shirts to Tiffany. Even those who travel the world are unlikely to encounter another place that has so much to offer in one location. Carmel is a community where locals and guests can abandon their cars to experience the town on foot. The walkable warren of streets whose slope is dictated by the trees, houses unnumbered, storefronts and cottages, harkening back to a time when everybody knew everybody else by name. It is, in large part, still like that. In lieu of street numbers, cottages bear names as quirky as racehorses', most of which have never changed. It's considered bad luck. For locals, part-time residents, and guests, Carmel is a public resort whose membership fees depart from a range of hotel rates to some of the highest mortgages in the world. A property cresting Scenic Drive overlooking Carmel Beach that was built at the turn of the last century by M.J. Murphy originally sold for $100 with $5 down, but sold at the New Millennium for $8 million. Admittedly, there had been a few upgrades along the way. As they say, it's all about location, location, location. When the light slips into the horizon and the curtain drops on the town, guests retreat into one of Carmel's many inns and hotels, such as the legendary Pine Inn or La Playa Hotel, while others head home to their Carmel cottages. Still, the social scene continues after dark, when lights glow from leaden-glass windows, betraying the anonymity of night in a village that rolls up its sidewalks at dusk. Guests can follow the local lead to Clint's Mission Ranch Restaurant and lively piano bar, to the legendary Sade's Bar, to the lounge at Cypress Inn, or to linger in the limelight of restaurants that tend to serve long after the sun has set. Best of all, you can always walk home.
11. California's Jewel City download (video/x-m4v, 10.04Mb) Description: James Franklin Devendorf, an attorney who cantered down the coast from San Francisco via horse and buggy to witness the pristine arc of white sand sweeping the shore, and vowed to create a haven for artists and intellectuals that would endure through the trials and tempests of time. Carmel-by-the-Sea was, in the eyes of Devendorf and developer Frank H. Powers, a real estate development in waiting. The two established the Carmel Development Company, which filed its map of the city in 1903 and began to market the haven to the poets and writers, artists and academicians, who would create Bohemia-by-the-Sea and launch the art colony renowned today. At the turn of the last century, little about the Carmel homescape rivaled the appeal of the magnificent seascape. That is, until Devendorf and Powers ordered the planting of 100 cypress trees in the barren potato patches along the coast and right down Main St--now Ocean Ave--then invited young Michael J. Murphy to come to Carmel to build homes. Murphy built his first house in 1902 around the tent in which his family was living. Today, "The First Murphy House" is a "Welcome Center" in town. "M.J. Murphy was 16 when he came to Carmel from Utah," said Executive Director of the Carmel Preservation Foundation Enid Sales, who came to Carmel in 1933. "His father believed in education. He went to work very early for Devendorf and Powers who were both very educated people. These very cultured people impressed themselves upon him, and he learned what they wanted in a house. His first little Victorians were copies of houses in Utah. He quickly began to add craftsman embellishments in the roofs and other handiwork." Twenty years later, in 1924, Hugh Comstock built his wife a dollhouse. Neither an architect nor a carpenter, he created a 300-square-foot cottage so quaint and so different from Murphy's board-and-batten summer homes that the demand for Comstock's "Dollhouse Tudor" homes made the young man a legend. Particularly the landmark Tuck Box tea house and the iconographic Hansel House. It was during the 1920s that the bright young architect designed and sold collectible Carmel houses for about $100, lot included. Some 80 years later, Murphy's inimitable houses are still collectible; but these days, the rate is far from $100. In fact, local Realtors upped the ante by $8,249,900 when escrow closed for the asking price in December 1999 on a 5,000-sq.-ft. Scenic Drive property, a 1929 Murphy house restored to accommodate life in the new millennium without sacrificing historic value or the front-row ocean views from Point Lobos to Pebble Beach. "Every house along Scenic Drive is a diamond," said Carmel Realtor Tim Allen. "But this one is the Hope."