Carmel Inns of Distinction 2013 - Part III - Cypress Inn, L'Auberge, and La Playa

We have three more unique inns to view.  From the Coachman's Inn , we head south on 7th Avenue to the Cypress Inn.

Cypress Inn 

Lincoln and 7th Avenue

Attributes: Complimentary Breakfast,

Ocean View Room 220, Pet Friendly Rooms

Terry's Lounge and Restaurant on Site

The site of the Cypress Inn enjoys a rich history.  Home to the first art gallery of Carmel in 1906, rumored to have been used as a nursing home or sanatorium in the 1920’s, finally transformed into the Hotel La Ribera in 1929, and then quickly forced to close due to the Great Depression.  In the 1960’s the property opened as the Cypress West Hotel.  In the 1980’s it was purchased by its current co-owners, businessman Dennis LeVett and actress Doris Day and became Carmel’s first pet friendly inn. 

We entered through the side patio

where pet's are welcome

for lunch and dinner

from Terry's Restaurant. 

In the lobby annex Terry's Restaurant serves cookies

and lite bites of roast beef.

The "Day Room"  is decked

out with Christmas cheer

and Heller Estate is pouring

their 2012 Merlot,  Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc.

The rooms we tour are in the courtyard

off Terry's Lounge.

Through the glass doors lies a beautiful

courtyard filled with white lights,

and nine beautifully appointed courtyard rooms. 

The following video tours five of them. 

To  view all the rooms with rates and amenities

 view the Cypress Inn room site, it is very comprehensive. 

And don't forget to come back
after dark to take in
an original by Mr. Brainwash. 

For more information
or rates on

Cypress Inn call
800/443-7443

L'Auberge Carmel 
Monte Verde at 7th Avenue
Attributes: Valet Parking,
Breakfast, Pet Friendly Rooms,
Peeks of the Ocean from some rooms,
On-Site Restaurant

Just about every building in Carmel-by-the-Sea has a fairly well documented history, and the L’Auberge is no different. 

In 1901, J. F. Devendorf (Carmel's founding father) ordered 100 San Francisco cottages to be shipped in sections to Carmel.  Only one cottage arrived. It was purchased by former mayor of Carmel, Allen Knight's father, and reassembled on the Knight property on Monte Verde and Seventh. 

During the 1920 while Allen Knight was bicycling through Prague he fell in love with the European architecture and somehow convinced the owner of a Czech hotel to share their blueprints with him.  He brought this drawing back to his aunts, who had inherited the property after his father died.

The aunts decided to use the plans of the Czech hotel to built an apartment building.  But first they had to move their little cottage to Guadalupe and 6th (which is a whole other story).  Anyway the aunts hired Albert Farr a San Francisco architect to design the project and in 1929 their building opened as the Sundial Apartments, the first apartment building in Carmel. 

The Sundial Apartments became the Sundial Lodge and finally in 2003 was sold for an undisclosed price to the Auberge Carmel partnership who reopened the L’Auberge Carmel in January 2013 after a $1 million upgrade.  You may see my post on the grand opening here.     

A member of the Relais & Chateaux an association of luxury hotels and restaurants, the L'Auberge is listed on the Travel & Leisure's Top 500 World's Best Hotels and Executive Chef Justin Cogley of their award winning restaurant Aubergine was voted Food & Wine's Best New Chef in 2013. 

During our tour, Nathaniel Munoz, Aubergine's Restaurant Director, treated us to a delicious taste of 100 year old cheese and a hot toddy with a pleasant holiday kick...

...from one of the bottles that shares

space in the custom built cheese cave
with the fromagerie.

With warm drink in hand

we passed the lobby fireplace

to the charming courtyard 

where Karen Hudson, Director of Sales, 

met us for our tour.  

For information or rates of
the L'Auberge Carmel 
call 831/624-8578

A short walk to Camino Real and 8th 

and our last inn of the day, 

The La Playa Carmel.  

The La Playa Carmel 

Camino Real & 8th Avenue 

Attributes:  Breakfast,

 Ocean View Rooms, Pool

The La Playa was originally built as a home in 1905 by Christian Jogenson as a gift for his wife.  Mr. Jorgenson was fascinated by the Carmel Mission and even placed a window in his front patio that imitated the star window in the Mission. 

In 1916 the mansion was converted into a hotel, was frequented by my mother and her cousins in the 1920’s and 30’s, and the sight of my college Junior Prom dinner in 1978. 

The hotel recently underwent a
 $3.5 million restoration 

and reopened in August 2012. 

Our tour takes us past the Fireside Room, 

and the historic
 antique wood bar
with iconic Greek columns,

to the dining room 

where the La Playa kitchen
served dessert petit fours

  

and Caraccioli Cellars 
served their Pinot 

 and sparkling Brut Rose.

Next to the dining room is
the Pacific Terrace

where hotel guests
are served breakfast, and an ocean view. 

Or later in the day guests may enjoy the
Pacific Terrace by the firepit with
a cocktail - and ocean view. 

Of the 75 guest rooms
the La Playa Carmel
has to offer, we toured
Ocean View Rm 201,

with four large picture windows 

overlooking the ocean

and the hotel garden.

For information or rates
on the La Playa Carmel
call 800 / 582 -8900

For a  map of the tour click here.

Our tour is over.  Many thanks to all the hotels, restaurants, and wineries who participated in this years Carmel Inns of Distinction.  The $30 price tag to get in more than pays for itself with the wineries giving away coupons for free tastings and the restaurants giving away coupons for discounts on meals.  Not to mention the numerous pourings and bites one has the opportunity to taste while enjoying a behind the scenes tour of some of our beautiful hotels and inns.  

And finally many thanks to the Carmel Heritage Society, for it is because of their existence and their mission to protect, preserve and promote the cultural heritage of Carmel-by-the-Sea, that this event is even possible.

Carmel Inn's of Distinction 2013 - Part I (Vendange Carmel, Carmel Garden Inn, Tradewinds Carmel)
Carmel Inn's of Distinction 2013 - Part II (Carriage House, Coachman's Inn) 

___
Credits
All pictures and videos by L. A. Momboisse except two black and white photos under L'Auberge.  The first is courtesy of the Harrison Memorial History Library Nixon Files.  The second from Carmel A History In Architecture by Kent Seavey, Page 93,