18th Annual Carmel Heritage Society Inns of Distinction - December 4, 2016

Carmel Heritage Society
"It's Ours to Protect" 

First Murphy House built in 1902 by Michael J. Murphy, on Lincoln and Sixth is where guests pick up their ticket and complimentary wine glass for the 18^th Annual Carmel Heritage Society Inns of Distinction. 

This year’s tour highlights seven of Carmel’s finest inns and hotels decorated for the holiday season. Each inn features a local restaurant for light bites and a local winery for wine tasting. The $35 (Carmel Heritage Society Members) or $40 (non-member) price tag is one of the best deals in town. I followed my own blog suggestion and easily walked, leisurely enjoying, this years tour in 3 hours. Come along while I give a short history of each inn and describe in words and pictures the 18th Annual Carmel Heritage Society Inns of Distinction.

Candle Light Inn
Amenities
San Carlos between Fourth & Fifth

From First Murphy House it was a short walk to the Candle Light Inn which was built in the early 1960's and purchased by Inns by the Sea in 1982. 

Open during the tour
Room #4
 Standard Guest Room King 

and Room #2
 Standard
 Guest Room Double 

After touring the guest rooms, I accept a yummy pork spring roll with a ceviche dipping sauce 

 and bruschetta topped with 
pico de gallo and cheese deliciousness

 provided by 
The Grill on Ocean Avenue.

With a splash of Cima Collina Vineyards
 2013 Tondre Grapefield Chardonnay

I am ready to retire -
 for a moment by the roaring fire pit
(which at one time was a swimming pool)

 

and meet new friends that journey from
all over to enjoy this event. 

Hotel Carmel
Amenities

Northeast Corner of Fourth and San Carlos

The property which is now known as the Hotel Carmel began life as a cottage in the early 1920's. Over the years rooms were added and it became a boarding house/apartment.

In 1958 Carmel City records show this as the site of the Travelers Lodge.  In 1963 the buildings on site were demolished and a motel with 25 units and a detached restaurant were built.  On June 9, 1964, an advertisement appeared in The Monterey Peninsula Herald for The Dolphin Inn, Carmel's newest "motor inn, the ultimate in spaciousness and comfort."  

Over the years many restaurant's have occupied the site of what is currently Brophy's.  The Marquis Restaurant, then the California Thai Restaurant, and later the Fourth Avenue Pasta House. 

Last year, Paul Davis Partnership Architects filled in the swimming pool and renovated the grounds and refurbished the rooms.  

In March of this year, what was The Dolphin Inn reopened as the Hotel Carmel, the newest member of Classic Hotels and Resorts. 

  

Room #109 was open during the Inns Tour, 

 a Fireplace King 

 with desk and a bright sitting area. 

 The former swimming pool was
downsized to a hot tub,

while the rest of the former pool area

was reconfigured with two sitting areas

  
each with fire feature.  

In the lobby 

Gary Bowles was pouring 

an Albatross Ridge 2013 Estate Chardonnay, 

and a 2012 Cuvée Vivienne Pinot Noir.  Gary and his father own Albatross Ridge a 25 acre vineyard of steep farm land that overlooks Carmel Bay and the Pacific Ocean.  Visit their wine room in Carmel in the Court of the Fountains.    

My Pinot was a perfect pair to a petit four from Paris Bakery Monterey.  

Horizon Inn
Amenities
Southwest Corner Third and Junipero 

Like the Hotel Carmel, Horizon Inn began life as a cottage, then grew over the years and became a boarding house/apartment.  In 1951 this was transformed into a motel and a swimming pool was added in 1963.  

According the the current owners who have run the property since 1986, this motel became the Horizon Inn around 1966.  

The 1960's swimming pool was downsized to a Jacuzzi hot tub, and an outdoor fireplace added.  

Here that I caught up with Carmel Heritage Society Board Member Cathy Collum,  

 who was enjoying a 2013
 J. Lohr Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir.

L'Escargot chef and owner Kerry Loutas provided scrumptious light bites to compliment the J. Lohr wines.  His offerings, crab salad sandwich, caramelized goat cheese and onion tart, and salmon deviled eggs. 

Visit the quaint L'Escargot on the north end of town for an extra special dining experience, Chef Loutas will not disappoint.  

Horizon Inn had two rooms open for viewing on the upper level,  Room #114  King with Fireplace and Ocean View

and  Room #115 

 Junior Jacuzzi Suite with Ocean View .

Both rooms have private patios with views of Point Lobos,

  and the Pacific Ocean in the distance. 

Carriage House Inn
 Amenities
Junipero between Seventh and Eighth

Built in 1980, Carriage House Inn an Inns by the Sea property, is just one block from Ocean Avenue and Carmel Plaza's restaurants, coffee houses, wine rooms, and shopping. 

I toured this inn in 2013.  Since then, the rooms have been beautifully updated with a more modern look. 

Open for tour were
 Premium Guestroom #7
 featuring a king bed and fireplace,

as well as Premium Suite Room #1. 

This suite features a large sitting area with fireplace and television,

as well as a king size bed,
two-person jetted tub,
and another television.

Back in the large onsite parking garage
at Carriage House Inn, 

Terrence Farrell entertained tour guests with seasonal classics,

while Mark Manzoni of Manzoni Vineyard poured a 2015 Rosé of Pinot Noir sourced from Pedregal Vineyard near Hollister and a 2014 Home Vineyard Pinot Noir. Visit Manzoni wine room in the Paseo Courtyard on San Carlos. 

Both paired well with a mouth-watering cup of Carmel Heritage Society President, Dawn Dull's famous Greek Lemon Soup or 

choice meats from Bruno's Deli Platter.

The Hideaway 
Amenities
Junipero between Seventh & Eighth

City records show a small cottage built in 1924 on the property where The Hideaway stands today. 

 Undated Brochure for Hide-A-Way Inn 

A letter in Carmel City files, dated February 7, 1956 signed by Mr. and Mrs. George Popoff,  is the first mention of the Hide-A-Way Motel.  

General Manager Bill Patterson wrote on Hide-A-Way letterhead March 1, 1984, "the Hide-A-Way will be closed from March 5, 1984 to August 1, 1984 for reconstruction."  Davis Jacoubowsky Hawkins Associates filed the architectural drawings featuring Simpson brick tiles which would be applied to the existing stucco siding. In late 1984, Hide-A-Way reopened as Cobblestone Inn.    

Hilary Newsom and Jeremy Scherer of the PlumpJack Group announced a joint venture with Noah Hahn and Gerry Engle of Meriwether Companies to purchase the Cobblestone Inn in January 2016.  

After a massive redesign, The Hideaway (a throw back to its original name) opened in the Spring of 2016.

King Bed Room #8 

 may be adjoined to 

Room #7 King Bed with
 Sleep Sofa and Fireplace 

In the lobby, 

Flaherty's Seafood Grill served savory shrimp sliders and succulent crab cakes with homemade red pepper aoli. 

Keith Prader, 

one of the owners of Shale Canyon Wines was pouring a 2012 Cabernet Franc, 2012 Merlot, and

 2013 Chardonnay - Vigna Monte Nero which I took outside to sit awhile. 

Cypress Inn
Amenities
Northeast Corner Seventh and Lincoln

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 1928, transformed into the Hotel La Ribera in 1929, called the "white stucco elephant" and forced to close its doors after the Great Depression,

resurrected in the 1960's

 as the Cypress West Hotel,

Undated Cypress West Brochure 

and finally, fully restored in the 1980's by present owners businessman Dennis LeVett and actress Doris Day, as The Cypress Inn, Carmel's original pet-friendly hotel.  

Inside the walls are lined with Doris Day memorabilia.  

In the Doris Day room, 



Terry's Lounge created treats for all tastes,

 a scrumptious spread of savory and sweet -

Chicken salad on endive, lamb meatballs, and German chocolate cake! 

Wine from Heller Estate of
Carmel Valley was poured.

A 2012 Chardonnay,
2014 Cabernet Sauvignon,
and 2014 Chenin Blanc. 

The following is a montage
of rooms at the Cypress Inn I have had the
opportunity to tour over the years
during Inns of Distinction.

Lamp Lighter Inn 
Amenities

Southeast Corner Ocean and Camino Real

 

In the mid-1920's Maude Arndt designed and built three cottages on her property. One to live in and two to rent. She called them Peter Pan Court.

It was rumored that Ms. Arndt believed she was the re-incarnation of Peter Pan, going so far at to imitate him by trying to climb into her cottage through her window. According to neighbors she usually only made it half way before getting stuck and requiring a visit from Carmel's finest volunteer Fire Department. Ms. Arndt also believed the grounds of Peter Pan Court were inhabited by elves.  

Shadow - Lamp Lighter Ambassador 

In 1958, just two weeks after Charles and Lillian Catalan came to Carmel for the first time, they sold their property in Los Angeles and purchased Peter Pan Court.  The Catalan's placed a different light fixture in front of each cottage on the property and renamed it Lamp Lighters Inn. 

The Lamp Lighter has changed hands over the years - today Carmel City Council Member Bobby Richards is General Manager.  

 

I toured the Sea Star featuring a

king bed and wood burning fireplace.

Back on the expansive brick patio of the Lamp Lighter, Scheid Vineyard was providing 

a 2014 Estate Grown Greneche Blanc
 and 2012 Estate Grown Pinot Noir.
Visit Scheid wine room in Carmel.

Before relaxing for a bit in
one of Lamp Lighters three cozy patios,  

I pick a tapa from Mundaka
Restaurant (located in Carmel Square).

Either manchego cheese drizzled with apple cider vinegar, sugar, and saffron or

mushrooms with shallots, and buttercream on a crisp baguette. 

That's it for this year's Carmel Heritage Society  Inns of Distinction.  

I think I will join Shadow, it's nap time!
 Until next time Happy Adventures!

***************

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Photography by LA Momboisse unless listed below: 

1964 brochure cover for The Dolphin Inn - Harrison Memorial Library Local History Department.  
1986 brochure showing swimming pool for The Horizon Inn - Harrison Memorial Library Local History Department.
Inside room pictures of Horizon Inn provided by Horizon Inn.  
Photo of post card of La Ribera Hotel c. 1940 - Nixon files Harrison Memorial History Library Local History Department.
Photo of Cypress Inn c. 1980's - Harrison Memorial Library Local History Department.
1984 picture of Lamp Lighter Inn from the Carmel City Hall records. 

Old brochure from Cypress West and Hide-A-Way - author's collection