This guy was loaded! His house in the film Citizen Kane was called Xanadu and the film crew shot Casa del Prado in Balboa Park. This was where I learned to act and that's why I went to Hearst Castle!
The castle was donated (along with its $15 million annual budget) to the State of California in the late 70s. The Hearst Corporation's accounting of the building listed a $9 million price tag for an estate that took fifteen years to build in the late s20 and early 30s. Add the art collection (much of it ill gotten) and you have a "priceless" tag by the State. Check it out...
I'd like to be rich enough to have my own fire truck. This Dodge did service at the castle. Besides a fire company, Hearst also had a zoo (we didn't see zebras but they do wander the 250 thousand acres), a farm, a dairy and a movie theatre.
This truck stands in the visitor's center five miles down the hill from the castle. Yes, five miles to get there and it was all Hearst property; his father's before his. The fire hose connects to the pump on the front bumper and is run by a throttle on the hood.
Also at the visitor center is a display of Hearst's life, times, legacy (yellow journalism to make the San Diego Union and Fox News blush) and art. There was also a $2 million (by my estimation) film on the building of the castle at San Simeon in the state-of-the-art movie theatre.
This is the side entrance to the castle and a look at one of the three guest houses on the property. The actual entrance is to the right of this house. The whole grounds were designed to look like a Rennaisance town, with the main house a church and the guest houses the dwellings. Each ceiling is from a church in Eurpope and all the art is the real deal, though the outdoor sculptures are knock offs.
To our left is the Neptune pool, which is 10 million gallons of spring water. The display of wealth is ostentatious but Hearst's belief that you should share it (a belief that came late in his life) is a lesson learned by me. Everyone over to my pool for hot dogs!
Here's a knock off sculpture at the pool. The pool was great but not as great as the other indoor number, which you'll see in good time.
Here is the Neptune Pool, so named for the Neptune sculptures that adorn the acropolis structure. This is the designer's third attempt to please the fussy Hearst and it is almost as fabulous as the view on the right. But no one can argue that the cliffs, rocks, wildlife and the darling Pacific are the real works of art here. At least I can't.
This is the guest house we got to see. five bedrooms, three baths, three levels and the antique teak woodwork covers the third floor. You take a spiral staircase up there. In the front is a fountain and up a rise are the three graces giggling over something as the sun shines on their Greek bottoms.
The main house has a 3000-year-old Egyptian sculpture outside, a fountain and a lot of other stuff purchased legally at the time. Inside is quite dark to preserve the tapestries, ceilings, stone work and everything else. The parlor, dining room and pool hall were fabulous.
The third floor was Hearst's and his mistresses Marion Davies' private rooms. Hearst remained married though legally separated from his wife who also came to stay at the castle. How very modern, I think,rooms. We didn't get to see these rooms on our tour. Maybe next time.
In the hallway was as good a representation as I've ever seen of Pygmalian falling
in love with his creation. It is placed rather haphazardly in the foyer but those coming through the main entrance (locked for the tourists) undoubtedly get a great view. The sun was perfect, as it was on the entire trip, and shone perfectly on the sculpture.
One of the few indoor pictures to make it out alive was one of the decorative cornice in Hearst's own 200-seat movie theatre.
The woman is not America or European to me but vaguely Asian or Indian. The lights, dimmed to protect the silk damask on the walls and painted ceiling, show off her alluring features. She has nine identical sisters, one on each of the pillars holing up the roof of the theatre.
If you see one thing, see the indoor pool. I cannot properly describe to you the intricately executed glass tile mosaics with seahorse motif. I cannot accurately describe the marble hand rails, the torchier lamps, the cool water and the awesome high dive. We spent entirely too little time in this room but I hope you spend hours examining these photos of probably the best mosaic work I've ever seen -- and I've been to Rome...
