Big Sur - do you know anyone who lives there?

I stayed at the Ventana Inn for over a week and it was astoundingly beautiful. I don't know where the staff lived as you really didn't see housing as such. It is incredible there, but I found myself being slightly bemused: what did people do all day? Commutes must be torturous (as well as tortuous!). There aren't even that many service jobs I would guess. I'd give it a try but I'm afraid I'd go stir-crazy or become an alcoholic.

Expensive real estate. I've always been fascinated with that area too.

I’d live there ASAP.

BEAUTIFUL area. Some of the best California has to offer.

I love the Oregon coast as well.

There is housing all over the coast... just hidden up canyons, roads leading up the old coast road ( the ridge of mountains). And Big Sur proper is just 26 miles from Carmel. Some of the hidden shacks up side roads (like Palo Colorado canyon) are barely habitable.. and other houses on ridges or cliffsides are 5,000 sf and coast many millions of dollars (those folk aren't the ones changing beds linens at Ventana Inn).

Big Sur is God's address... but it's also so fucking crowded on holidays and weekends with tourists that there is a traffic jam up and down the coast. Food trucks at Bixby Bridge. Big Sur is on the verge of being spoiled.

When Highway 1 has a slide that cuts off all traffic coming in and out, the. permanent residents LOVE it.

Big $$. Monterey is probably the closest, most populated town. That windy, cliff-side drive is a little bit scary to navigate if you're not used to that terrain. I almost hit a deer up there and am probably lucky I didn't end up driving off into the ocean.

I heard there are still old hippies making LSD there.

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is lovely.

Cambria is the place

Well the cooks and concierge and hotel maids of Big Sur dont live in Montrrey, because everyone who has a service job in Monterey lives in Salinas.

And Cambria is expensive, I looked at house prices a few months ago.

Seaside and Marina, closer to Monterey than Salinas. But there used to be an ESL program for adults there in Big Sur, Captain Cooper School.. there are lots of places for folks to rent in the Big Sur Coast... service workers do live there somewhere.

I'm retired and would love to move to the Central Coast, but everything is so far away from a major city (and a major airport and hospital.)

I've never lived there. But I went to college in SF. We'd drive down a few times a semester. It's stunning. Just stunning. If I could afford it? I'd live there in a heartbeat.

R7, probably right at Esalen Institute.

There are those who say you can still hear Doris Day's ghost echoing through the canyons of Carmel Valley on a full moon.

I had a contract in Monterey for a few months. In the summer, I'd leave work at 5 or 6, and drive down to Big Sur to enjoy the woods or watch the sunset.

Envy me!

Any gay life there?

Or do the breeders just drink and look at trees?

R17, no gay life that I've ever heard of. Some gay groups do camping trips and meetups in the area.

I imagine it's filled with many Grace and Frankie ladies -- rich ladies who enjoy their homes and cocktails and hippy-dippy, artsy ladies.

I love that song Don't Go Back to Big Sur

Big Sur is breathtakingly beautiful.

Cellphone reception is spotty/non-existent. Or at least it was the last time I was there a few years back.

It gets cold -- bring layers.

Despite its beauty it seems a bit anodyne and depressing.

I feel that way about the northern coast. Less expensive and a few real towns. But not much work and the people at the local grocery stores seem rough and not particularly happy - lots of food stamps and cars that are barely running. I’ve always fantasized about living there - but have come to realize week long stays each spring and summer will have to suffice. Just not practical.

The closest gay bar is in a nearby cowtown called Castroville.

Most of the Employees of those posh hotels live in their vehicles.

It is crazy - people are paying $500/night to stay in hotels and the people who work there can barely afford that for monthly rent.

The military base in Monterey means there should be a lot of cock to look out for.

More like look at the ocean, R17.

Same as it ever was, R26.

Isn’t Carmel essentially ‘Shady Pines’ for rich people?

I’ll take anodyne, R22. Give me all of it.

A lot of serial killers in the area.

Gay life? Unrestricted polyamory in a potent mix of acid, weed, and psilocybin. Only they are all in their 60s and 70s...

Who here has been to the Esalen Institute?

BTW, that place and its workshops looks like it can be a "Let's Be" thread all on its own.

R34 They used to let locals in at midnight on the full moon to soak in the hot mineral baths. Pretty memorable experiment to sit in hot water on cliffs by the ocean in the moonlight.

I did Landmark - close enough. But without the fabulous views.

r24 Castroville is the artichoke capital of the world, not a cowtown.

R36, that sounds amazing.

Play Misty for me.

[quote][R24] Castroville is the artichoke capital of the world, not a cowtown.

You're right. The cows are in Salinas.

I'd live there in a minute, or at least try to. So many California coastal towns where one could just go and be a hermit.

Poor hermits can find plenty of cheap places in Mendocino County, and thd Eureka coastal area.

Big Sur is for rich hermits only.

Post some pics, dicks.

Esalen, Landmark, what's the deal? Exactly what did you get out of it?

r45, Esalen is not connected to Landmark. You're probably thinking of est.

R46, I'm aware that Easalen and EST are very different. Previous poster said Landmark is Esalen without the beautiful views and hot springs.

I also Googled Esalen and read the basic information in R46 link. Most of it sounded like "gobbledy-gook" as I'm not at all familiar with therapy modalities. Gestalt therapy? WTF? Anyway it sounds very overpriced and I was wondering if anyone on DL knew someone who attended.

[quote] I was wondering if anyone on DL knew someone who attended.

Other than Bob & Carol, no one.

R47, I imagine Esalen is filled with many Marianne Williamson-type ladies -- both offering the workshops and attending.

Tell me more about hotel employees living in their cars. Are they living in campers with access to safe parking and clean water, or are they all living in their used Corollas wherever they can find a place out of sight?

Sadly, this is going on in my home town, Palo Alto. Real estate and rentals are so out of sight there, that people with regular jobs are living in RVs. It's either that, or commute from Tracy or Gilroy, and even Gilroy is pricing up.