Hearst Castle

Also known as "La Cuesta Encanta", The Enchanted Hill. Heatst Castle was designed by Julie Morgan for William Hearst between 1919-1947.

“Miss Morgan, we are tired of camping out in the open at the ranch in San Simeon and I would like to build a little something"  William Hearst.

They even had a zoo!!  With polar kangaroos and zebras, can you imagine having that in your back yard?  The area below held bears (polar bears, black bears, sun bears...), lions, tiger, jaguars, leopards, monkeys, tapirs and even elephants!  The zoo was dismantled and animals were sent to San Diego zoo in 1937.  There are still zebras wandering around the castle in the fields! 

The casa de grand (above) contains 38 bedrooms and is 68,500 square feet.




















People like Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplain & Winston Churchill.  During the tour the told us that as the guest were required to come to dinner everynight, the first night there, they would sit next to the host and hostess, then move one seat down every day, when they got to the last seat at the table, it was time for them to leave.















Part of the private movie theater that movie stars guests would show their movies







































 (Above) One of 4 guest houses with a total of 46 rooms.










The Roman pool (above) was GORGEOUS!! The tiles were inlaid with gold and almost glowed.

Overall it was a very impressive tour and I think Mr. Hearst definitely got something "a little more" than a tent!


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Location:San Simeon