Hearst Castle

Ever since seeing Citizen Kane in college, I have always been interested in seeing what Hearst Castle looked like.

Although it wasn't the reason we stayed in San Simeon, it was definitely something we wanted to do while we were there.

What the heck is Hearst Castle and Who was William Randolf Hearst?
To make a long story short he was a media tycoon and Hearst Castle was originally built so that people could be accommodated while camping. (Now that is my kind of camper) See information about him and the "projects" he built on the mountain. What I think is even more super cool is that after all of these architects turned him down it was finally a woman, there were not many woman architects those days, who built the castle. Read about her here.

Hearst had a very interesting life and surrounded himself with interesting people. Like Charlie Chaplin, Delores Del Rio, Cary Grant and Joan Crawford. And his very public relationship with Marion Davies, who is buried around the corner from me at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. On the tour we saw some silent home movies of Hearst and his guests.

I will give you a photo tour.

(Pictured above is the Neptune Pool. Just to give you an idea of how picky Hearst was, that pool was re-designed a few times and ripped out and re-designed at least a few more times)