Welcome to Carmel by the Sea, a California paradise
Small and rustic, Carmel by the Sea surprises with its European and medieval flair: cobbled streets, greenery and very cool shops. Future home of Brad Pitt?
With streets straight out of storybooks, this charming town, located in the South of the Monterey Peninsula, California, will make you sigh at every turn. Carmel by the Sea is a place that finds the balance between history and new wealth.
Carmel by the Sea
This Californian town has established itself as a magnet for Hollywood celebrities; it is almost a “celebrity retirement villa”, built in the most perfect European style.
It is located 180 kilometers from San Francisco, in Monterey County and was founded just 120 years ago, in 1902.
The visitors, then, are not the only ones who fall in love with Carmel, it also happens to the artists, whose works fill the almost 100 galleries scattered throughout the town.
But if they don't succeed, it's hard for them to stay in place as housing prices are unaffordable.
Carmel and the artists
The one who did the most to make it famous was Clint Eastwood, an actor who still lives there and was its mayor for the Republican Party. It's called Carmel-by-the-Sea and it was popularized as just Carmel, as its inhabitants call it.
In the latter, it once again gained great notoriety since it could become the refuge of one of the best-known actors in the world: Brad Pitt.
In July, Brad paid $40 million to buy the house of American writer D.L. James, known as Seaward. The turn-of-the-20th-century house sits on top of a cliff in the Carmel Highlands.
Much of the artistic activity, as well as the boutiques full of clothing and gifts, are located on Ocean Avenue: a busy area, mainly on weekends.
You can take a 2-hour guided walk with Carmel Walks, which will take you to secret gardens and hidden paths, but fundamentally, what you have to do in this "caramel", is to relax, walk and enjoy so much beauty and good taste.
You'll see ladies carrying luxury-brand lunch bags, and dapper gentlemen driving top-down convertibles along Ocean Ave, the venue's main street. The feeling is that you have gone back in time.
Houses dating back to 1900, with their characteristic stone chimneys and sloping gabled roofs, still dot the town, giving it a look vaguely reminiscent of the English countryside. Even the public telephones, garbage cans and newspaper vendors, curiously, are made of tiles.
An interesting visit to make if you like pets is the "Yappy Hour" at the reception of the Cypress Inn hotel, owned by the actress Doris Day, a lover of dogs. The place welcomes animals and companions.
