Our “Nepenthes On Tour” series follows our team as they explore the world beyond the store.
While I spend most of my time in the Nepenthes Los Angeles shop in Downtown LA, I recently took the opportunity to step away for an extra day and enjoy a long weekend. I moved to California from New York just eighteen months ago, and even before that my experience traveling around the West Coast had been fairly limited.
One of the greatest pleasures of living in Los Angeles is how many beautiful and interesting places lie just beyond the city. Santa Barbara, Joshua Tree, Big Bear Mountain, to name a few.
Long before arriving on the West Coast, I had been fascinated by Monterey County. There was something otherworldly about its dramatic terrain, and especially about the Pacific Coast Highway, which traces a winding path along sheer cliffs above the ocean.
I had heard of a small town called Carmel-by-the-Sea, though I knew very little about it beyond the fact that Clint Eastwood had once served as its mayor. It is farther from Los Angeles than the other destinations I mentioned, and having lived in New York for so long I only got my driver’s license after moving to California. The prospect of a five or six hour drive still felt somewhat daunting.
Eventually I decided to embrace the challenge. I booked a hotel and set off.
The drive, my first real road trip, felt magical. The route cut through mountain passes before opening onto the wide flatlands of the Central Valley along Interstate 5, and eventually met the Pacific Coast Highway. Along the way I stopped at an elephant seal sanctuary to watch these strange animals lounging along the shore.
I also made sure to stop for lunch at Nepenthe in Big Sur. Since it shares a namesake with our company, I had always been curious about it. The restaurant, which opened in 1949 and is built around a cabin once owned by Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth, sits high above the Pacific with sweeping views of the surrounding coastline. The food was excellent, the atmosphere distinctly Bohemian, and the staff friendly and relaxed. I really felt like I had arrived in California.
When I reached Carmel-by-the-Sea, I checked into my hotel and began exploring the town. Carmel is quite small, and I later learned it has several unusual characteristics. There are no streetlights or sidewalks in many residential areas, and remarkably, the town does not even use standard street addresses. A few central streets are lined with art galleries, cafés, and wine tasting rooms.
After enjoying the quiet energy of the town that evening, I walked down to the beach the next morning and was surprised to find wide stretches of white sand and turquoise water. California really does seem to have everything.
It was easy to sense that the people who live in Carmel understand the uniqueness of their town and are committed to preserving it. The small quirks and unusual rules give the place a character that might otherwise be lost.
The next morning I began the drive back south along the Pacific Coast Highway. Before leaving the area, I stopped once more at Bixby Bridge and stood for a few minutes watching the waves crash against the rocks below.