Planning the trip to Carmel

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Along a rugged Central California coastline that is a touchstone in American photography, Garrapata Beach offers a lonely landscape that can tempt whoever is holding a camera. Edward Weston, haunting Monterey County in the 1930s and 40s, went on to win worldwide respect for fine-art photography with his meticulous, unsentimental, often nearly abstract images of nature. His sons Brett and Cole also forged estimable reputations in the art. Ansel Adams, who captured iconic images of Yosemite, also lived in the area for the last 22 years of his life. (Christopher Reynolds / LAT)

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An angular rock rises at Garrapata State Park, whose often deserted beach unwinds for two miles a taste of nature only a short distance south of the cute cottages and high-end retail of Carmel. (Christopher Reynolds / LAT)

3/14

Vegetation glistens in a sea cave at Garrapata Beach. Edward Weston had planned to make money shooting members of local high society when he arrived at Carmel, but that didnt happen perhaps because the trees, rocks and other natural features intrigued him more than the people.. (Christopher Reynolds / LAT)

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A waterfall sends a rivulet tripping off rocks and onto the sand of Garrapata Beach. Weston would spend hour upon hour at waters edge, composing frames of granite and sandstone, wind and surf, cypress and succulent, seaweed and sand, all the while wrestling with a heavy tripod, and a wooden view camera, and loading 8-by-10 negatives one at a time. (Christopher Reynolds / LAT)

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Strands of seaweed at Garrapata Beach present an unforced symmetry. Art is based on order. The world is full of sloppy Bohemians and their work betrays them, Weston wrote in one of his journals. He later added, I get a greater joy from finding things in nature, already composed, than I do from my finest personal arrangements. (Christopher Reynolds / LAT)

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A photographer looks for inspiration at Point Lobos, where Weston found plenty of it in the 30s and 40s. Times staff writer Christopher Reynolds found it worthwhile to head to Point Lobos State Reserve around 9 in the morning, when the light was especially desirable and the parking lot was less crowded. (Christopher Reynolds / LAT)

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The surf embraces the shore at Point Lobos State Reserve, a feature of a coast that also presented seascapes photographed by Edward Westons son Brett and wave-lashed Big Sur headlands that drew in to another photographer son, Cole. (Christopher Reynolds / LAT)

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Many memorable works attached to the Weston name are in black and white, but this scene at Point Lobos, where hikers maneuver through green brush atop rocks, seems to cry out for color. I cant even describe the color the water was this morning, remarked state reserve docent Patty Oglietti. There is no name for that shade of blue. (Christopher Reynolds / LAT)

9/14

Photographer Kim Weston grandson of Edward, son of Cole discusses a landscape with high school students at his Carmel studio. Kim leads workshops and shoots mostly nudes, rarely landscapes. After all, the terrain has been covered, often brilliantly, by Westons before him. Everywhere I look, theres one of Edwards photos. Or one of Bretts. Or one of my dads. (Christopher Reynolds / LAT)

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Edward Westons darkroom on Wildcat Hill remains largely as he left it, with labeled chemical jugs and chemical trays lined up, and family photos here and there. Theres also a reproduction of his most famous image, a 1930 still life of a pepper that half-resembles a well-muscled torso. (Christopher Reynolds / LAT)

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Carmel Beach, at the foot of Ocean Avenue, is an opportunity for visitors to interact with the Pacific. And you can follow Scenic Road to the fluttering shorebirds and shifting sands of Carmel River State Beach. (Christopher Reynolds / LAT)

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Chefs focus on their tasks at Cantinetta Luca, where a busy dining room wraps around a shapely bar. Prices up to $64. Lunch and dinner. Dolores Street between Ocean and 7th avenues; (831) 625-6500, www.cantinettaluca.com. (Christopher Reynolds / LAT)

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Bodie House, once a writing studio for one of Edward Westons wives, Charis Wilson, now holds a sitting room, bedroom, kitchenette, compact bathroom and copious art. $150 per night. Weston Private Drive; (831) 624-8111, www.kimweston.com/wildcat_hill/bodie_house.htm. (Christopher Reynolds / LAT)

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Highlands Inn Park Hyatt Carmel, with doubles from $155, has wood-burning fireplaces and a pair of restaurants. And the views are superb. 120 Highlands Drive; (831) 620-1234, www.highlandsinn.hyatt.com. (Christopher Reynolds / LAT)

By Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

April 15, 2007 12 AM PT

Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

CALIFORNIA | CARMEL | PHOTO GALLERIES

THE BEST WAY
From LAX, United and American offer nonstop service and US Airways offers connecting service (change of planes) to Monterey airport, about five miles from Carmel. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $332.
WHERE TO STAY
Highlands Inn Park Hyatt Carmel, 120 Highlands Drive; (831) 620-1234, www.highlandsinn.hyatt.com. You can’t beat the views from here, and the other amenities aren’t bad either, such as the wood-burning fireplaces, the pools and the pair of on-site restaurants. Though 94 of its rooms are now time shares, the inn still has 48 hotel rooms. Doubles from $155, more for suites.

La Playa Hotel, Camino Real and 8th Avenue; (800) 582-8900 or (831) 624-6476, www.laplayahotel.com. This an old-fashioned fancy hotel, with terrace restaurant, colorful gardens, spa treatments and free parking. Some of its features are tired — the furnishings and bathroom in Room 154, for instance. But it’s two blocks up from the beach and four blocks downhill from the shops and restaurants of town. 75 rooms and five cottages. Doubles from $165.

Carmel Comfort Inn, Torres and Ocean Avenue; (831) 622-7090 or (800) 424-6423, www.carmelcomfortinn.com. Nineteen rooms, many with new furniture and carpets. There’s no pool and the traffic of Ocean Avenue passes close by, but this is a handy location just above the town’s main shopping streets. Doubles from $89.

Bodie House, Weston Private Drive; (831) 624-8111, www.kimweston.com/wildcat_hill/bodie_house.htm. One guest room. Bodie House is the oldest building on a property south of Carmel that’s been in the Weston family for three generations. Built as a garage, it now holds a sitting room, bedroom, kitchenette, compact bathroom and copious art, including nude photography. $150 per night.

WHERE TO EAT
Cantinetta Luca, Dolores Street between Ocean and 7th avenues; (831) 625-6500, www.cantinettaluca.com. This is the newest of the eateries listed here (it opened in late 2006), and it delivered the best meal of my visit: a risotto made with chanterelle mushrooms from Big Sur. A busy dining room wraps around a shapely bar, with a small counter in back overlooking the kitchen action. Prices up to $64, which buys a 24-ounce Florentine-style T-bone. Lunch and dinner.

Village Corner, Dolores and 6th Avenue; (831) 624-3588, www.carmelsbest.com. This dining room and patio go back more than 55 years. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with dinner entrees priced at up to $30.25 for filet mignon.

The Grill on Ocean Avenue, between Dolores and Lincoln Lane, Carmel; (831) 624-2569, www.carmelsbestrestaurants.com. Open for lunch and dinner with dinner entrees up to $34 for macadamia-encrusted rack of lamb. I had a good Black Angus burger ($12), and quietly wished the pictures on the wall featured something other than golf courses.

Hog’s Breath Inn, San Carlos between 5th and 6th ; (831) 625-1044, www.hogsbreathinn.net. Clint Eastwood has sold this place, but his picture is still up on the walls, and the restaurant’s steady tourist traffic and T-shirt sales suggest that his celebrity touch hasn’t worn off yet. The patio, with a fireplace beneath a mural of green hills, is pleasant. Too bad my dinner (Dirty Harry Dinner, chopped sirloin and mushrooms for $19.50) wasn’t better. The dining room didn’t offer much atmosphere either.

California Market Restaurant, 120 Highlands Drive; (831) 622-5450, www.highlandsinn.hyatt.com. Downstairs from the Highlands Inn’s fancy Pacific’s Edge restaurant, there’s California Market, which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner in rooms and a patio with commanding views of breakers on the rocks. (Every table has a pair of Bushnell binoculars next to the salt and pepper.) I ordered the $16 continental breakfast, which included oatmeal, granola, baked goods, cheeses and fruits along with coffee and juice. The search for parking can take a while if you’re not a hotel guest.

TO LEARN MORE
Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau, (888) 221-1010, www.montereyinfo.org.

Planning the trip to Carmel

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