Stunning aesthetic vistas, multimillion dollar homes, and the expansive Pacific Ocean are all within your field of vision as one drives onto the private grounds at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Oh yeah, there are a bunch of professional golfers and celebrities of varied ranks and levels milling about as well.
Golf and celebrity worship tabled, the ocean and surrounding real estate are the stars on this crisp, clear winter morning at the doorstep to the Pacific. Location, location, location rings in one’s ear as the assorted hues of pulsating seawater and sandy beaches and foliage mixture envelop all senses.
However, if it wasn’t for the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am taking place, then the overwhelming majority of all present wouldn’t be granted a sniff at this gated, high-end chunk of land permeating with excessive wealth, privilege, and pretentiousness. To say that the flavor of Caucasian-being is dominant among the spectators and golfers would be the obvious understatement of this adolescent millennium. With the business of golf, some things never change.
With all that said, the visual canvas at all angles is breathtaking. Walking away from ocean’s porch, through wispy grass and grove, gives off the feel of a nature hike until one gets hungry and has to drop a sawbuck on bottled water and a stale pretzel (but still a much better bargain than the $25 hamburger at The Tap Room). At times, it’s easy to forget that you’re at a professional sporting event, and at other times it’s impossible not to be fully cognizant of the corporate fog lingering about.
Leaving the private grounds and driving down to the beach at Pebble Beach is a treat. With its soft, fine sand and public access and personal pets running amok, it is a semisecret location that the Central Coast locals would like to keep to themselves as they put up with the mass influx of humanity during tournament week.
Driving through Carmel is an architectural journey into the past, with the welcomed absence of a typical cookie cutter retail concept. Walking the streets of this rustic village is like walking into yesteryear, with its plentiful art galleries and cottage-like structures. And the artwork on display is world class, from sculpture to oil painting to framed, vintage photographic images by the late Edward Weston and Yousef Karsh. One can’t help but feel the ghosts of creative past.
The division of class aside, California’s mid-coastal gem is a must visit by all.
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