My Hearst Castle Tour

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So the other night I had finished listening to a video of one of my favorites on YouTube. What should pop up but a tour of the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California. I jumped on it. It was as if I was on the tour bus riding up the way-too-long road to the mansion. I've seen bits of the place in black-and-white films of the Hollywood elite having parties up there. But nothing like this. This was different. The pool is a beautiful azure blue color and looks more like a lake than a mere pool. It was like I was standing right there. William Randolph Hearst was quite a man. He lived from 1863 until 1951. He used up his inheritance quickly and even got a loan from his mother. He ran for president in 1904. He bought all manner of things in estate sales all over the world. He had warehouses full of everything you can imagine and he just kept buying. He died in debt. In his lifetime he accumulated the largest media collection in the world including film, books, magazines, manuscripts, and historical memorabilia. He became obsessed with the castle beginning in 1919 and retained Julia Morgan as the architect. It was her job to go into the warehouses and find a place for the church pews, tapestries, furniture, and paintings in the castle and 3 guest houses. She went through 4 construction superintendents and it took 28 years to build the castle from 1919-1947. Here is a list of some of the more interesting bits of the history of the castle: * It cost $6,000 a day to run the place and it cost him $30 million to build it. (Which would be about $1 billion in today's money) * In 2003 there was an earthquake in San Simeon that rated 6.6. It did no structural damage to the castle but did $10 million worth of damage to the pool. * At least 70,000 trees of all kinds were transplanted there. * He insisted on a fourth floor and the builders had to move the bells out of the belfry and the fourth-floor suite was built in the belfry. * In his obituary in 1951 The New York Times said that Hearst's buying accounted for 25% of the art and antique buying during the time around World War I. Here is the link if you'd like to watch the entire video. It's long though.: