Sailing In and Out of Weeks: Carmel-By-The-Sea or, I've Died and Been Reborn Into a Thomas Kinkade Painting

This is one of the first impressions I got from this hamlet on the Monterey Peninsula. It is an extremely picturesque town with it's Storybook Style, Arts and Crafts and Mission Style cottages. With the ocean as its backyard,

(Carmel's main road, Ocean Ave. ends at Carmel City Beach)

a thick canopy of pines, giant cypresses and live oaks that shelters the buildings, sugary sweet architecture, Clint as your neighbor, and a sturdy foundation of bedrock that will prevent the town from sinking into the Pacific ocean during an earthquake--why would anybody want to live anywhere else? Well, YOU can't live here. Unless you have a spare 1-4 million bucks lying around to purchase an OLD home under 1400 sq ft. 98.6% of the population is white. Only 1.3% is under the age of 5. Of the 4000 population, only 30% are permanent residents. This little town exudes affluence. Carmel today is a far cry from its former bohemian roots. Fortunately, many of the homes of the artists and writers who first colonized the town still remain. The architecture that is most fascinating are those built by Hugh Comstock--Storybook Cottages. But there are also Charles Greene, William Burbeck and a Frank Lloyd Wright.

Here are a sample of the fairytale cottages of Carmel.

Hansel House 1924-1925 built by Hugh Comstock

The seven dwarves must live here.

Where is Rapunzel?

Mushroom House

The Tuck Box

The houses do not have house numbers or mail delivery. You have to go to the post office to pick up your mail. The address on this house is "The fifth house northwest of 13th street" or you can just call it by it's name "The Casanova House".

Houses are built around the trees.

Cottage of Sweets

Lilliput

But with anything that is sickeningly sweet you do get toothaches. Carmel has the most extreme zoning laws. They want to maintain a small town feel--no big box stores and limit souvenir shops, but it is okay to have 70 art galleries. Does downtown Denver have 70 art galleries? The Business district of Carmel is about the size of REI--70?? As mentioned earlier, no house addresses and no mail delivery. No live music in bars. No streetlights, no parking meters and porchlights can only have a max of 25 watts. Roads are narrow and purposely kept poorly maintained. Where are all the tax dollars going? No sidewalks, curbs or gutters. Houses are fenced (no chain link) and gardens are for the most part required. (So that's where all the tax dollars are going--to the secret elves that maintain the gardens and pick up the trash left behind by the tourists.) My favorite is women have to obtain a permit to where high heels if they plan to step on grass or any ground that is not a road!!! Ironically, many of the buildings and actual city design does not meet the current codes of the state. All of this creates a town with subjective individuality and forced peacefulness. Until the tourists arrive and everything descends into madness.