Friday, August 17, 2007

This is it...Hearst Castle

I googled "Hearst Castle" and this is what I found. I thought it was quite interesting. "Hearst Castle was the palatial estate of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. It was built on a 40,000 acre (160 km²) ranch that William Randolph Hearst's father, George Hearst, originally purchased in 1865. The younger Hearst grew fond of this site over many childhood family camping trips. He inherited the ranch, which had grown to 250,000 acres (1000 km²), from his mother, Phoebe Apperson Hearst, upon her death in 1919. The estate is a pastiche of historic architectural styles that Hearst admired in his travels around Europe. For example, the main house is modeled after a 16th century Spanish cathedral, while the outdoor pool features an ancient Roman temple front transported wholesale from Europe and reconstructed at the site.Invitations to Hearst Castle were highly coveted during its heyday in the 1920s and '30s. The Hollywood and political elite often visited, usually flying into the estate's airfield or taking a private Hearst-owned train car from Los Angeles. Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant, the Marx Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, Joan Crawford, Calvin Coolidge, and Winston Churchill were among Hearst's A-list guests."

He only began construction after his mother died because she refused to let him build at the ranch. She told him that she knew him too well. If he ever started to build, he would never stop. She knew him very well indeed because that is exactly what happened. There are parts of the estate today that never were finished because his dream never ended. I love the line in Newsies...His Newspaper was called The World so he says, "When I created the World..." I think that explains William Randolph Hearst very well.
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1 comment:

BJ Scott said...

I love your little history lesson. You are so good. Plus we all love history. I love learning about historic sites and so does my Brent. Yeah for me and Yeah for you!