17-Mile Drive

Scenic road March 2025 November 2023 article December 2023 17-mile drive 1.jpg 17 Mile Drive near Spanish Bay Road 17-Mile Drive Scenic toll road Pebble Beach Company 17 mi km Del Monte Blvd in Pacific Grove CA SR 68 road Sunset DrCarmel Way CA SR 68 SR 1 1880 https://www.pebblebeach.com/17-mile-drive/ Scenic 17-Mile Drive 17-Mile Drive is a scenic road through Pebble Beach and Pacific Grove on the Monterey Peninsula in California, much of which hugs the Pacific coastline and passes famous golf courses, mansions and scenic attractions, including the Lone Cypress, Bird Rock and the 5300 acre ha on Del Monte Forest of Monterey Cypress trees.http://gocalifornia.about.com/od/camontereycarmel/ss/17-mile-drive_10.htm How to Make the Most Out of Carmel's 17-Mile Drive 2013-07-16 2013-05-14 https://web.archive.org/web/20130514202327/http://gocalifornia.about.com/od/camontereycarmel/ss/17-mile-drive_10.htm dead The drive serves as the main road through the gated community of Pebble Beach. Inside this community, nonresidents have to pay a toll to use the road.https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/tollpage/t1part4.cfm Non-Interstate System Toll Roads in the United States Federal Highway Administration 2009-01-01 2011-04-26 live https://web.archive.org/web/20110309013453/http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/tollpage/t1part4.htm March 9, 2011 Like the community, the majority of 17-Mile Drive is owned and operated by the Pebble Beach Corporation. The 17-Mile Drive is a 17 mi km on-long scenic loop having five primary entrances - the main highway entrance at California State Route 1, and entrances in Carmel and Pacific Grove. History thumbnail|left|Original Hotel Del Monte, ca. 1885 In 1602 the Monterey Peninsula was mapped by Spanish explorers. By 1840 the area now called Pebble Beach was a rancho left to widow Carmen Garcia Barreto Maderiaga Maria by her husband. She sold the 4000 acre ha on property for $500 in 1846. Ownership passed several times until 1862 when the property was purchased at auction for 12 cents for 1 acre ha on by David Jacks. At the time, the area was called "Stillwater Cove". Jacks leased the land to the "China Man Hop Company", a small village with a population of about 30 Chinese fishermen living in shacks built upon the rocky shoreline.https://books.google.com/books?id=PETIxLAjsmIC&dq=history+of+Pebble+Beach&pg=PA33 Insiders' Guide to the Monterey Peninsula Insiders' Guide 4th Owens, Tom Bellon Chatfield, Melanie 2004 31 9780762729708 In 1880, Jacks sold the land to the Pacific Improvement Company (PIC), a consortium of The Big Four railroad barons: Charles Crocker, Mark Hopkins, Collis Huntington and Leland Stanford.Michael Norman, 2008, Haunted Homeland: A Definitive Collection of North American Ghost Stories, p. 40, Tor Books, 978-0-7653-2159-6http://www.mchsmuseum.com/jacks2.html Land King: The Story of David Jack Jack Kenneth C. 2001 Monterey County Historical Society July 10, 2011 By 1892, the PIC laid out a scenic road that they called the 17-Mile Drive, meandering along the beaches and among the forested areas between Monterey and Carmel.https://books.google.com/books?id=CztEAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA65 65 To San Francisco American Machinist 15 June 2, 1892 July 10, 2011 Within short order, the area became a tourist destination with the building of the Hotel Del Monte. The hotel was the starting and finishing point for 17-Mile Drive, (originally called the 18-mile Drive by hotel operators). The drive was offered as a pleasure excursion to hotel guests, and was intended to attract wealthy buyers of large and scenic residential plots on PIC land. Sightseers riding horses or carriages along the 17-Mile Drive sometimes stopped at Pebble Beach to pick up agate and other stones polished smooth by the waves, and they commented on a few unusual tree formations known as the Witch Tree and the Ostrich Tree—the latter formed by two trees leaning on each other. At that time, the Chinese fishing community continued in existence despite mounting anti-Chinese sentiment among Monterey residents of European heritage.http://www.mchsmuseum.com/chinesefishing.html Chinese Start Monterey Fishing Industry Kemp Jonathan 2010 Monterey County Historical Society July 10, 2011 At roadside stands, Chinese-American girls sold shells and polished pebbles to tourists. In the 1900s, the automobile began replacing horses on 17-Mile Drive, and by 1907 there were only automobiles.https://books.google.com/books?id=QHzsuDuVPZ4C&pg=PA87 Monterey's Hotel Del Monte Cain Julie Arcadia 2005 Images of America 0-7385-3032-8 The drive featured region's historical sites, forests, and on to the coastal scenic attractions in the Hotel Del Monte Park Reservation, as it was known at the time.http://lgdata.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/docs/1314/611051/HDM_1889_Souvenir_Booklet.pdf Page 28 thumb|150px|The Hotel Del Monte rebuilt in 1926, now Herrmann Hall Drawn by six bay horses, President Benjamin Harrison took the coach ride through the reservation in 1891. The coach was adorned with the national colors "and the harness on the horses was lined with bunting and roses as far as possible." In the newspaper The Monterey Cypress, President Harrison noted "This is a lovely spot. I only wish I could stay here a week."http://libguides.nps.edu/content.php?pid=359320&sid=2940630 Del Monte's 17-Mile Drive - Historic Hotel del Monte - LibGuides Homepage at Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), Dudley Knox Library (DKL) 2013-07-16 2013-09-17 https://web.archive.org/web/20130917231107/http://libguides.nps.edu/content.php?pid=359320&sid=2940630 dead In 1887, the hotel was destroyed by fire and replaced with a new structure. The Del Monte Golf Course was added in 1897 as part of the hotel and is today the oldest operating course west of the Mississippi.https://books.google.com/books?id=QHzsuDuVPZ4C&q=17+Mile+Drive+history Monterey's Hotel Del Monte 7 Cain, Julie 2005 9780738530321 In 1919, the Los Angeles Times called the 17-Mile Drive one of the "great wonders of the world." On February 27, 1919, Samuel Finley Brown Morse formed the Del Monte Properties Company, and acquired the extensive holdings of the Pacific Improvement Company, which included the Del Monte Forest and the Hotel Del Monte.Pebble Beach Company History https://web.archive.org/web/20100723090003/http://www.pebblebeach.com/page.asp?id=1378 July 23, 2010 History of NPS and the Infamous Hotel Del Monte http://www.nps.edu/About/NPSHistory/History.html Naval Postgraduate School 22 June 2013 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20130701053235/http://www.nps.edu/About/NPSHistory/History.html 1 July 2013 Another fire destroyed that structure and was replaced by a third hotel. This new hotel was finished in 1926 and requisitioned by the United States government as a training facility in 1942. After World War II, the Hotel del Monte building and surrounding grounds were acquired by the United States Navy for its Naval Postgraduate School and the building was renamed Herrmann Hall. The Del Monte Forest, including the famed 17-Mile Drive, remained under the ownership of Del Monte Properties Company. On March 30, 1977, the Del Monte Properties Company was reincorporated as the Pebble Beach Corporation. In May 1979, 20th Century Fox, later bought by Marvin Davis, purchased the Pebble Beach Corporation. When the film company was sold to Rupert Murdoch in 1985, Davis kept several company assets not directly related to the film and TV industry, including the Pebble Beach Company. In 1990 Davis sold the company to Japanese businessman Minoru Isutani, who made it a subsidiary of the Japanese resort company Taiheiyo Club Inc. under a holding company called the Lone Cypress Company. In 1999 the Pebble Beach Company was acquired from Cypress by an investor group led by Clint Eastwood, Arnold Palmer, and Peter Ueberroth. Route description thumb|200px|left|Pacific Grove entrance 17-Mile Drive entrance gates yes 400 300 36.58950 -121.93364 12 point lift-gate F6A11E 36.61314 -121.93245 Pacific Grove Gate point lift-gate F90DF9 36.60685 -121.93085 Country Club Gate point lift-gate 0064FF 36.59819 -121.92614 Samuel F.B. Morse Gate point lift-gate FF0000 36.57487 -121.91349 Highway 1 Gate point lift-gate 000000 36.55879 -121.92898 Carmel Gate At the north end, a portion of the early route through Pacific Grove begins at the intersection of Del Monte Blvd and Esplanade Street. The famous portion of 17-Mile Drive then begins a few miles south of this pointJanuary 2023. The crossing of Highway 68 (Holman Highway/Sunset Drive) and 17-Mile Drive marks the entrance to Pebble Beach. From the Sunset Drive/Pacific Grove gate, the drive runs inland past Spanish Bay, then adjacent to beaches and up into the coastal hills, providing scenic viewpoints. The route allows for self-directed travel and stopping, with frequent turnouts along the roadway in many locations along the route. Without stops, it takes a minimum of 20 minutes to reach Carmel. The numerous turnouts allow stopping to take pictures, or getting out to stroll along the ocean or among the trees. Visitors receive a map that points out some of the more scenic spots. In addition, a red-dashed line is marked in the center of the main road to guide visitors, and help prevent them from venturing into the adjacent neighborhood streets.http://www.pebblebeach.com/activities/explore-the-monterey-peninsula/17-mile-drive 17-Mile Drive at Pebble Beach Pebble Beach Resorts 2011-04-05 Scenic attractions thumb|130px|left|The Lone Cypress prior to the Pineapple Express of 2019 Primary scenic attractions include Cypress Point, Bird Rock, Point Joe, Pescadero Point, Fanshell Beach & Seal Rock. The famous "Witch Tree" landmark, often used as scenic background in movies and television, was formerly at Pescadero Point. The tree was blown down by a storm on January 14, 1964. Pescadero Point is also the site of the Ghost Tree, a landmark Monterey Cypress tree. The tree gives its name to a dangerous extreme surfing location known to have storm waves.https://books.google.com/books?id=HwcUL8HXSMgC&pg=PT82 Extreme Waves Smith Craig B. Dockside Consultants 2006 2nd Currently, the surf break of Ghost Tree is off limits to surfers and watercraft.Yount Maggie PWCs Officially Extinguished At Ghost http://www.surfermag.com/features/pwcs_officially_extinguished_at_ghost_tree/ September 16, 2012 Surfer Magazine July 22, 2010 Chief among the scenic attractions is the Lone Cypress, a salt-pruned Monterey cypress (macrocarpa) tree which is the official symbol of Pebble Beach and a frequent fixture of television broadcasts from this area. In 1990 the Monterey Journal reported that Pebble Beach's lawyer, Kerry C. Smith, said "The image of the tree has been trademarked by us," and that it intended to control any display of the cypress for commercial purposes. The company had warned photographers that "they cannot even use existing pictures of the tree for commercial purposes".Monterey Journal; Trees and Trademarks: The Disputes Run Deep Katherine Bishop, Special To The New York Times, August 2, 1990 References 2 External links Pebble Beach Resorts: 17-Mile Drive Photographic description of the whole of 17-Mile Drive. 36.584839 -121.9651 region:US-CA_type:landmark_source:GNS title collapsed Category:Roads in Monterey County, California Category:Toll roads in California Category:Non-freeway toll roads Category:Tourist attractions in Monterey County, California Category:Pacific Grove, California Category:Pebble Beach, California