31 July, 2006 | Leave a Comment

[sorry, lame pee-wee herman joke]

So today we went to San Simeon to visit Hearst Castle, former home of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. This was the inspiration for Xanadu in Citizen Kane. The place was quite mobbed with tourists from around the world, which surprised me. I don’t understand the attraction. It’s a huge estate and the main house is certainly grand, but by British or European standards, it’s just a big ol’ house built by a rich egomaniac with money to burn. But then perhaps I’m just bitter.

When I lived in New York, I worked for Hearst Corporation at what was then a start-up magazine (but what is now a huge success and cash cow). It was definitely the worst publisher I’ve ever worked for in my life, run by greedy, stingy bastards (aka the Hearst family). Imagine being a young, starving editorial assistant and having to buy your own office supplies, having your desk in a narrow hallway because they refused to rent a big enough office, and lots of other nasty stuff I can’t blab about because of confidentiality reasons. So I was quite excited to visit the manse today, just so I could put a pox on the entire Hearst family.

End of rant. A few photos…

Hearst Castle viewed from the car park (visitors must take a bus up to the property):

Foggy main house:

Outdoor pool surrounded by early-morning fog:

Library:

View from upstairs bedroom:

Tags: Hearst

1. Comments RSS | TrackBack URI

1. Gadfleye Says:

   August 1st, 2006 at 1:54 pm

   Tell ‘em Large Marge sent ya’!

2. Vol Abroad Says:

   August 3rd, 2006 at 12:32 am

   the pool looks nice - I’ve always wanted a Greco-Romano temple in the back yard. Currently I just have a shed.

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