California Dreamin’ – from Two Perspectives

he origins of California dreamin’ could be seen in the Old Mission of San Miguel Arcángel. which was the Franciscan vision for a new world order in a new world, among a new people. It was based on simplicity and mystique that they thought would seem attractive to the native Americans. It brought a new way of life. The size of the church and cloisters for instance were larger than any tee pee, and would probably fill the Indians with awe and inspiration.

Multiple bellicose on the corner of the San Miguel Arcangel Mission near Paso Robles, in California

he second California dream was shaped by the big holdings of the ranchos, oil barons, media magnates and the emerging cinema industry. It was intended only for an elite few. In 1919, Newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst hired San Francisco architect, Julia Morgan, to build a hilltop house on what he called his ‘ranch at San Simeon’. Morgan filled it with art and antiques from Hearst’s vast collection.

He chose to refer to his dream confection for a California home (that we know better as Hearst Castle), as Casa Grande on the Enchanted Hill. More a Cathedral in appearance (based on the cathedral in Ronda, Spain) than a castle, and countless art works of Madonna and Child you could be forgiven for thinking that the Newspaper and Ranch Baron had deep underlying religious obsession. But not so!

My first view of the ‘castle’ is one of great curiosity. A bus brings us winding up the hill following the trail that Hearst’s father first climbed on the back of a donkey to reach his enchanted mountain in the mid-19th century. The tour continues and reveals a collection of rooms full of ‘nice curiosities’, but totally decontextualized – ancient Greek and Roman, Egyptian, medieval Christian and so forth. There’s no theme or any sense of culture; it lacks human engagement and explanation; and leaves me thinking that money can buy just so much, and mean nothing.

Both these worlds have now passed away. They are but remnants.

California Dreamin’ in the 21st Century is now happening further up the coast in Apple and the Googleplex of Silicon Valley.

Postscript – after writing this post, a pervading thought as I try to meditate: As timeless wisdom reminds us, “all things pass away”