The next stop in our Vines to Vinos Tour with a
stay at Hofsas House in Carmel-by-the-Sea (aka just Carmel).
A two-hour drive from San Francisco, Carmel is known
as a village in the forest by the sea.
Carmel’s Bohemian founders fought to maintain the outdoor mystique and
small-town appeal (1910 it reported that 60 percent of Carmel's houses were
built by citizens who were "devoting their lives to work connected to the
aesthetic arts") and their efforts are still evident today.
Most everything is within walking distance in
this one square mile village: fine dining, art galleries, shopping, beaches,
and parks. The residential
district has no sidewalks or street lights, and the beach is unadulterated by
commercial development. There’s a
housing code that no buildings can be constructed over two stories. Dutch doors are everywhere
(everywhere!). Homes are known by
their name and have no street addresses.
And then there’s the dogs…
No one is exactly sure when it began or how, but
thanks to celebrities such as Doris Day and Betty White, pets get the spotlight
in Carmel. All you have to do hear
that the population of Carmel is cited as 4,037 people, and 847 dogs! Many restaurants, shops, art galleries,
and inns are pet-friendly allowing man’s best friend to go everywhere you
go.
Carmel is all about the boutique experience;
they’ve got 45 inns, but they’re all small. One such pink hotel is the Hofsas House, our home for the
next two days of the Vines to Vinos Tour.
Hofsas House celebrates European elegance with
the warmth of family hospitality. Not the easiest word to pronounce (the first
part is like “Hos “ in hospitality, the “Sas” part is pronounced “Sis” (as in
your best friend)), but for over 60 years, the Theis Family has been providing
hospitality designed to suit everyone’s travel tastes. General Manager Carrie Thies noted, “Our
inn has a very at home feel that emanates comfort, we consider it an extension
of family hospitality.” There
dedication to going the extra mile was displayed when I forget my favorite
headband at the hotel. Upon
calling over I discovered they categorized all lost items by date and later on
that day it was already in the mail back to me!
Donna Hofsas and her husband Fred, moved from
Los Angeles to Carmel in the late 1940s.
While he was busy as an accountant, she oversaw the cottages they had
purchased in town, living in one and renting out three others, and so began
Hofsas House. In 1957, they
took the major step of building the main hotel, adding 25 rooms and a swimming
pool, moving their business to the next level. After they divorced, she kept Hofsas House, and in the
1960s, she added the north wing and meeting room.
The hotel bears many of Donna’s personal touches. She commissioned her friend, artist
Maxine Albro, to paint the Bavarian-themed welcome mural, and three of Maxine’s
paintings hang in the lobby, as well.
Fred, who was also an artist and photographer, created the mosaic coat
of arms, whose Latin words mean “Leisure with dignity.” In 2000, Donna’s granddaughter, Carrie
Theis, with whom she had been very close, became General Manager. It was a full-circle journey for
Carrie, who spent summers as a child helping her grandmother at Hofsas House,
escorting guests to their rooms at the tender age of 8 and getting a seat
behind the front desk when she was 12.
Thus magic of Germany is still showcased nearly
60 years later in 38 one-of-a-kind, spacious European rooms, many with ocean
views. Rooms have Dutch doors (of
course they do!), free WiFi and many of the rooms and suites have fireplaces,
private balconies, wet bars or kitchens as well as patios for enjoying the
beautiful ocean view. A heated
pool, dry saunas, decks with views and complimentary off-street parking are also
offered as well. Each room at the
Hofsas House is decorated differently, our room was unofficially known as the,
“the girl room,” since it was all frilly and pink.
Like most inns in Carmel, Hofsas House serves a
Continental Breakfast. Items such
as pastries from Paris Bakery in Monterey and a carafe of coffee are available to
take back to your room or enjoy in their fire lit lobby. Because, as Thies noted, “in Carmel
sometimes you need to go searching for sun.”
Which doesn’t mean there isn’t warmth in
Carmel. This village in the forest
by the sea contains all the magic of a Grimm fairytale, and what better place
to experience it than in the pink hued Bavarian castle of the Hofsas House.
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