KEY TO THE MONTEREY PENINSULA.
By G. William Gahagan '35. Burlingame,Cal., 1956. 127 pp. $1.00.
With roots now sinking deeply into the sandy soil of Monterey Peninsula, G. William Gahagan, remembering perhaps with distaste the Hanover snowdrifts of February and the muddy walks of March, has evinced a fervent desire to point out the joys of year-round, out-of-door-living of his adopted community to all "just planning to come, or are dreaming about a vacation here, or of one day settling down in this historic, scenic area." To help these prospective visitors orient themselves, he has prepared a "New Tourist Guide Book," advising them "where to eat, where to stay, where to play," and promising them, in addition, that this paper-bound Baedeker would be "packed with history, fun and information."
He divides his work into six areas: Monterey, claimed in 1542 by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese sailor under the Spanish flag, for "God and Philip II"; art conscious Carmel, which offers no hospital for infants to be born in and no cemetery for old-timers to be buried in; scenic Pebble Beach, so exclusive that visitors must pay a 75 cent toll charge at any of the five gates and a six-dollar greens fee to play on the Pebble Beach Links; Carmel Valley, where the Digger Indians once roamed, now settled by such whites as explorer Roy Chapman Andrews, cartoonist Hank Ketcham, and authoress Betty Mac Donald; Pacific Grove, started in 1875 as a camp-meeting site of the Methodist Episcopal Church and still opposed to the sale of alcoholic beverages; and Big Sur, "a primitive terrain," with few telephones and a gourmet's restaurant, the Nepenthe.
Behind Mr. Gahagan's personal invitation to join him and others "who have seen the light" in this "Circle of Enchantment," where the thermometer rarely goes above 90 degrees or falls below 30 (in September, the hottest month, the average is 62 degrees and in January, the coldest, 50), there seems to emerge a promotional exploitation, suggestive of a Chamber of Commerce and a number of owners of hotels, motels, restaurants, stores, travel agencies, and real estate offices, all with advertisements rivaling in number the charming illustrations of Colden Whitman. Nevertheless, even though smacking of commercialism, The Key to Monterey Peninsula provides much useful information for anyone planning a trip to this other Eden.
