Generally speaking, luxury properties don’t particularly
attract me, but I went to the brand-new Terranea Resort on Palos Verdes
Peninsula for lunch today and I’m glowing still. I’ll even go so far as to say
that if you are planning a trip to Southern California, visiting this exquisite
place should be included on your list of “must sees.” Though I’m posting some
of my own photos, if you have the time, link to the site and go through the
photo and video galleries. They are also booking the $300 rooms in the hotel
for $150 through the end of June and cheap as I am, I’d book a room in a
heartbeat if I didn’t already live here.
Their PR blurb says, “Secluded
on California's Palos Verdes Peninsula, on the western edge of the continental
shelf, Terranea is a timeless, world-class resort and spa with a rare
collection of Legacy Estates in a remarkable setting. Here the world recedes
behind you in a coastal preserve protected by the highest environmental and
design standards of the State of California. Internationally respected experts
in hospitality, community design, and conservation have come together to make
Terranea Southern California's most celebrated and special resort environment.”
All of us old timers in the South
Bay remember this property as the home of Marineland of the Pacific from 1954
to 1987. Sea World purchased it and abruptly moved everything to San Diego. My
eldest son actually worked in the dolphin tank there when he was young. The
property sat empty until Terranea began to develop it several years ago. The
trails there remained open once Marineland left and that was primarily what I went there for. Terranea
officially opened just a few weekends ago but at the last minute the City of
Rancho Palos Verdes had to loan the resort $8 million to make that happen. The
city took a risk, but I personally think it was a good one.
What impressed me today about the resort is that it is built and decorated simply but classically. The "living room" off the main entrance was so homey that I could have stayed there indefinitely. The staff is the friendliest I've personally ever encountered in a resort setting. To be honest, though it definitely is a commercial endeavor, the whole space felt light, airy--and sacred. There were many people in the restaurants and on the grounds, but there was absolutely nothing pretentious about the space or the people. They were dressed California casual and there were a lot of families with kids.
My friend Betty is the one who suggested we have lunch here today. She lives very near and had already visited once. She took this photo of me in the garden. She is a wonderful woman who was a reporter for the Los Angeles Times for many years and was one of my journalism teachers when I went back to college in the late 1970s. We've recently reconnected and have so many things in common.
A very nice employee took this photo of the two of us together; he volunteered without us even asking. Incidentally, should you visit Terranea, you can make a day of it as the Pt. Vicente Lighthouse and Interpretive Center, the Wayfarers Chapel, and Abalone Cove are nearby.
Throughout the resort property there are beautiful flower arrangements that remind me so much of the work of Mrs. Kenju at the Imagine What I'm Leaving Out blog. Her work and what I saw at Terranea are simple, exquisite, classy. The hotel also features art work by local artists throughout the property. We were told that the Lunada Bay Room is hung with the artwork of the Portuguese Bend Artists Colony. That room is open on Sundays so we didn't get to see it, but I know the work of these plein air artists and it's world class.
After lunch, we walked by the row of "fancy" cars that are always parked right outside the entrance of classy hotels and Betty stopped to ponder what this plate was saying. I never figured it out, but she did. Can you decipher what it says?
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