Timmy B. Takes Us to Hearst Castle

William Randolph Hearst inherited a bunch of money his dad made discovering and mining silver. He took that money and purchased The New York Journal. He turned that investment into a chain of nearly 30 newspapers in several large American cities. Eventually, he got bored and built a castle in San Simeon, California where he partied with his mistress and the Hollywood elite for over two decades. Somehow, the castle was eventually donated to the state of California (probably because the Hearst family couldn't afford the property taxes). That castle is now a California State Historical Monument and a National Historic Landmark.

In September, after Tim and Bonnie's wedding, a group of us visited the castle. They only charged us $20 to be allowed to walk around what is technically public property. As an added bonus, they allowed us to watch a short film about the castle before the tour. They even had the film on DVD for purchase. We thought about buying the DVD, but it was more than we were willing to pay (really, it was more than you'll-have-to-pay-us-to-take-that-DVD-home dollars).

After the film, it was tour time. Once at the top of the hill where the castle was, we got out and met our tour guides. Well, they called themselves tour guides, but in reality, they were William Randolph Hearst fanatics. Actually, more than fanatics. They had a wild crush on a dead dude. They're smiles glowed and eyes beamed with excitement as they talked about Hearst's infidelities and eccentricities. I thought I felt a buzz of excitement at one point, but then I realized it was just the alarm buzzing because I, as a commoner, had allowed my shoes to touch a rug.

So, in Summary, we went to Hearst Castle and all we got were these lousy pictures.