{"id":2218,"date":"2023-09-27T01:47:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T01:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/?p=2218"},"modified":"2023-08-19T13:40:52","modified_gmt":"2023-08-19T13:40:52","slug":"chap-14-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/?p=2218","title":{"rendered":"Chap. 14 – PART TWO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SECOND<\/strong> PART<\/strong> of Hearst Castle Caper<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Scouting the place that evening, we saw there was a Tourist Center separate from the Hearst Castle, two different, distinct places, the Castle old, the Tourist Center new.  The Tourist Center is a short mile east off California Hwy 1, but it\u2019s another winding three<\/em>-mile road to the Hearst Castle, atop the highest cliff between Big Sur and Santa Barbara.  The Castle sits on a vast estate with a view of the ocean in the distance.  In fact, the gargantuan Castle looks almost tiny from the Tourist Center.  They even have telescopes for those who don\u2019t want to lay out $10 to take a tour bus ride up the mountain and view the estate, \u201cLa Cuesta Encantada\u201d (The Enchanted Hill), up close.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Even at 5 p.m., there was plenty going on at the Tourist Center, lots of tourists coming and going, stories and pictures on the walls, and plaques under glass, all about William Randolph Hearst and the Castle, with descriptions about things that had happened there, including to some family members.  But<\/em> notably<\/em>, nothing<\/em> about<\/em> Patty<\/em> Hearst<\/em>.  Best of all, if we were going to do some guerilla theatre, there was a huge garden, immediately out the large window looking towards the Castle, providing both a potential stage and a captive audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cA garden as redolent as the Gardens of Versailles,\u201d Sally said that night, as we reviewed our options sitting around the campfire brainstorming a possible skit.  \u201cDon\u2019t trample the flowers.\u201d  As we developed the skit, including that garden, with its rows and rows of neatly-pruned bushes and walking paths, there was some anxious tummy-tightening for those of us having a hard time imagining ourselves traipsing through the garden going ahead with the outlandish idea we were developing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Just before the Tourist Center closed for the day, Patty and Rocky had paid the $10 for the official tour, and now at our campfire, gave us a report:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You <\/em>have to see it for yourself to get the whole picture,\u201d Patty started, \u201cbut I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s worth the ten bucks.  Lots of wood carved chairs, lamps with patterned lamp shades, gloomy rooms really – 115 in fact!  Got kind of boring, but I kept thinking about the Orson Welles movie, Citizen Kane, that dark portrayal of Hearst the publisher \u2013 and kept on thinking about his granddaughter Patty, the SLA member, and a plot came to me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cThe view out the windows was exquisite,\u201d Rocky joined in, \u201cbut paying money for views of mother-nature?  I hate these touristy things.  Now the wine cellar, that was almost worth paying ten bucks to see \u2013 hundreds and hundreds of the best wines from all over the world \u2013 what a waste really.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patty continued with the plot:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we got to Hearst\u2019s study, called \u2018The Gothic Room\u2019,\u201d \u201cPatty continued, \u201cI started thinking Agatha Christie and all of us sitting around the big table trying to figure out who was the murderer, which closet Patty Hearst might be hiding in<\/em> . . .”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cBut that\u2019s when I told Patty there was no way we could pull it off,\u201d Rocky interrupted.  \u201cToo many guards.  If we were to try anything at the Castle, it could easily become a real<\/em> shoot-out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patty finishes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“So that\u2019s why we\u2019re recommending the Tourist Center for our guerilla theater.  And here\u2019s what\u2019s going to make it work!  The amazing thing you\u2019re not going to believe, Rocky left the tour and made friends with the tour bus driver, telling him we were part of a movie company.  If he\u2019s willing to play-along he can have a bit part, get paid, but the thing is \u2013 Rocky tells him, it has to be spontaneous \u2013 nobody can know you\u2019re hired.  We\u2019ll keep it safe, and we pay our extras well.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SECOND PART of Hearst Castle Caper      Scouting the place that evening, we saw there was a Tourist Center separate from the Hearst Castle, two different, distinct places, the Castle old, the Tourist Center new.  The Tourist Center is a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2218"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2760,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218\/revisions\/2760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}