Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite*

After a memorable trip to the Lake O'Hara and a backcountry lodge with friends one of them commented that there should be a halfway house where one could go after a trip like that to ease oneself back into"real" life again. There was a copy of this book on the table in our room and I became so involved in reading it that OilMan bought me a copy. It is my "half-way house".

The story of the history of the design and construction of this hotel and its ongoing traditions is fascinating. One of the more fascinating details is that the architect was given a one year contract to build the hotel! It did take considerably longer than that in the end, but much of that was due to the constant design changes made by the committee made up of the Curry Company and the National Park Service. His primary considerations were to make it fireproof and designed to fit into the environment. The building is supported by steel beams and the exterior, although it looks like wood, is all concrete.

I promise I will stop waxing rhapsodic about the place, but honestly, it is the best hotel I have ever stayed in. Every thought in the design and the running of the place has been given to the experience and comfort of the guests. The original entrance was to be off the lawn pictured in the book, but ten days before construction was finished, an outdoor walkway on the other side of the building was built to keep the noise of fumes of cars away from the guest quarters.

Every morning, I would open the shade to see a man raking the huge lawn  with a plastic rake so as not to disturb the guests. Another man was raking the driveway on the other side of the building. No such thing as a leaf blower here.

The stenciled designs, over 100 of them, were all designed and painted by Jeanette Dyer  Spencer, based on her research in the anthropology library at the University of California, Berkeley, particularly the work of Alfred Kroeber. It is an interesting sidelight that as an anthropology major, I also studied Kroeber and his work with California Indians, and his widow lived next door to us.

The interior design was done by a husband and wife team of Pope and Ackerman who chose all the fabrics, commissioned the lighting fixtures and had much of the furniture custom made. The place is full or kilim rugs and finely woven baskets, and although the public rooms are grand in scale, the furniture is arranged in intimate groupings,. Even the acoustics were carefully considered.

The public rooms are all just that, so even if we can't afford to stay there again, we will always be able to go there and enjoy the space.

* The Ahwahnee, Yosemite's Grand Hotel
   by Keith S. Walklet