View of beach and Pacific Ocean in Carmel.
http://www.carmelcalifornia.com/
http://ci.carmel.ca.us/carmel/index.cfm
Carmel-by-the-Sea, usually called simply Carmel, is a small town in Monterey County, California, United States. Situated on the Monterey Peninsula, the town is known for its rich artistic history.
In 1906, the San Francisco Call devoted a full page to the "artists, poets and writers of Carmel-by-the-Sea" and in 1910 it reported that 60 percent of Carmel's houses were built by citizens who were "devoting their lives to work connected to the aesthetic arts."
Early City Councils were dominated by artists and the town has had several mayors who were poets or actors including Herbert Heron, founder of the Forest Theater, and actor-director Clint Eastwood, who was mayor for one term, from 1986 to 1988. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 4,081.
Carmel-by-the-Sea is permeated by Native American, early Spanish and American history (Blanks, 1965). Most scholars believe that the Esselen-speaking people were the first Native Americans to inhabit the area of Carmel, but the Ohlone people pushed them south into the mountains of Big Sur around the 6th century. The first Europeans to see this land were Spanish mariners led by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542, who sailed up the California coast without landing. Another sixty years passed before another Spanish explorer and Carmelite Friar Sebastian Vizcaino "discovered" what is now known as Carmel Valley in 1602, which he named for his patron saint, Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The Spanish did not attempt to colonize the area until 1769, when Gaspar de Portola and Franciscan Father Juan Crespi visited the area in search of a mission site. They returned one year later in 1770 to found the Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo at the southeastern edge of Carmel. The nearby colony of Monterey, established at the same time, soon became the capital of California until 1849. From the late 18th through the early 19th century, most of the Ohlone population died out from European diseases, against which they had no immunity, and overwork and malnutrition at the missions where the Spanish forced them to live. When Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821 Carmel became Mexican territory. A Scottish immigrant, John Martin, acquired lands surrounding the Carmel mission in 1833, which he named Mission Ranch. Carmel became part of the United States in 1848, when Mexico ceded California as a result of the Mexican-American War.
In 1905, in an effort to foster the arts, the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club was formed. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake the village received an influx of artists and other creative types escaping the disaster area. Jack London describes the artists' colony in a portion of his novel, The Valley of the Moon; among the noted artists who thrived here were Mary Austin, Armin Hansen, George Sterling, Robinson Jeffers, Sinclair Lewis, Sydney Yard, Ferdinand Burgdorff, William Frederic Ritschel, William Keith and Percy Gray.
In 1906-07 the town's first cultural center and theatre, the Carmel Arts and Crafts Clubhouse, was built.[2] Poets Austin and Sterling performed their works there. A theatre program was initiated and numerous plays and recitals were given. By 1913, The Arts and Crafts Club had begun organizing lessons for aspiring painters, actors & craftsmen. Some of the most prominent painters in the United States, such as William Merritt Chase, Mary DeNeale Morgan and C. Chapel Judson offered six weeks of instruction for $15.
Though often erroneously thought of as an "urban myth," the municipal code bans the wearing of shoes having heels greater than 2 inches in height or with a base of less than 1 square inch unless the wearer has obtained a permit for them. This seemingly peculiar law was authored by the city attorney in the 1920s to defend the city from lawsuits resulting from wearers of high-heeled shoes tripping over irregular pavement (caused by tree roots pushing up). Permits are available without charge at City Hall. While the local police do not cite those in violation of the ordinance, a person wishing to sue for damages from tripping while wearing such shoes is precluded from doing so unless a permit had previously been obtained.
Another unusual law, forbidding selling and eating ice cream on public streets, was a focal point of Clint Eastwood's campaign for mayor. He, and the new council elected along with him, overturned the ordinance and other similar laws that they considered to be too restrictive of businesses.
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Mission San Carlos Borromeo.wmvby bengorter680 views
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