San Simeon, California

San Simeon (ZIP Code: 93452) is a settlement on the Pacific coast of San Luis Obispo County, California notable in two respects:

• Its position along Pacific Coast Highway is almost precisely halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, each of those towns being roughly 230 mi (370 km) away.

• A key feature of the area is a large, well-appointed, and very conspicuous hill-top mansion, known as Hearst Castle, built by William Randolph Hearst early in the 20th century, which for many years has been a very popular tourist attraction.

Parties

• during its heyday, in the 1920's and 1930's, the mansion attracted many famous guests (mainly due to lavish parties held by Hearst and live-in-girlfriend Marion Davies) including: Howard Hughes, Greta Garbo, Cary Grant, Beatrice Lillie, Hal Roach, Calvin Coolidge, David Niven, Norma Shearer, John Gilbert, Clark Gable, Dolores del Rio, Hedda Hopper, Lew Ayres, Ralph Bellamy, Charles Chaplin, Marie Dressler, Lionel Barrymore, Colleen Moore, Irving Thalberg, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Errol Flynn, Buster Keaton, Judy Garland, Harpo Marx, Mary Pickford Carole Lombard, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Louis B. Mayer, Winston Churchill, Louise Brooks, Eddie Cantor, Wallace Beery, Marlene Dietrich, Jack Warner, Charles Lindbergh, Lupe Velez, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, Gary Cooper, William Powell, Rudolph Valentino, Gloria Swanson, Harold Lloyd, Norma Talmadge, Louella Parsons, Joel McCrea, Clara Bow, Barbara Stanwyck, Dick Powell, Robert Taylor, Al Jolson, George Bernard Shaw, and many others.

External link

• Hearst Castle official website