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BIG SUR ORIGINS Big Sur has been home to human habitation for millennia. The Ohlone, Esselen and Salinan tribes roamed the region eons before the first Europeans showed up. These indigenous peoples followed the food, col- lecting shallow-water sea life such as abalone and mussels shoreside and gathering acorns inland to be ground into meal in holes carved into exposed bedrock. These mortars can still be found throughout the region. Although Spanish explorer Juan Cabrillo is credited with being the first European to set foot in California, he didn't do so in Big Sur. His loss. He and his expedition cruised by without stopping in 1542. More than 200 years later, another Spaniard, Gaspar de Portolá, finally plant- ed his pointy boots here, at San Carpóforo Canyon just north of Ragged Point. Father Junipero Serra established a mission and town at Monterey in 1770 and he and his compadres dubbed the daunting, seemingly impenetrable and unexplored region to the south el pais grande del sur ("the big country of the south," later shortened to el sur grande, then Americanized as "Big Sur"). Most who know it agree: Big Sur is a magical place. The hardy pioneers who settled this land before there was a proper road to service it felt that. There were cer- tainly easier places to homestead but they chose to put down roots in Big Sur. Their names are immortalized in present-day place names: Partington Cove, Pfeiffer Ridge, Post Ranch, Bixby Creek and McWay Falls are all designated after families who set their sights on taming this land. Many of their descen- dants still call it home. CELEBRITY SIGHTINGS The rich and famous are by no means immune to Big Sur's charms. Artist Erin Lee G a f i l l , w h o s e g r a n d p a r e n t s f o u n d e d Nepenthe Restaurant, relates the tale of a visit by the hot Hollywood couple of their day. "We all grew up with the story of Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles coming to Big Sur in the 1940s," Gafill says. "They saw a cabin on a hill and stopped to have a picnic." The couple fell in love with the view, buying the property on the spot. Hayworth measured the windows for curtains and Welles made plans to run a gas line to the kitchen. "But they never came back," Gafill says. "Not once." This land was later acquired by Gafill's grandparents, Bill and Lolly Fassett, and on it they founded the world- famous Nepenthe Restaurant. Gafill was born and raised on the proper- ty and now makes her home in the cabin that Welles and Hayworth once dreamed of occupying. Though not installed by the famous couple, the structure's windows now have curtains. Singer Taylor Swift and pal, model Karlie Kloss, shared these photos with fans via Instagram on a recent visit to Big Sur. Celebrity sightings are common on this dramatic coastline. Steve McQueen and his first wife, actress Neile Adams, shown here in the sulphur baths at Big Sur's Esalen Institute in 1963, were frequent visitors to Monterey County. 92 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S P R I N G / S U M M E R 2 0 1 4 Photo: John Dominis Photos: Taylor Swift /Karlie Kloss/Instagram 090-098 Big Sur_152-161 Garcia story 4/25/14 4:54 PM Page 3