San Ysidro Ranch a haven for Hollywood

SAN Ysidro Ranch in Montecito, California, is one of the most romantic hotels in North America.

Supplied Editorial WISH 140606

IN 1912, Winston Churchill and his family stayed here for the winter months (he apparently used the time to pen some poetry). The film director John Huston finished his script for The African Queen here during a three-month stay in 1951. John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline chose it as their honeymoon spot. Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier were married here in 1940. (Katharine Hepburn was one of the witnesses.) Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin were also married here and Paltrow has written on her website Goop that it “is one of her favourite hotels ever”.

“Here” is San Ysidro Ranch, a luxury hotel and resort at the foot of the Santa Ynez Mountain range in Montecito near Santa Barbara, California. Sandra Bullock has stayed here, as has Julia Roberts. Oprah Winfrey, who lives nearby, has been known to dine at the resort’s Stonehouse restaurant. Lucille Ball, Audrey Hepburn, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Gloria Swanson and Groucho Marx are also among San Ysidro’s famous former guests.

The 2ha property has just 41 suites, which means it’s incredibly private and explains why it’s a Hollywood favourite. It’s possible to stay here while the resort is at full capacity, as WISH did, and barely see another guest. There is a security checkpoint at the beginning of the tree-lined driveway and, given the resort’s location at the foothills of a mountain range, it’s virtually impossible for paparazzi in helicopters to get close.

Before you even arrive at San Ysidro Ranch you begin to realise the resort is something well and truly out of the ordinary. Turning off Highway 101 into the small town of Montecito for the short drive up the hill to San Ysidro is like turning into storybook town dreamt up by Hollywood. With a population of about 9000 people — which, as well as Oprah Winfrey, includes Ellen DeGeneres, Rob Lowe and executive chairman of Google Eric Schmidt — it is described by Forbes as one of the wealthiest communities in the US.

As you pass through the township and wind your way through the hills, the wealth is evident in the size, length and height of the walls that border the expansive properties lining the streets. A typical sign on an imposing gate reads “Absolutely Private Property” as if there was any doubt.

San Ysidro Ranch is like a small community within a community. Nothing about it feels like a typical resort. After check-in you will be whisked away to your private cottage. Each cottage has its own entrance and outdoor area and is fenced off from prying eyes. Each suite has been individually decorated and even the smallest is incredibly spacious. The bathrooms have soaring ceilings and open to a private courtyard, some with outdoor showers and hot tubs. The decor is on the traditional side and is elegant, homely and extremely comfortable without being chintzy: think four-poster beds, overstuffed chairs, Persian rugs, exposed beam ceilings, sandstone fireplaces and chandeliers.

From the front porch of the cottage WISH stayed in, we could take in the view of the ranch, down the hill and to the ocean in the misty distance, but we’ll leave it to more celebrated writers to describe the scene. Winston Churchill was 38 years old when he first stayed here and wrote: “The mountains, scored by deep canyons, rise up behind, for all the world like grand-opera scenery idealised, and far below, across the green plains of Montecito, one sees the white line of the beach and the Pacific stretching westward to blue islands shimmering in the haze.”

Another famous guest, author John Galsworthy of The Forsyte Saga fame, wrote an ode to the resort in 1912. “The loveliness of these evenings moves the heart, and the mornings, shining, cool, fragrant. There is something in all of that dream, as of Paradise, which stirred the Italian painters in the old days. Well may it be sainted — San Ysidro, Santa Barbara!”

San Ysidro has been welcoming guests since 1892, making it one of California’s oldest hotels. The property’s history as a citrus ranch, however, dates from the late 1700s with the land originally titled in 1769 by King Charles III of Spain. In 1889, a sandstone packing house was built on the site to handle citrus production (it harvested an average of 300,000 oranges and 100,000 lemons annually for the Johnston Fruit Company) and it now houses the resort’s Stonehouse restaurant. In 1825 a ranch house was built by Thomas Oliviera and is today a private dining room and a California Historical Landmark. Another ranch house was built in 1892 and received its first guests the following year. Today the building is known as The Hacienda and is the focal point of the resort where guests check in, meet and socialise.

In the 1930s the actor Ronald Colman and hotelier and former senator Alvin Carl Weingand acquired the ranch and transformed it into a resort known for its idyllic setting, impeccable service and, perhaps most importantly given Colman’s Hollywood connections, privacy. In 2000, the entrepreneur Ty Warner spent a reported $US150 acquiring and subsequently restoring the resort and transforming it into what it is today. The billionaire Warner, who made his fortune with Beanie Babies plush toys, also owns the Four Seasons Biltmore in Santa Barbara, the Four Seasons Hotel in New York, Las Ventanas al Paraiso resort in Los Cabos, Mexico, the Coral Casino Beach Club in Santa Barbara as well as three golf clubs in Santa Barbara and Montecito. Earlier this year the reclusive 69-year-old Warner was sentenced to two years of probation plus community service for tax evasion.

Despite the resort’s illustrious guest list, the mood here is relaxed and friendly. At the Stonehouse restaurant the dining veers on the formal side and is based on regional produce with many of the vegetables and herbs used grown on site in the resort’s organic garden. If the weather permits, you can dine under the stars on the patio, which has a wood-burning fireplace and heated stone floor. At Plow & Angel the mood is more relaxed — you can order pizza here — and is popular with families. This is wine country and the resort has an extensive cellar and wait staff have an intimate knowledge of local vintages. Breakfast, however, is not served at either restaurant as guests typically prefer to eat it in their room at leisure. You can walk off all the good food without leaving the property — there are more than 25km of manicured hiking trails on the property for a post-prandial stroll.

Each of the resort’s 41 rooms is incredibly comfortable and private and each has its own charms. Two rooms, however, stand out. The hand-carved stone Kennedy Cottage is where the Kennedys stayed on their honeymoon in 1953. The cottage has two master suites with king-sized beds and fireplaces as well as two luxurious bathrooms. There’s a third fireplace in the living room which is decorated with fine antiques and original artworks. French doors lead off the main room onto an expansive deck which has some of the most spectacular views in the entire resort.

Then there’s the Warner Cottage, named after the owner of the property, which is the resort’s largest accommodation. This villa is also the most private in the resort and has its own driveway and entry from the rest of the resort. The 232sq m villa has two master suites each with its own bathroom, a spacious living room, dining room and full kitchen. It also has a deck with a view to the Pacific Ocean and the villa’s fenced yard houses a 10m heated pool.

San Ysidro Ranch is consistently rated as one of the top resorts in the US by magazines such as Forbes Traveler, Conde Nast Traveler and Travel + Leisure. In fact, in 2010 Travel + Leisure magazine named it the No 1 resort in North America. Maybe it’s because of the stress of driving on a California highway, but from the moment you arrive at the drive to San Ysidro you feel a sense of calm. This is the kind of place where you could fill your day with activities or simply do nothing more strenuous than read a book by the pool. It’s easy to understand why San Ysidro Ranch attracts the great and the good; what’s difficult to grasp is why they ever leave.

Getting there: Qantas flies direct to Los Angeles every day from Brisbane and Melbourne and twice daily from Sydney. San Ysidro Ranch is just over two hours’ drive from Los Angeles International Airport and 20 minutes from Santa Barbara airport (for private aircraft services). [phone]; sanysidroranch.com, or book through Leading Hotels of the World on 02 9377 8444; lhw.com/sanysidroranch