Southern California #5, Carlsbad: A Search for  Identity

Story and photography by
Nancy & Eric Anderson 

 

Anytime we drove home to San Diego from the north, Carlsbad-by-the-Sea was simply a signpost, a cheering indication we were only 35 miles from home. It didn’t matter if we were blowing past the old Pea Soup Andersen’s windmill on Interstate 5 or, more leisurely, rolling down California Highway 1 past Alt Carlsbad, the Bavarian-looking historical artesian well -- we’d be home soon. No need to stop. The city didn’t seem to have much of an identity.

Boy! Was that a mistake.

Carlsbad, a city of about 80,000 souls, is a bit like the game Where’s Waldo? Because once we started to pay attention we couldn’t stop. There’s so much, it’s difficult to know where to begin.

The city’s origins clearly arrived with Captain John A. Frazier, a former sea captain who came via the California Southern Railroad. The railroad stop was on the 13,000 acre ranch, Agua Hedionda, granted to another sea captain, Don Juan Maria Marrón, 50 years earlier. Agua Hedionda, means “Stinking Waters” in English, but that doesn’t appear to have discouraged Frazier. He had bought land as an investment and knew he had to supply water to whoever came to “Frazier’s Station.”

Water was vital for any Californian community then, as it is now. Greg, a docent at the historic Magee House, describes life in the late 1880s: The Californian Gold Rush had run its course, a prolonged drought had devastated farming in what was essentially desert terrain, and the few male immigrants who arrived, mostly English and German, were part of the California Land Bust. Times were bleak. “And when the men sent for their wives,” continues Greg, “The women would alight from the trains, look around and start crying.”

With water, Frazier tempted passers by to stay. Indeed with it, he had a huge water barrel painted with the sign “Alight, Drink and Be Happy.” Frazier sank three wells in 1882 to depths of 415 through 510 feet. One gave pure drinking water, another certainly smelled and another had an unusual taste.

Frazier suffered from ailments and his health appeared to improve when he drank his well water. He discussed this with a newcomer in town, a German immigrant, Gerhard Schutte. Schutte saw the possibilities and, at $40 an acre, bought land from Frazier who became his partner in establishing the California Land and Water Mineral Company. They had the mineral water analyzed and found its properties were similar to the therapeutic waters in Well Number 9 at a health spa in Karlsbad, Bohemia (now known as Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic). With a perceptive eye to business they anglicized that name, dropped the old name Frazier’s Station and called the city Carlsbad. According to Gregor Krause, editor of the Official Carlsbad Visitor Guide, Schutte was the more astute and soon was advertising Carlsbad as “the greatest seaside sanatorium on the Pacific coast – blessed with mineral wells which effect astonishing cures in remarkably brief periods.”

Initially, the mineral waters’ odor was so unpleasant vessels were designed where the drinker would hold a hand over the top of the vessel to keep out the smell and drink with the spout tightly closed about the mouth -- the art of the cure, as it were.

Today’s improved water tastes great, claims Jake Smith a family member who now manages the new Carlsbad Mineral Water Spa that was recreated in 1993 by Ludvik Grigoras, a Karlovy Vary, Czech native. This day spa has brought style and glamour back to the historic site. Grigoras re-drilled the wells and restored the building. He arranged for a Czech sculptor, Vaclav Lokvenc, to create a 13 foot bronze plate statue of Frazier. Paid for by public donations and weighing more than 1000 pounds, it was shipped to Carlsbad in 1994 to become one of the most photographed items in town.

The spa attracts both typical visitors and hotel guests -- and celebrities from Los Angeles and beyond -- but locals benefit too: it sells bottles of water at very reasonable prices from the coin booth outside, for example, a 5-gallon bottle costs only $2.50 – a bargain.

Although this is an upscale community and priced accordingly, many of the attractions are free and locals direct you there willingly. The Magee House, for example, is a good start. The former home of Samuel Church Smith, one of Carlsbad’s founding fathers, the craftsman-style cottage, built in 1887, is now the site of Carlsbad Historical Society. After Smith, the next owner was Alexander Shipley, a retired US Consul to New Zealand. He had pneumonia and when the train broke down (some things never change) in Carlsbad, he inhaled the warm air, heard about the water and was won over. When he died he left the house to his daughter who had married into a Spanish Irish family, Magee. Living as a widow with 20 cats, she died in 1974 and left the house to the city. The house is open to the public. The barn has interest too. Its contents include two of the four 7-foot plaster chickens used to advertise the fried chicken dinners-to-go by the Twin Inns restaurant across the street. This restaurant with its great location was popular for 60 years. In 1984 it became Neiman’s restaurant, and is now called the Ocean House. This Queen Anne mansion was one of the most splendid homes in Carlsbad when Gerhard Schutte, built it for himself, his wife and his nine children. It had a superb location for a restaurant at the four corners, the center of Carlsbad village itself.

Where to Eat

Restaurants downtown include the popular and relatively modestly-priced Mexican restaurant now called Norte (our dinner for two with a glass of wine cost us $50), and opposite it, Jay’s Gourmet Restaurant. Don’t be put off by that middle word; Jay’s is casual and crowded, busy and fun. Next door is more sedate, Fresco. Chef Leone has been in Carlsbad since 1999; he was formerly a chef in the Italian navy. “That’s where I learned to keep my plates so hot,” he says. “it kills bacteria. I cooked for a lot of people,” he says. Chef Leone learned four things you never forget in the Italian navy, he says. “Your Mom. Your first love. When you were young. And the customer is always right.” Who wouldn’t drink to that? Our dinner with a glass of wine was reasonably priced; we paid $70.

Best place for breakfast? Well, the best location might be the Daily News Café right at the four corners but, when we checked in, the place was crowded and loud, the staff harassed and abrupt. We voted with our feet and walked the four short blocks, past signs that said Nick’s Shoe Repair and Giacoletti Guitars to the sign Al’s In The Village Breakfast Café, Wild Man Eggs $6; Free Fudge Samples! Some people we talked to had called Carlsbad quaint. Maybe some people in town fit that description. Suffice to say Al’s a character.

When Al dated his future wife Barbara (who races Shelby Mustangs and Cobras and must be a character herself) he found her father was an Arizona highway patrolman. “I bet he checked my record for moving violations – and then some,” Al says. “I kept a low profile for a long time after that.” They lived in Hawaii for 25 years and loved it. He handled catering services for American Airlines. “But d’you know,” he says, “I found more Aloha spirit when we came back here to live than we ever saw in Hawaii.”

We sat him below his Rotarian of the Year cartoon done by local artist Bill Lignante, a courtroom reporter and artist for ABC News. “Can you bring that cartoon down into the picture?” we asked. “Sure,” he replied, “everything can be taken down easily in case we have to move in the middle of the night!” The staff doesn’t move from Al’s. His cook, dishwasher and waitresses have been with him for 6-7 years.

Where to Stay

Carlsbad Inn Beach Resort. If location is everything this could be the place: spacious, a short block from the beach with a view of the ocean and right at the four corners of Carlsbad Village itself. The hotel offers free web access, has a outdoor heated pool and several restaurants lie within 50 paces in all directions. As always with hotels, not only should you check prices with booking agencies online but with the hotel direct. This is especially true of this resort because within the resort complex stand condominium time-sharing units the public can rent at ResorTime.Com. Families will want to compare the hotel’s rates for sleeping 4 persons with the condominium price. Most of the condo units have a small kitchen.

Sheraton Carlsbad Resort & Spa is quite a contrast with the Carlsbad Inn. It’s a sprawling, somewhat languid, contented place with lots of room, and a great little restaurant called the Twenty/20 Grill & Wine Bar. The whole resort sparkles and disproves the old saying, “In Carlsbad there is no life East of Interstate 5.” The reality is Carlsbad is booming, growing fast where there’s space and that’s all to the East. The Sheraton is next door to the Grand Pacific Palisades Resort & Hotel both new and both next door to LEGOLAND and on elevated ground with a view of the ocean, above the Flower Fields that have made Carlsbad famous in the spring. The whole area here is not too well shown on maps; that is especially true of Google maps online. You may want to call the resorts here and LEGOLAND itself and ask for precise driving directions. And, yes, though Carlsbad is a walking city, you’ll need a car to drive East of interstate 5. 

The Sheraton will be particularly popular with families once the pedestrian walkway to LEGOLAND is completed. It will also be appreciated by business travelers: it offers guests a service “The Link” that allows free use of a mini-business center in the lobby. This Sheraton impresses as much more beautiful and better run than most Sheratons in this country -- and compares favorably with Sheratons on the international scene, which is where the company has created its reputation. The whole hotel was designed to show the coastline whether guests are in the lobby or strolling the grounds. Recognizing the concept that hotel spas are not a luxury but an asset to health maintenance, the Sheraton has created its Ocean Pearl Spa for both day and hotel guests.

Where to Go

The ideal way to enjoy Carlsbad, says Frankie Laney, of the Carlsbad Convention & Visitors Bureau is to park free in the Village car park, walk the city then settle down at Coyote’s restaurant with a margarita, and if you’re lucky enough to be there on the relevant evening, listen to the classic and contemporary rock from the (presumably Catholic) band, the Rhythm Method. Then cross the main drag for whatever’s the Special dinner at Fresco’s.

Of course, your small fry will want to visit LEGOLAND. Get there early and make it a full-day because, like all Southern California amusement parks, prices have really risen. At our visit we passed several large families who had come out at the middle of the day to have a tailgate picnic in the parking lot.

The Museum of Making Music sits virtually next door. Carlsbad’s best kept-secret treasure is well worth a visit and, again, give yourself time. As we wander its exhibits a docent is telling some children about the tuba-like instrument on display. “This is a sousaphone and it weighed 55 pounds,” she tells them. “Imagine having to carry that around. Now they are made of fiberglass and they aren’t so heavy.” They look suitably awed. We turn a corner and find a 14 year-old student, Sarah Oshima, sitting at one of the pianos on display. Suggesting that music lives inside some people and you can’t stop its emerging, she bursts exuberantly into C.P.E. Bach’s Solfeggietto in E-Flat.  

Asked why we love to listen to music, B.J. Morgan, a museum spokesperson offers, “Those who make music touch us all. Music gives you a chance to bond with others. It’s said to make you smarter. It reduces stress. Though,” he laughs, “that depends on the music!”

An unexpected attraction in Carlsbad is the neighbor to the museum. GIA (the Gemological Institute of America). Founded in 1931 by an American, Robert M. Shipley, who had studied gemology in Great Britain, GIA has become the non-profit powerhouse: the world’s foremost authority on precious stones. Headquartered in Carlsbad, it has three US locations and 14 abroad. The institute is housed below its crystal Tower of Brilliance in a magnificent campus, all plate glass and marble or granite, a splendid receptacle for some of the exquisite pieces of art jewelry within. The lobby has exhibits of pre-Columbian artifacts and contemporary displays of tourmaline, zircon, corundum, opal and jade, pieces whose quality can only can hint at what lies beyond. One startling item is the boulder opal from Queensland, Australia on display courtesy of Impressions Ltd. Here precious opal lies “as seams in sedimentary rock; filling cavities made by sea shells and around small pebbles.” Then there are diamonds. Diamonds, Laurie Simanton, director of public relations says, are formed two miles under the crust of the Earth, they know no political or geographical boundaries and are essentially all alike except for color, clarity, carat weight and how they have been cut by the hand of man. And although we think of Amsterdam as the center of buying and selling, India has 90 percent of the cut diamond industry.

San Diego North has useful suggestions for three-day itineraries. You need at least that time to enjoy this city. A particular attraction for golfers (and non-golfers alike) in this land of Calloway might be the new golf course designed by Greg Nash called The Crossings. With its stone clubhouse and whimsical statues it sure is different. It lies one mile from the ocean, has a three-mile trail for walkers and links with the city’s far-reaching trail system.

Nature lovers will also enjoy the Leo Carillo Ranch Historic Park, the part of the actor’s 2,500 acre working ranch that was rescued by the city from complete development by over-enthusiastic builders. If you recognize the actor’s name it dates you: Carillo died aged 80 in 1961 after having appeared in almost 100 Hollywood movies. He is now best remembered for his role as Pancho in the cowboy TV series The Cisco Kid. At the height of his success in 1937 he was earning $4,000 a week!

You can, of course, still ride horses on ranches in Carlsbad, jet ski in the lagoons, barnstorm in biplanes from the city’s developing Palomar Airport (where United flies seven round trips a day nonstop to Los Angeles). But we are walking when a man passes us pushing his bicycle. He’s Joe Acosta, he tells us and he’s lived in Carlsbad for 40 years. He works in Oceanside – a city with little interest in tourism. “But Carlsbad is different,” Acosta says. “Once its attitude was: We’re on the beach, we’re on the freeway; why do we need to advertise? Now it’s enjoying $13 million a year from the TOT (Transient Occupancy Tax) – the highest TOT than any other city in the county after San Diego itself. Our mind set is to demonstrate the American spirit in a small Californian community. I love this place, the weather and the smell of the ocean. I enjoy the people: riding bikes, walking dogs, couples out for a stroll. All this puts a smile on my face.” He waves his hand at a sign painted on a wall, laughs and walks away as we, too, look at the mural.

There’s color everywhere in Carlsbad, even the fire hydrants have received attention from some artist. It seems, too, that any flat surface here invites ornamentation. But this is not a city where graffiti is rampant or even visible; it would not be considered good manners. This is a city that has found its identity: not a place just somewhere to the north of what still calls itself “America’s Finest City,” but a place that may indeed well usurp that title for itself.