Clubbing at the Del Monte (old school)
Tuesday, October 26, 2010 at 10:38AM
I got here last night before it got dark, and my Navy host took me to get some takeout before locking me up on base for the night. This is where I'm staying (a postcard of its third incarnation in 1926--see below). The place has a Twenties sense of grandeur alright. It's just been navalized and governmentized somewhat over the decades--sort of an over-the-top-BOQ (Bachelors & Officers Quarters). Rooms are cavernous and I've got a suite.
Club Del Monte is an art deco jewel set amongst 25 acres of sprawling lawns dotted with oak, cypress and pine. Originally built in 1880 as the grand Hotel Del Monte, it was destroyed twice by fire and rebuilt. The present imposing structure (which is the 1926 incarnation) resembles a Spanish-Moorish fortress. It remained an elegant hotel until 1951, when it was acquired for the Navy's Naval Postgraduate School.
At this point, only a small section (on the pic, the first wing to the right as you enter the front) seems to be hotel rooms anymore. Otherwise the rest appears to have been cannabilized into all manner of offices, schools of this and that, and so on--like any giant base facility. Still, the sheer physicality of the place cannot be denied.
No proper desk in my suite (weird), so my work day sees me hunched over a side table. Works because I've been doing the yoga lately (also good for the big mushy bed here, the kind that usually messes with my back).
If Mountain Runner is interested, then we can get together after my talk late this afternoon. I'm usually pretty chatty after a talk.
Reader Comments (1)
Did you set up a Q&A with the student body after the SGL? Sometimes that auditorium is just too big for questions to be heard by the speaker. Makes me wish I was back there at school now (I tried to get them to bring you in way back in 2006 when I graduated).