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December 17, 2006

BOOK REVIEW

Discoveries: Books by Sarah Norgate, William Dean Howells and Anita Alan

Perceptions about time, the Shaker life and the restorative qualities of the Big Sur Inn

By Susan Salter Reynolds

Big Sur Inn: The Deetjen Legacy
Anita Alan
Gibbs Smith: 160 pp., $29.95

Even if you've never driven past the Big Sur Inn on Route 1, much less fallen into its old-world arms at the end of a long drive or a hard week, you'll relish this illustrated story of its founding. Its rooms, grounds and common rooms are on a different (more human) scale than those of its larger, fancier neighbors. Helmuth Deetjen and his wife, Helen, came to Big Sur in the mid-1930s. Helen bought 3.95 acres along Castro Creek, where the couple camped and painted and built the cabin that would grow into the inn that climbs the hillside. Their interest in metaphysics, psychology, theater and literature drew artists and writers to the inn, which opened in 1947. Photos of Hollywood-handsome Helmuth and of Helen reading in a campsite hammock or dipping her feet in the creek recall a slower, sweeter time, which today's visitors feel as soon as they pull into the driveway, where dogs and fallen pears clog the road. Warm light shines from windows; voices and music waft onto winding lanes. The photos, and poems and drawings by visitors, evoke the spirit of Big Sur. Turning the pages will suffice in the long months between visits.

--Susan Salter Reynolds