Piedras Blancas Motel

Piedras Blancas Motel is a vintage roadside motel-and-diner complex located along the Central Coast of California approximately seven miles north of the historic village of San Simeon. The property is the very last remaining ocean-front complex of its kind to exist along such a remote, wild and rural section of two-lane historic State Route 1 anywhere south of the Big Sur Coast and was the only remaining private development amid 13 miles of coast scheduled to become parks.Cite web|url=http://www.scc.ca.gov/sccbb/0505bb/0505Board18_Piedras_Blancas_Ex6.pdf|title=Non-profits Rescue Coast Plan|accessdate=2008-03-27|year=2005-04-26|author=Paul Rogers|work=Mercury News] It is now owned by the state park system of California which has yet to respond to a variety of preservation efforts.Cite web|url=http://www.tpl.org/tier3_cd.cfm?content_item_id=20403&folder_id=266|title=Piedras Blancas: Opening the Door to the Hearst Coast|accessdate=2008-03-27|publisher=The Trust for Public Land|year=2005-12|author=Jack Boulware] Cite web|url=http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2005_1st/Jan05_50sHotel.html|title='50s Motel Sounds Jarring Note on California's Central Coast|accessdate=2008-03-27|year=2005-01-14|author=Paul Rogers|work=San Jose Mercury News] Cite web|url=http://www.coastandocean.org/coast_v23_no3_2007/articles/Hearst_02.htm|title=Back at the Hearst Ranch|accessdate=2008-03-27|year=2007|author=Glen Martin|work=California Coast & Ocean] The property is visible on historic maps of the William Randolph Hearst holdings as being, amid the 300,000 acres Hearst owned for eighteen miles along this coastline, the one tiny parcel of land he was never able to acquire from its owners.Cite web|url=http://www.hearstranchconservation.org/Hearst%20Ranch%20West%20Side%20Access%20Comparison%207-27-04-Ver-8.pdf|title=Hearst Ranch West Side Access Comparson|accessdate=2008-03-27|publisher=Hearst Ranch Conservation|year=2004-07-27]

The exact construction date is uncertain, but the 12-room facility is known to have been built in the early 1950s, just before tourists began visiting Hearst Castle in significant numbers. The hotel served vacationing families of returning American GIs throughout that decade. It continued to serve vacationing Americans and foreign tourists, and still offered rooms for as little as $28 per night, until its closing by the Trust for Public Land and the State of California in April of 2005.Fact|date=March 2008

Various members of the public, including locals, foreign tourists, and historians, have requested the re-opening of the motel, and in October of 2005 a grass-roots citizens group -- Citizens for the Preservation of the Piedras Blancas Motel -- was formed to advocate for the restoration and revival of the complex as a low-cost motel for members of the public, and to plead for the protection of its buildings from the elements until such a restoration can occur.Cite web|url=http://www.webspawner.com/users/motelhost/index.html|title=SAVE THE PIEDRAS BLANCAS MOTEL!|accessdate=2008-04-05|year=2008-03-26|author=Donald Faxon|work=Citizens for the Preservation of the Piedras Blancas Motel]

The property had also historically served as a small RV camp site and beach, gas station, and gift store; the pumps and tanks for the gas station portion have been removed, and the private beach opened to the public. In 2007, the demolition of a motel annex which contained three suites was blamed by the State on coastal erosion. Cite web|url=http://www.sanluisobispo.com/472/story/35412.html|title=Hiking Hearst 3: North of Piedras Blancas|accessdate=2008-03-27|year=2007-02-06|author=David Sneed|work=San Luis Obispo Tribune] Historic Highway One and the context for the motel have also been endangered by new housing construction in the area. As of March 2008, the Piedras Blancas Motel remains physically neglected and closed to the public.Cite web|url=http://www.webspawner.com/users/motelhost/index.html|title=SAVE THE PIEDRAS BLANCAS MOTEL!|accessdate=2008-04-05|year=2008-03-26|author=Donald Faxon|work=Citizens for the Preservation of the Piedras Blancas Motel]

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