The Past is a Present at
The Lodge at Torrey Pines By Karen Portugal York hat does it feel like to enter into an environment that is simply perfect? Well, perfect for me, at least. You see, I am a huge fan of California Craftsmen architecture and ambiance—the art, the design, the colors, the textures, the warm and beautifully finished woods, ceramics, textiles, California plein air paintings, glass, and metalwork … I could go on and on.
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And, while I have had the pleasure of touring homes where this aesthetic has been beautifully preserved, namely the Gambal and Becker houses in Pasadena built in 1908 by the Green brothers, I never dreamed that I would be able to actually live in one, at least for a delightful weekend stay at the Lodge at Torrey Pines, located in beautiful La Jolla, California. Of course, I had heard of the hotel and its adjacent world-renown golf courses. I was aware that the hotel is considered “5-Star plus” in multiple reviews (having won the AAA 5Diamond Award for 18 consecutive years). So, it was no surprise that when upon arrival, I was warmly welcomed by their highly professional valet staff (dressed in plaid kilts—a nod to the origins of Golf in Scotland)
and the very friendly and efficient reception crew. That, in itself, would have been a more than adequate initiation into the Lodge experience. But what was truly thrilling for me was in finding myself totally immersed in my very favorite California Craftsman architecture as well. Equally, I was amazed to discover—so totally faithful to the architecture and aesthetic of the California Craftsman 28
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style was the resort—that the Lodge was not a well-preserved artifact of the early 1900s, but that it had been faithfully and beautifully created in the Green and Green tradition by the property’s owners, the Evans family, in 2002. “My family wanted to do it right,” said Bill Evans, son of the founders and president of the Evans Hotel Group which owns the Lodge and two other San Diego area resort hotels: the
