Clint Eastwood and Misson Ranch

(Photo: Mission Ranch in 2008 courtesy of Conan C. Cotrell.)

Clint Eastwood saved the popular Mission Ranch from demolition in 1986, the same year he was elected mayor of Carmel, by buying the rustic structures and surrounding acreage to keep them from being replaced by a planned condo complex. The property was once part of the Carmel Mission, overseen by Father Junipero Serra and the Spanish priests after they moved from Monterey in 1771. Mexico gained independence from Spain and closed the missions in 1834, selling the lands around them to settlers moving into California. This scenic setting along the Carmel River passed through several owners before John Martin bought it in the 1850s, put cows in the pastures, and started a dairy business. The dairy was replaced in 1937 by a private tennis/swim club, which became an officers' club in World War II, and eventually a public bar/restaurant/resort and the most enduring nightspot in the area.

Clint Eastwood at Ford Ord

(Photo: Eastwood in the Army. Photo found in the collection of Darren Allison, ownership not determined.)

Clint Eastwood was a young GI stationed at Fort Ord in 1951 when he explored Carmel, Pebble Beach, Monterey, and Salinas on his $75-a-month salary. He said in later interviews the he didn't plan to own much in those days, but after studying business administration and acting in Los Angeles, and working at a series of menial jobs, Clint played the "Rawhide" TV series in 1959 as young wrangler Rowdy Yates. With that acting money, he bought a weekend retreat in Pebble Beach, "a tiny house" across from the Monterey Peninsula Country Club, for $20,000. A stream of hit movies followed and Clint surpassed John Wayne as the biggest box office draw in Hollywood history. He bought bigger houses in Pebble Beach and Carmel, the Mission Ranch and other notable properties in Carmel, Carmel Valley, Carmel Highlands and Pebble Beach. He is now one of the principal owners of the Pebble Beach Company, its posh hotels and world-famous golf courses.

Mayor Clint Eastwood

(Photo: The book cover of "The Carmel Campaign Scrapbook: Special Commemorative Souvenir Edition", published in 1986 by Joanne Mathewson from Carmel.)





When Clint Eastwood decided to run for mayor in 1986, the movie star campaigned by attending 55 teas and coffee klatches in Carmel homes to meet small groups of voters and convince them he was serious. He was elected that April with 75 percent of the vote in a very heavy turnout. During the two exciting years of Mayor Clint, tourism in the already crowded village increased by 10 to 15 percent, City Council meetings had to move to an auditorium to accommodate sight-seeers, gifts and invitations poured into City Hall, and the organizers of a visit by Pope John Paul II took special precautions to keep the mayor out of camera range so his presence wouldn't upstage the pontiff. The city also restructured the Planning Commission, expanded Harrison Memorial Library, sued the water district for a larger allocation, built more public toilets, repaired beach stairs, and legalized take-out ice cream cones.

Locally Shot Movies

Dozens of movies have been filmed on the Monterey Peninsula, including scenes in "Tortilla Flat" (1942), "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (1986) and "Basic Instinct" starring Sharon Stone (1992). Carmel's own Clint Eastwood figures prominently in at least two locally-shot films: "Play Misty For Me" (1971) and "Don't Pave Main Street: Carmel's Heritage," a solid history documentary from 1994. (Photo: movie poster for Tortilla flat)

Buying and Selling of Pebble Beach

In 1978, 20th Century Fox bought the Pebble Beach Co. for $72 million, including golf courses and hotels. Thus began a flurry of buying and selling of the property that lasted for 20 years. The next step came in the early '80s when investor Marvin Davis bought Fox for $722 million, gaining title to a slew of holdings, including Pebble Beach Co. "I never fall in love with any asset," Davis told Golf Digest, "but I came closest [with Pebble Beach]." Nonetheless he allowed his arm to be twisted in 1990 when Japanese investor Minoru Isutani agreed to pay $841 million for the Pebble Beach Co. alone.

When he bought Pebble Beach Co. for $841 million in 1990, Minoru Isutani became a figure of controversy. During this period, many people in the U.S. worried about Japan's economic clout. (The 1992 novel "Rising Sun" by Michael Crichton exemplifies the overheated rhetoric of the time.) Local folks were also stunned that Isutani wanted to privatize Pebble Beach Golf Links. He probably should have known that Samuel Morse's privatization plan, in the early 1960s, collapsed in a heap. Isutani's strategy was OK'ed by Monterey County, but the California Coastal Commission said "no." In 1992, Isutani sold Pebble Beach Co. to a Japanese consortium for $500 million.


Rumors swirled in the 1990s that the Japanese were preparing to sell the Pebble Beach Co. – maybe to the Sultan of Brunei, or the U.S. Golf Association, or someone else. Finally, in early 1999, the property went on the auction block (four golf courses, three hotels, and other assets). What Golf Digest calls the "sale of the century" soon commenced. The winner, in the spring of '99, for $820 million, was a group assembled by businessman Peter Ueberroth, including Clint Eastwood, Arnold Palmer, Dick Ferris and about 120 limited partners. For many people here, the American take-over was a welcome development after years of foreign ownership. As one observer noted, "People get pretty emotional about Pebble Beach."