Featured Stories

August 15, 2025

One of the most famous scenes from John Steinbeck’s Sweet Thursday relates the true story of a man who attracted local notoriety by skating around the flagpole atop the Holman Building for more than 50 straight hours. But Pacific Grove has always navigated a balancing act – being both a residential community and a visitor destination – and PG has done it well, maintaining its communal vibe while welcoming tourists to enjoy its wonders. So well, in fact, that’s it’s a bit eye-opening to consider that there are some two-dozen lodging options within these three square miles.

They run the gamut – from the Monarch Resort to the Deer Haven Inn to Olympia Lodge to Borg’s Ocean Front Motel to Asilomar Hotel and Conference Grounds. Some lean toward affordable practicality; others are known for seaside luxury. Most would argue that they provide a heap of both. But each is unique in its own way.

First, of course, each option offers… its own particular options. Monarch Resort features a heated outdoor pool. Andril Fireplace Cottages includes a secluded garden with a gas grill and a ping pong table. The Pacific Garden Inn has popcorn poppers in its rooms. Pine Acres Lodge offers timeshare units. The Butterfly Grove Inn sits alongside… well, the Butterfly Grove.

There are room-specific quirks and marvels, too. There’s a cast iron stove in the Crow’s Nest Room and Cape Cod Room at the Old St. Angela’s Inn. Lighthouse Lodge and Cottages has a Honeymoon Cottage with a gas fireplace that opens to both the living area and the bedroom. The Gable Room at the Green Gables Inn is equipped with a straight-up ladder leading to a cozy attic room in the gable itself. The Cypress Room at the majestic Seven Gables Inn features a 22-foot bay window with a 180-degree view of Monterey Bay. The Malarin Room at the Martine Inn includes furniture that was exhibited at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

Indeed, history abounds at many of PG’s inns – buildings that date back to even before the city was officially incorporated. Seven Gables was originally, in 1886, a Victorian beachside estate known as Page Cottage. The Green Gables Inn was built (in 1888) as a Queen Anne Revival home called Ivy Terrace Hall. The Martine Inn was originally an estate for the heirs of Parke Family Pharmaceuticals. The Old St. Angela’s Inn used to be a home, then a rectory, then a convent. The Centrella Hotel is a bed-and-breakfast that was once described by a local newspaper as “the largest, most commodious and pleasantly located private boarding house in the Grove.” It is one of a handful of PG properties listed on the National Historic Register, along with The Charles (formerly the Pacific Grove Inn, newly refurbished and rebranded as an inclusive LGTBQ+ hotel).

And history is celebrated in various ways. The Martine Inn has rooms named after 19th-century Swedish opera legend Jenny Lind and eight-time Oscar-winning American costume designer Edith Head. On a more local level, the beautiful Victorian Gosby House Inn has named its rooms after historically influential Pagrovians – The Julia (Platt), The Elmarie (Dyke), the (W.R.) Holman, the Steinbeck. And it is decorated with sepia-toned photos of yesteryear PG – the Japanese Tea House that once adorned Lovers Point, an early 20th-century view down Lighthouse Avenue, a mid-century shot of the old Grove Theater.

Finally, along with all of that history, there is a little bit of mystery. What’s the story behind the antique carousel horse in the living room at the Green Gables? And what happened to the missing “e” in The Gosby Inn, which was once owned by PG’s first shoemaker Joseph Gosbey. (I find myself imagining, sometime down the road, a visitor finding the lost letter hiding beneath a queen-sized bed). And from where comes the name of the Bide-A-Wee Inn? Actually, I know this last one: “Bide a wee” is a Scottish phrase that means “stay a while.”

This is, of course, the welcoming mantra of all of Pacific Grove’s lodging opportunities. And most visitors wish they could stay longer.