Galleries and Memorials

Henry Miller was an artist and writer who lived in Big Sur in the 50s and 60s. He expressly wanted no memorials after he died, so one of his friends immediately turned his own home into one anyway, the Henry Miller Memorial Library. Located among the quirky lodges, galleries and restaurants that cluster in the tiny village called Big Sur proper, the HML is kind of like that house on the cover of the first Crosby, Stills and Nash album, the one with the old couch on the porch. “Free” coffee (with a suggested $3 donation), lots of books and dusty vinyl records for sale (Donovan and the Byrds and Joan Baez), a falling-apart piano and a bored-looking hippy girl behind the counter, all under towering redwood trees. It was actually a really cool place to hang out for a while and try to imagine being Henry Miller (I couldn’t). But they had a wonderful persimmon tree.

Nepenthe is one of the oldest restaurants in Big Sur, started back in the 40s. It still has a reputation of great food, great views and bountiful quirkiness. We stopped here for lunch and it was right on all counts.

The view from our table at Nepenthe, looking south