San Simeon

Here's a $99 coupon deal for a hotel stay that positions you perfectly to visit Hearst Castle and the beaches along Central California 's rugged coast. LivingSocial offers a one-night getaway in San Simeon that includes room, wine-tasting and easy access to springtime sightseeing. The deal: The stay is at the the Morgan at San Simeon , named for Julia Morgan, the architect of the dazzlingly ornate Hearst Castle. This $99 deal goes a long way; it includes a room with a king-sized bed or two queen beds, continental breakfast, a glass of wine, free Wi-Fi and a wine-tasting at Harmony Cellars that comes with a bottle of wine.

A shallow magnitude 3.8 earthquake was reported Thursday evening six miles from San Simeon, Calif., according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor occurred at 6:22 p.m. Pacific time at a depth of 3.7 miles. According to the USGS, the epicenter was 24 miles from Paso Robles, 28 miles from Morro Bay, 29 miles from Atascadero and 197 miles from Sacramento. In the last 10 days, there have been no other earthquakes magnitude 3.0 and greater centered nearby. Read more about California earthquakes .

Christopher Reynolds' piece on San Simeon ["The Inner Workings of the Castle," Dec. 30] is a marvelous example of keen observation, a relaxed sense of story and a writing style in perfect pitch. I have never been to San Simeon and have never wished to climb that particular hill. But now, even at 76, I believe I would like to come out there and see for myself. James J. McManus Madison, Ga.

From land or sea, the Big Sur coastline dazzles. This 90-mile stretch of rugged Central California landscape draws millions of visitors annually, most of whom are content to pull over at Highway 1 viewpoints to catch a quick glimpse of the rocky Pacific shoreline. But I wanted more. I wanted a window on the sea. The bed High above the ocean, Ragged Point Inn & Resort offers a spot of green in a landscape of browns and blues. The 17-acre park-like resort [19019 Highway 1, Ragged Point; (805)

Hearst Castle's two-year-old visitor center features nine ticket windows, a snack bar and a souvenir store that sells everything imaginable about the castle (and a few things that aren't), plus an exhibition hall where a fine, concise history of both the castle and its builder are given. Tours: The castle is open every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Tours, which last 1 3/4 hours each, leave roughly every 10 minutes from 8:20 a.m. to 3 p.m.

An earthquake shook Central California early Saturday, about five miles northeast of San Simeon, home to Hearst Castle. There were no immediate reports of damage, officials said. The magnitude 4.2 temblor hit at 5:17 a.m., according to a preliminary report from the U.S. Geological Survey. A magnitude 4.4 quake hit the area Oct. 2. Sgt. Rex Reece of the San Luis Obispo County sheriff's Cambria station said there was no structural damage or injuries.

Unfortunately, there have been many instances where the Los Angeles Times promotes a popular domestic travel destination and yet fails to suggest Amtrak as a means of "getting there." The feature on San Simeon is a case in point ["Behind These Castle Walls," Dec. 30]. Amtrak provides wonderful rail packages to Hearst Castle. Let's not let our rail system eventually become something we can only talk about. Mike Ziegler Laguna Niguel

Setting the stage for a political battle royal over the future of one of California's most breathtaking coastal landscapes, the staff of the state's Coastal Commission on Wednesday recommended denial of the Hearst Corp.'s proposal to build a sprawling resort complex on the headlands north of San Simeon. With the blessing of the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors, the Hearst Corp.

Three northern elephant seals were found shot dead Saturday morning at the Point Piedras Blancas elephant seal colony near San Simeon, Calif., five miles north of Hearst Castle, authorities said. The three seals -- each about 1,000 pounds and between 2 and 5 years old -- were discovered shortly before 9 a.m. by a docent conducting a seal count on the beach. They had been shot in the back of the head.

A new survey on losses from the magnitude 6.5 San Simeon earthquake shows that in addition to the two deaths widely reported there were also 47 serious injuries and damage to 290 homes and 191 commercial buildings.

Phoebe Hearst Cooke, who was a granddaughter of publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst and used one of the nation's biggest fortunes to support a variety of philanthropic causes, has died. She was 85. Cooke, who had pneumonia, died Sunday in a Templeton, Calif., hospital, according to a statement from the Hearst Corp., the media company she served as a director for 36 years. Her twin brother, George Randolph Hearst Jr., who was a former publisher of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, died in June after a stroke.

Looking for a way to give back this holiday season and explore the Central Coast at the same time? As part of Nature Corps' volunteer vacation tour Dec. 13-16, participants will spend a morning helping to ready the gardens at Hearst Castle for the festive season. Also included is a one-of-a-kind evening tour of the legendary hilltop manse in all its holiday finery. Rounding out the itinerary is a bike ride to Avila Beach, a visit to the elephant seals, a hike along the coast and opportunities for shopping as well as dining and wine tasting.

Re "Anti-doping officials aren't playing fair," Column, Aug. 26 Mike Hiltzik's indictment of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's prosecution of seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong illustrates a larger problem with the American legal system. Courts have increasingly enforced arbitration clauses in a wide variety of contracts. It is a legal fiction to hold that signatories voluntarily consent to waiving their fundamental right to have their grievances adjudicated in court.

You can draw a straight line, in terms of architectural history, from William Randolph Hearst'ssprawling estate in San Simeon to the corner of Broadway and 11th Street in downtown Los Angeles. It was at that downtown site in 1913 that Hearst commissioned architect Julia Morgan to design a headquarters for his Los Angeles Examiner newspaper, which he'd founded in 1903. Morgan produced one of the most remarkable designs of her prolific career, a 103,500-square-foot Mission Revival building draped with Italian and Moorish touches, including domes covered in yellow and blue tile.

Here's a $99 coupon deal for a hotel stay that positions you perfectly to visit Hearst Castle and the beaches along Central California 's rugged coast. LivingSocial offers a one-night getaway in San Simeon that includes room, wine-tasting and easy access to springtime sightseeing. The deal: The stay is at the the Morgan at San Simeon , named for Julia Morgan, the architect of the dazzlingly ornate Hearst Castle. This $99 deal goes a long way; it includes a room with a king-sized bed or two queen beds, continental breakfast, a glass of wine, free Wi-Fi and a wine-tasting at Harmony Cellars that comes with a bottle of wine.

City officials here call it the "hole from hell." It's 20 feet deep and 100 feet across and at its bottom bubbles a steaming black sulfur-laden pool. It's gobbled up roughly half the parking lot serving City Hall and the town library. At times, its fumes drift over the quaint downtown, clashing with even the boldest Zinfandels in the wine-tasting rooms that line virtually every block. "When the wind is right, it'll clear out your sinuses," said Mayor Duane Picanco as he surveyed the fenced-off chasm that is the last grim souvenir of the San Simeon earthquake of 2003.

A moderate aftershock of the Dec. 22 San Simeon earthquake rattled through the Central Coast on Tuesday, and the U.S. Geological Survey said it measured magnitude 4.0. No damage or injuries were reported from the 10:25 a.m. temblor, which was centered 11 miles southwest of Paso Robles and was at a depth of two miles. Geological Survey seismologist David Oppenheimer said that as of Tuesday, 5,522 aftershocks have been reported since the 6.

A moderate 3.9 magnitude earthquake, occurring at the unusually shallow depth of only one mile, shook California's central coast near San Simeon early Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The 12:42 a.m. quake was centered nine miles northwest of San Simeon in the same location as a magnitude 3.6 temblor that occurred Tuesday at 2:55 p.m. A spokeswoman at the state park, which includes the famed Hearst Castle, said both quakes were felt at the park, but there was no damage.

The Eureka quake this weekend was one of the larger temblors to hit California in recent years. Here's a list: 7.3, Landers, June 28, 1992 7.2, Cape Mendocino, April 25, 1992 7.2, off Northern California, June 15, 2005 7.1, Hector Mine, Oct. 16, 1999 7.0, Honeydew, Aug. 17, 1991 7.0, Cape Mendocino, Sept. 1, 1994 6.7, Northridge, Jan. 17, 1994, 6.6, San Simeon, Dec. 22, 2003 6.6, Off Northern California, June 17, 2005 6.5 Off Eureka, Jan. 9, 2009 6.2, Joshua Tree, April 23, 1992 6.0, Central California, Sept.

Under the central part of the San Andreas fault, the deep seismic whisperings known as tremors have increased after two recent large earthquakes, and a surge in tremors appears to have foreshadowed one of them, according to a study to be published today in the journal Science. "It reaffirms the need to be ready," said Robert Nadeau, a research seismologist at UC Berkeley who led the study.