California’s Golf Paradise for Wealthy Titans

quote:

---

For roughly a century, moguls, movie stars and heirs have swung golf clubs and soaked in the sea breezes on Pebble Beach, Calif.'s scenic 17-Mile Drive. These days, the large homes that line the Pacific coast and golf courses are still owned by the wealthy, including a significant cohort who are escaping hot weather down south. Neighbors include Warren Stephens, the chief executive of Stephens Inc. , a Little Rock, Ark.-based financial services firm, who paid $31.25 million for a home with golf course and waterfront views on the drive in 2014. Charles Crocker, a descendant and the namesake of one of the “Big Four” railroad tycoons who once owned the land upon which Pebble Beach stands, owns a home built in 1913, according to public records. Jim Hoak bought a house on the drive in 1993 for $11.5 million, according to public records. In 1997, the media executive sold Heritage Media to what is now News Corp , which publishes The Wall Street Journal, in a deal valued at $1.35 billion, “It’s my favorite place in the whole world,” said Mr. Hoak, 74, who lives primarily in Dallas. “Wherever I am, I dream about Pebble Beach.” Mr. Crocker didn’t respond to requests for comment. Mr. Stephens confirmed his ownership but declined to answer further questions.

---

quote:

---

The original 17-Mile Drive was laid out in 1881 by the Pacific Improvement Co., a holding company controlled by railroad barons, including Charles Crocker. In 1919, PIC employee Samuel Morse crafted a deal to develop the area himself. He envisioned it as a “Newport of the West”—a residential playground for the wealthy, said Charles Osborne, his grandson and the 71-year-old chairman of a San Francisco investment bank.

---