HISTORY: Carol Pastor’s adventures in the mansion at 1015 Ocean Boulevard

Crown City History

IN COLLABORATION WITH CORONADO HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

Mansion

With A Story

CORONADO’S BY CAROL PASTOR PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE CORONADO HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION COLLECTION LOCAL ONLINE NEWSPAPER Over the past year, I have worked with the Coronado Historical Association to bring you stories of the people, places and events that have been a part of Coronado’s Published 24/7 at CoronadoTimes.com history. Here, I digress to tell you a very true story about Coronado: my story.

The Richards-Dupee-Van Ness estate at 1015 Ocean Avenue.

Starting in the mid 1960’s my husband, Mort Pastor, and I came to visit the Hotel del Coronado as a means of escape, as well as R & R, from the hectic lives we were living in Los Angeles. We often walked the beach from the hotel to dog beach. One day I pointed to Ocean Boulevard and said “That is my house right there,” knowing that we were by no means able to afford such a home.

Skip now to the mid 1970’s, now residing full time at the Shores; we again walked the same beach as earlier, only this time when I said that house is for sale and what a wonderful opportunity, my husband turned to me and said, “You are serious.” Yes, I was, and I explained all that I would do to bring that house to life. That house was 1015 Ocean Boulevard, what we called the Van Ness house, formerly the Richards-Dupee-Van Ness estate. So that morning we went back to the condo, Mort called Greg McPartlin, of M&M Real Estate and McP’s fame, and made him an offer that he and his partners could not refuse. We owned a home once again. To say that it was run down or needed repairs was putting it mildly. As a family, we decided what needed to be started first and what would follow. With five of our daughters living at home, we were able to start removing all of the ivy from the front of the house, as well as from the inner courtyard. That was indeed several days' work. It was then ready for bricks to be repointed and the house

The home was covered in ivy when it was purchased by the Pastor family.

painted. From there we attacked the inside. This was no quick, simple paint job and we’re done. No, of the 13 bathrooms only one was functioning, so we had a chart for shower times depending upon when one needed to be out of the house. A. O. Reed began the complete replumbing of the house, managing to restore the bathrooms without destroying the original wall tiles.

Once again we had a heating system as well. As a team we began to tear up the old carpet, described by the girls as ratty, knowing there would be hardwood floors underneath. And there were — not only great, old original floors, but ones finished with inlay borders in each room. We used our magic formula and took the floors back to hardwood, then after repairs and filling holes, we began the task of varnishing and finishing all the rooms on the first floor. Have you ever restored 5,000 square feet of flooring? Well, we can say that we did. The girls took out all of the old radiators and other pipes to go off to recycling, where they picked up some pocket change. By now, the house was ready for some serious redecoration. Although we had the antique furniture to fill the house, that was about all we had ready to move into the house. My husband, Mort, was not only an excellent physician, but also a very astute businessman. He was the idea man, and I usually was delegated to follow through with whatever project came next. This time he had a winner.

He contacted the American Society of Interior Designers, ASID, and arranged to have our home as the Designers Showcase Home for 1979, with much hard work on their part. Almost 18 rooms of the 40 rooms in the house were completed by a different designer or design firm, including the first, second and third floors, and basement space. They did not work on the polo team’s quarters as that was deemed unnecessary.

We had architectural control over each job and worked with all of the staff. It became the most successful of the showcases. People came from far and wide to tour this house which had never been open to the public before. For over a month, they not only gave tours, but held luncheons and evening gatherings.

The very first winter before this all began, we were living there waiting for some of the projects to start. I put up a very large Christmas tree since we had those lovely high ceilings. Shortly after it was decorated and lighted I received a phone call from a local woman, whom I did not know at

The Pastor family enjoyed the views of the beach from the front rooms.

the time, who said that this was the first time that there was ever a Christmas tree in the window and the house looked lived in. That was Coronado’s very own Barbara Haines. That living room was the center of our family gatherings. Our view was directly across to the ocean and the gorgeous sunsets.

After the final days of the showcase, we moved back into the house with our five children still living at home and the others visiting. Then Grandmother Pastor joined us as well, so our family was complete. Or so we thought. But not yet.

Our girls were swimmers and runners, so guess what? Dr. Bregman, an advisor to the swim teams came to us because the teams would not be going to the Olympics. So, he had five members of the team from Indonesia who had been here training. Now, they wanted to stay and train for the Pan American Games, but had no place to live. Dr. B pointed out that we had an empty wing of the house, unused, formerly the polo team’s quarters when they were sponsored by Mr. Dupee. With the swim team, now we truly had a full house. There were many days after school when one might think that I was running a daycare. The former staff dining room off the kitchen became teen central. Fortunately, I kept that freezer full of tubs of ice cream.

Over those years when we occupied the home it was open to many groups, both local and across the bridge, for fundraisers. We had everything from Rotary dinners to Republican and Democratic fundraising events. We hosted an evening with the War Minister from Israel, the Chinese delegation for several days, friends’ weddings, and almost all the after theater parties for San Diego State’s theater arts department. Marion Ross, known by many, was playing the lead, so that was a great draw. Our home was open for a black-tie event that went on into the wee hours of the morning. Ron Howard and his wife attended, bringing her harp, which she plays beautifully. My two youngest girls stayed up to see us all because the Fonz was coming. He not only came, but he made special time to talk with my two youngest fans. They all took their food and drinks upstairs where they could talk. Needless to say, they raised a great deal of money for SDSU that night.

We had so many happy times at that house, some from gatherings of Mort’s interns and residents from UCLA. He invited

"Living in the home was an opportunity of a lifetime to have with my family, not only enjoying our moments but also being able to give back to our greater San Diego community with the fundraising events we held there."

- Carol Pastor

The Richards-Dupee-Van Ness estate at 1015 Ocean Avenue.

his chosen few to come down with their wives for an R & R weekend where they could relax and take no calls. He also gave them the keys to the wine cellar where they got to choose the wines of the night for dinner.

One particular weekend, we had a telephone call from the Hotel Del telling us that the granddaughter of a former owner was staying there and had heard of our restoration project. She wanted to see the house. She was from the Burnham side of the family. And so, this lovely, soft-spoken older woman from D.C. had a private tour of our home and stayed for Sunday tea with our family.

As it turns out, the Wedgewood bedroom had been designed for her for the few times she came to visit. This beautiful room had inlaid blue Wedgwood medallions in the door knobs, door frame trims and the light fixtures. At the time, we were unaware that there was furniture designed specifically for this room. She had inherited the furniture, which was in her home in D. C. She met our daughter that day who was attending college in Maryland, so of course, she invited her to visit her home and see the original furniture.

The Pastory family enjoyed the backyard and were known to host many parties over the years.

This undated photo shows the home before the polo wing was added.

We came to the end of an era when we were down to only two or three children in and out of our house. It was then that we decided it was definitely time to relinquish our beachfront home. We eventually moved into smaller quarters having sold the house to Larry Lawrence of the Hotel del Coronado, but that is a story for another time.

• Carol Pastor and her family have lived in Coronado since the mid-1970s. Mother of seven girls, many of whom still live here in the village, Carol has been involved in the community over the years with the Friends of the Library, Historic Resource Commission, and most recently writing about Coronado history for the Coronado Historical Association. An avid history buff since her college days, exploring our local history is a perfect fit. [CHA logo?]