# Los Laureles Lodge

The Los Laureles Lodge is a historic American lodge in Carmel Valley, California. The Pacific Improvement Company used the lodge as a game preserve for Hotel Del Monte guests to hunt, fish, and canoe the Carmel River. It was once referred to as the Rancho Del Monte or Del Monte Dude Ranch. Today, the Los Laureles Lodge is a resort hotel and restaurant.

## History

The Los Laureles Lodge got its beginnings as part of Rancho Los Laureles, the 6,625-acre (26.81 km$^2$) Mexican land grant in present-day Monterey County, California given in 1839 by Governor Juan Alvarado to José Manuel Boronda and Vicente Blas Martínez. Rancho Los Laureles passed through several owners before being sold to Nathan Weston Spaulding (1829–1903) in 1874. Spaulding owned the Los Rancho Laureles until 1881. He placed the rancho under the management of his brother-in-law, Kinzea Stone Clinkenbeard, who lived for a short time in the three-room Boronda Adobe until they built a more modern ranch house, which became known as the Los Laureles Lodge. Spaulding grew alfalfa on 1,000 acres (400 ha) of the ranch for cattle feed. Irrigation to water the fields and fencing were introduced for the first time in Carmel Valley.

### Pacific Improvement Company

In 1882, Spaulding sold Rancho Los Laureles to the Pacific Improvement Company (PIC). The Hotel Del Monte in Monterey, built in 1879, wanted the water rights from the Carmel River that ran through Rancho Los Laureles as well as a game preserve for their hotel guests. In 1888, PIC hired William Hatton to manage their purchase and develop the Del Monte dairies and ranching operation in Los Laureles. In the 1890s, the Los Laureles ranch house became the "headquarters" for management of the lands the PIC had purchased.$^{:p198}$
In 1896, PIC added several guests cottages and enlarged the Los Laureles Lodge, to accommodate the Del Monte Hotel guests.$^{:p111}$ Hatton modernized the diary operations, adding Durham cattle to the Holsteins. Large vats and presses were installed to manufacture Monterey Jack cheese.$^{:p199}$ The Del Monte milk barn dates to 1890 when Hatton used the ventilation tower on the roof to cool the milk.$^{:p58}$ The Boronda adobe was the center for the PIC's dairy operation.$^{:p195}$

### Del Monte Properties

In the 1900s the PIC liquidated their 10,000-acre (40 km$^2$) holdings and the Del Monte Properties headed by Samuel FB Morse, acquired the land in 1919. In 1923, the Del Monte Properties divided the land into 11 parcels. Golf champion Marion Hollins bought 2,000 acres (800 ha), which later became the Camrel Valley Village and the Holman Ranch. Samuel Fertig from Pennsylvania, purchased Los Laureles that included the Boronda adobe and the Laureles Lodge.$^{:p201}$$^{:p111}$

### Additional owners

In the early 1930s, Muriel Vanderbilt Phelps bought the ranch from Fertig, converting the former Carriage House into a Ranch House and building stables.$^{:p202}$$^{:p112}$ She built a swimming pool at the front of her ranch house. In May 1946, Vanderbilt sold 1,100 acres (450 ha) of the property to Frank B. Porter and his son Paul for an estimated $200,000 (equivalent to $3,124,915 in 2023), which included the Boronda Adobe. The property was converted into the Rancho Del Monte subdivision and Rancho Del Monte Country Club, which is now the Los Laureles Lodge.

## Present day

The Laureles Lodge is owned by Sanborn Griffin and is a resort hotel and restaurant.$^{:p202}$ The Del Monte milk barn was converted in 1940 to the White Oak Inn, later an art gallery, and a real estate office.$^{:p58}$