cake and culture: Filoli estate, San Mateo County

What could be better than a surprise day trip?

We’ve a super good friend, John, who told us to free up Saturday for an all-day extravaganza. He didn’t say a thing about our destination until we were riding in his huge Ford SUV on I-280 South of San Francisco. Then he asked the following question:

What started on January 12, 1981 that became a huge gay popular culture icon?

If you’re thinking of the brilliant eighties TV drama, Dynasty, you’d be right! (I guessed it right off the bat.) Turns out the Filoli mansion is the famous Carrington residence that’s featured in the opening credits of that marvelous series. John played the theme music several times on our way to visit the estate. You can see and hear it here:

The great house also appeared in that classic seventies movie, Heaven Can Wait, with Warren Beatty. Wow! I had no idea.

Development of the estate began after the famous 1906 earthquake that devastated San Francisco. The fabulously wealthy Mr. and Mrs. William Bowers Bourn II made a fortune from the Empire Gold Mine, which they owned outright. The historical film at the Filoli Visitors Center estimated that the mine produced about $120 million in gold, and this was a hundred years ago, when money really meant something. These people were loaded and liked to spend. For example, Mr. Bourn purchased an Irish estate, Muckross, for his daughter, Maud, in 1910, for her wedding present. Apparently he liked it so well, that he had Filoli designed in a similar way.

The mansion is huge and filled with fascinating furniture and art. The 16 acres of gardens are in the English style. They were overflowing with flowers when we visited, and many of the fruit trees were bearing. We broke the rules and sampled some pears, apples and really intensely good peaches directly from the Fruit Garden. Wonderful!

The gardens are divided into many different areas with charming walls separating them. We especially liked the Knot Garden which had lots of native California plants and flowering herbs growing in intricate patterns. The Sunken Garden was glowing with hundreds of bright orange zinnias. In the Woodlands Garden, the hush of the greenery was so soothing, I felt as if I’d entered an enchanted place.

The mansion itself is quite stunning. In one room, the Study, there’s a massive safe hidden in the wall where Mr. Bourn would store bags of gold! The Roths, who purchased Filoli in the nineteen-thirties, converted it into a wine cellar. I was hard-pressed to decide which would be better to have in my home: a safe full of gold or full of wine? Hmmm. Tough choice: what would you pick?

The building had inhabitants through the mid-seventies, so the furniture and appliances are sort of a mix of several decades. I especially enjoyed all the paintings, oversized ceramics from Asia, various collections of fine China, and the Library, full of stunning built-in bookcases. The house has a grand staircase that apparently featured in the TV show and the movie. Oddly, the very informative brochure fails to mention the history of Filoli in Hollywood.

The name is peculiar: Filoli. Apparently, it comes from Mr. Bourn’s credo, “FIght for a just cause; LOve your fellow man; LIve a good life.”

The house, formal gardens and surrounding acreage were donated to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1975 “so that future generations could enjoy its timeless beauty” according to the pamphlet that came with the self-guided tour. More cynically, I suspect that the Roths couldn’t bear the idea of maintenance. The mansion had a musty smell that I associate with an aging structure. Plus, we didn’t see any electric outlets in the great house. Can you imagine living in a place without computer access? Ugh.

After our lovely stroll through the house and the many spectacularly lovely gardens, we needed something sweet to tide us through until our late lunch. The café at Filoli had lots of interesting cakes, cookies and various savory dishes. But what could be better than iced cookies in the shape of ladybugs and bumblebees? These were darling to look at and unlike many I’ve tried before, were perfectly fresh. To me, the art of the playful cookies complemented the stunning grandeur of Filoli.

This is a hidden gem, well worth the short ride from the City. You should consider a visit next time you’re in town.