Audio Walking Tour

The Sea Ranch Audio Walking Tour: Architecture, Landscape, Intentions

Written and Narrated by Donlyn Lyndon

This audio walking tour was created in 2015 for The Sea Ranch 50th Anniversary

The Sea Ranch Audio Walking Tour is an introduction to the architecture and landscape of The Sea Ranch, noting the ideas and features that have made it world renowned. This tour has been recorded in audio so that you can experience it on your own…walking in the field with a mobile device or at home. It visits the area where the first Sea Ranch buildings were built and describes the landscape that surrounded them and how that has changed. Written and narrated by Donlyn Lyndon, one of the original architects, this self-guided audio guide explains what was intended in planning The Sea Ranch and in creating these first buildings. Lyndon comments, as well, on the evolution of the landscape during the subsequent fifty years.

It should be noted here that this audio tour guides you along walking trails of the area; it is not a house tour and does not include visits to the interiors of homes or condominiums. The tour is a celebration of the larger landscape and the ways in which architecture and its placement can combine with landscape to create a very distinctive sense of place.

Introduction

Narrated by Joanna Barnes

Your self-guided tour begins at the Sea Ranch Lodge. Much of the tour can be traversed on Public Access or Sea Ranch Lodge trails (Segments A, B, D), allowing members of the public to learn about this beautiful coastal site, the nature and intent of the architecture and planning of The Sea Ranch, as well as the stewardship that The Sea Ranch Association provides for this remarkable section of the California Coast.

However, in Segment C the tour continues onto the private roads and trails of The Sea Ranch Association, where only Association members, their guests, and Sea Ranch Lodge guests are permitted entry. Refer to the map to determine your route. For public visitors who would like to complete the entire tour route (including some private trails), there is a docent program* available by appointment.

Out of respect for Association Members, this beautiful environment and your personal safety, please observe the following practices during your visit:

  • Stay on marked public access trails, as all other paths and roads within The Sea Ranch are privately owned and not for public use.
  • While relatively flat, the trails do include some uneven terrain – wear trail-worthy shoes.
  • Exercise caution: bluff edges are dangerous and frequently crumble.
  • No bicycle riding on the Bluff Trail; no motorized vehicles on ANY trail
  • Keep dogs on leash at all times, including at the beach to conform with Sonoma County law.
  • Smoking and campfires are prohibited – dry forest and grasslands are an extreme wildfire risk.

Listen as you walk at your own pace along the spectacular coastal bluffs and meadows. The Sea Ranch Audio Walking Tour is designed for use on your mobile device. You may find it useful to download photos and files prior to beginning your walk, as cell phone signals may be intermittent in the field.

Segment A

Sea Walk Drive, Sea Ranch Lodge, Bihler Point and views of Condominium One

Click on any marker in the video timeline to move to another segment. At each segment you can link to a full map of the audio tour.

Download Map | Download Guide | Download Photos | Download Audio

Segment B

Sea Ranch Lodge, Black Point Beach Access Stairs and the Hedgerow Houses

Click on any marker in the video timeline to move to another segment. At each segment you can link to a full map of the audio tour.

Download Map | Download Guide | Download Photos | Download Audio

Segment C

Sea Ranch Meadow, the Esherick House, Brigantine Hedgerow, Moonraker Recreation Center and back to the edge of Black Point Prairie

Click on any marker in the video timeline to move to another segment. At each segment you can link to a full map of the audio tour.

Download Map | Download Guide | Download Photos | Download Audio

Segment D

Black Point Prairie, views to the forest, Black Point Public Access Trail, and return to the Sea Ranch Lodge

Click on any marker in the video timeline to move to another segment. At each segment you can link to a full map of the audio tour.

Download Map | Download Guide | Download Photos | Download Audio

Thanks & Acknowledgements

As author and narrator of this guide, I hasten to give thanks to the many who supported me in its preparation. They have been wonderful collaborators, who have provided many insights and observations that have helped shape its form and content.

Thanks begin with the TSR 50th Birthday Committee for suggesting this project and providing generous support.

Lu Lyndon, liaison from the Committee, has given cheerful assistance in carrying it forward, and The Sea Ranch Foundation and their donors have provided essential funding for expenses.

As General Manager of the Sea Ranch Lodge, Lowell Johnson has given vital and enthusiastic cooperation throughout. John Forenti of the Vision Committee has taken the lead in organizing the Docent program, and Jim Orenburg of the Website Committee has assisted in understanding how the format might be most effective.

Without the skillful recording and production of the voice portions by Peggy Berryhill of KGUA Community Radio 88.3FM and the Native Media Resource Center, this Audio Tour would not have been possible. Working with her has been a pleasure. We are also grateful to Joanna Barnes for the graceful Audio Tour welcome recording.

The photographs for this tour were taken either by me, especially for this guide, or by Jim Alinder as part of our book, The Sea Ranch, Fifty Years of Architecture, Landscape, Place and Community on the Northern California Coast, published by the Princeton Architectural Press in 2014, and available for sale locally at the Sea Ranch Lodge and in Gualala at Placewares and Four-Eyed Frog Books.

We are deeply grateful to Jim Mahoney for the use of historic photographs by Lisa Trumpler (which had been taken for use by the early public relations firm Marion Conrad Associates) and to N. Scott Smith for the Commons Landscape Committee map used in Segment D.

Many, many thanks are due to The Sea Ranch Association staff who have always been helpful; especially Darrell Paige, who has mastered the web page, Mike Lane who has prepared the route maps, and most especially to Janice Bonora whose scheduling, imaginative counsel and editing have been accompanied by continuing encouragement, forming a lifeline throughout the project.

As your guide in this venture I remain its voice. I can claim to know the place well, to have had a part in its making, to have studied it for decades and to have distinct opinions about what was intended, what came to be and the future that lies before it. I cannot, nor do I wish to, claim infallibility, so my apologies for any errors or misstatements; I’m offering opinions so that you may form your own.

Donlyn Lyndon
May 2014

*This audio walking tour was created in 2015 for The Sea Ranch 50th Anniversary by Donlyn Lyndon; all photos and references were last updated in 2015. The opinions expressed in this 50th Anniversary Audio Tour are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the The Sea Ranch Association or its members. The Sea Ranch docent program is no longer active.