With Hearst Castle's long closure, the Central Coast town of San Simeon is struggling [View all]

With Hearst Castle’s long closure, the Central Coast town of San Simeon is strugglingIt's just before noon in the middle of the week at the Big Sur Restaurant in San Simeon. Owner Maura Valencia is standing across an empty lunch counter from me as I ask her the obvious question, the one she probably doesn't want to hear, "Where is everyone?"

She makes a sweeping gesture with her arms around the cozy, but empty, cafe and then gives me a smile and a shrug. "What do you see?" she says. "Where are they? You tell me."

San Simeon is a town of 658 residents, located along California's oceanfront state Route 1. It's the exact midway point on the coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco — approximately 240 miles away from the state's two most populous metropolitan areas.

https://www.sfgate.com/centralcoast/article/Hearst-Castle-closure-hurts-San-Simeon-16947346.php

Driving through, it's a get-distracted-and-you’ll-miss-it-entirely single row of hotels, motels, restaurants and a liquor store. The local economy is reliant upon Hearst San Simeon State Park and Hearst Castle, which has been closed by California State Parks since March 2020 — first for COVID and then for road work.