COVER STORY €t t I t *t 41 IL F 41 1 1-111 1IF'*11i Ari ..1.1 -24'Lrtle t The Soirits Neoenthe Bill Fassett, far right, and visi- tors folk dance on the chess- board terrace at Nepenthe in 1964, during the filming of 'The 00000 Sandpiper' starring EUzabeth Taylor and Richard Burton Bill Fassett on Henry Miller, sex, wives and audiotape Founder and owner of Big Sur's romantic Nepenthe restaurant, Bill Fassett died in May at the age of 80. His death prompted Carmel Valley writer Elayne Wareing Fitzpatrick to compile a few of Fassett's memories based on an interview taped in 1980 and excerpted from her recent work, "Henry's Book: Intimate Remembrances of Henry Miller's Big Sur Years." Lolly and Bill Fassett bought a Big Sur log cabin from Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth and built a restaurant, Nepenthe, alongside it *-r. - r 4t A . BY ELAYNE WAREING FITZPATRICK elephant of American literature, Big Sur in 1944, Bill Fassett was HenryMiller,cametolivein hen that insightful rogue editing a magazine in Catmel called What's Doing on The Monterey Peninsula. . th.2.7 However, discovery of a unique log house for sale in Big Sur - a house with a breathtaking view perched high on a cliff some thousand feet above the Pacific - changed his profession and his life. This was the same log house - owned by actor Orson Welles and his wife, actress Rita Hayworth - that had been Miller's first lodging in the Sur country. Now the Welleses were divorcing and sought a quick sale. The bre:,kup of their marriage, precipitated by Miss Hayworth's interest in Prince Ali Khan, proved to be a boon for Bill and his wife, Lolly. Desire for a quick sale meant a bargain price. Deal closed, the Fassetts and their five children moved from Carmel to Big Sur in 1947. Although World War II was still deterring travel, Fassett believed Big Sur would become popular with tourists when coastal blackouts ended. He wanted to be ready. The family would live in the house and, eventually, open up a stand so they could make a living selling whatever the new tourism might require. The county planning commission said no to a tourist stand. Too messy. But they would give permission for a restaurant. Why not? After all, hadn't the Fassetts' new home already taken on characteristics of an inn? When old friends from Carmel came down the coast, weren't they always fed and, frequently, put up overnight? Bill and Lolly reasoned that they might as well capitalize on what they were already doing. With the help of a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, they designed an addition to the house, opened a restaurant in 1949 and called it Nepenthe, meaning no sorrow. As the name implied, it would be a place where visitors could forget their troubles. Predictably, when the Fassetts began to charge for the food they once gave away, they lost a few friends. But they made new ones: Among them, Henry Miller and a host of other notables of varying degrees of sophistication, from artists and celebrities to beats and hippies. (Continued on page 15) Henry Miller, Nepenthe's most frequent guest in the late 1940s and '5Os 12 Alta Vista Magazine, Sunday, Aug. 2, 1992 Alta Vista Magazine, Sunday, Aug. 2, 1992 - - of . der f ./ r , OCR Text: COVER STORY €t t I t *t 41 IL F 41 1 1-111 1IF'*11i Ari ..1.1 -24'Lrtle t The Soirits Neoenthe Bill Fassett, far right, and visi- tors folk dance on the chess- board terrace at Nepenthe in 1964, during the filming of 'The 00000 Sandpiper' starring EUzabeth Taylor and Richard Burton Bill Fassett on Henry Miller, sex, wives and audiotape Founder and owner of Big Sur's romantic Nepenthe restaurant, Bill Fassett died in May at the age of 80. His death prompted Carmel Valley writer Elayne Wareing Fitzpatrick to compile a few of Fassett's memories based on an interview taped in 1980 and excerpted from her recent work, "Henry's Book: Intimate Remembrances of Henry Miller's Big Sur Years." Lolly and Bill Fassett bought a Big Sur log cabin from Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth and built a restaurant, Nepenthe, alongside it *-r. - r 4t A . BY ELAYNE WAREING FITZPATRICK elephant of American literature, Big Sur in 1944, Bill Fassett was HenryMiller,cametolivein hen that insightful rogue editing a magazine in Catmel called What's Doing on The Monterey Peninsula. . th.2.7 However, discovery of a unique log house for sale in Big Sur - a house with a breathtaking view perched high on a cliff some thousand feet above the Pacific - changed his profession and his life. This was the same log house - owned by actor Orson Welles and his wife, actress Rita Hayworth - that had been Miller's first lodging in the Sur country. Now the Welleses were divorcing and sought a quick sale. The bre:,kup of their marriage, precipitated by Miss Hayworth's interest in Prince Ali Khan, proved to be a boon for Bill and his wife, Lolly. Desire for a quick sale meant a bargain price. Deal closed, the Fassetts and their five children moved from Carmel to Big Sur in 1947. Although World War II was still deterring travel, Fassett believed Big Sur would become popular with tourists when coastal blackouts ended. He wanted to be ready. The family would live in the house and, eventually, open up a stand so they could make a living selling whatever the new tourism might require. The county planning commission said no to a tourist stand. Too messy. But they would give permission for a restaurant. Why not? After all, hadn't the Fassetts' new home already taken on characteristics of an inn? When old friends from Carmel came down the coast, weren't they always fed and, frequently, put up overnight? Bill and Lolly reasoned that they might as well capitalize on what they were already doing. With the help of a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, they designed an addition to the house, opened a restaurant in 1949 and called it Nepenthe, meaning no sorrow. As the name implied, it would be a place where visitors could forget their troubles. Predictably, when the Fassetts began to charge for the food they once gave away, they lost a few friends. But they made new ones: Among them, Henry Miller and a host of other notables of varying degrees of sophistication, from artists and celebrities to beats and hippies. (Continued on page 15) Henry Miller, Nepenthe's most frequent guest in the late 1940s and '5Os 12 Alta Vista Magazine, Sunday, Aug. 2, 1992 Alta Vista Magazine, Sunday, Aug. 2, 1992 - - of . der f ./ r , Heritage Society of Pacific Grove,Historical Collections,Names of People about town,E through F File names,L through M File Names,Miller,MILLER_006.pdf,MILLER_006.pdf 1 Page 1, Tags: MILLER_006.PDF, MILLER_006.pdf 1 Page 1