Country Club, Pebble Beach, CA

Country Club is the part of Pebble Beach closest to Pacific Grove, on the northwest side of the forest where the pines give way to dunes and the Spanish Bay shoreline. The name comes from Monterey Peninsula Country Club, whose Dunes and Shore courses cover a large share of the ground and set the tone for the streets around them. It feels settled and wooded, a place of long driveways and hedges more than open sightlines. The houses mix Spanish-style residences with later mid-century builds. Mature Monterey pines and cypress screen most of them from the road, so what you usually see from the car is a gate, a hedge and a roofline. For a walk, a boardwalk crosses the dunes to Moss Beach, starting at the Spanish Bay fire pits and running well under half a mile, with longer shoreline stretches beyond it. Just over the line in Pacific Grove, Rip Van Winkle Open Space adds a patch of woods for a morning loop. Dinner leans on the resort. Pèppoli at Pebble Beach is the Northern Italian dining room, Tuscan in style, known for a T-bone sliced tableside for two and a deep Antinori wine list. Roy's does Hawaiian-fusion plates under the same roof. Past the gate, Fishwife near Asilomar Beach has served seafood with a Caribbean accent since 1986, and Patisserie Bechler on Forest Avenue sells Alsatian cakes and pastries. Everyday shopping happens in Pacific Grove. Lucky sits in the Country Club Gate area just outside the Forest, and the Safeway on Forest Avenue handles the bigger runs. Monterey and Carmel are each a drive away on Highway 68 or Highway 1. Distance is what you pay for the setting. Beyond the courses and the resort there is nothing to walk to, and nearly every errand starts with a car and a gate. In exchange, evenings at Country Club are mostly the sound of wind in the pine boughs.