California coastal question

Give you a trick we would pull to get on the 17 mile drive for free when I lived in Monterey,I have no idea if you can do it now but ,a local phonebook will have addresses for people who live in Pebble Beach when they get company the company is let in for free,get a name,when you drive up to gate tell the guard you are visiting that person,they are suppose to call but often are to busy and will wave you through,if they get a busy signal or a no answer they wave you through.Worse case is they get the person on the telephone who tells the guard they never heard of you and you pay

I would imagine the poor man's drive you are referring to is the scenic drive and you will see signage for it

OP, the 17-mile drive costs 8 bucks. If you can't afford that, then you can't afford your trip. No, the lone cypress wasn't burned down.

A search at sfgate.com turned up this letter to the editor from May 30, 2006. The Pebble Beach area is home to two conifers with tiny natural ranges, the Monterey cypress and the Monterey pine. It looks as though the pines are occupying land needed for a golf course.

Save the Monterey pines

Editor -- Pebble Beach attracts visitors from California and worldwide to hike and cycle amongst its Monterey pines and to view its iconic Lone Cypress. If the failed guardians of this national treasure, the Pebble Beach Co., have their way, 17,000 of these endangered Monterey Pines will be cut down to make way for yet another golf course. There will be no stands, just isolated and vulnerable survivors.

The Coastal Commission decides the fate of California's natural wonder on June 14 in Santa Rosa. We owe future generations to protect such unique beauty and species habitat.

EILEEN MURPHY

Pebble Beach

Same ocean, different neighborhood:
South of Pebble Beach is Carmel. Drive Rio Road west from Hwy 1, past the beautiful Carmel Mission and take a left toward Clint's Mission Ranch and the mouth of Carmel River. Continue right, north along Carmel's shoreline. The stone house with the tower was hand built by poet Robinson Jeffers. You will pass a Frank Lloyd Wright house also. When you get to Carmel Beach, turn up one block to continue north into one of the Pebble Beach gates. Pay here or tell them a lie (risky) or tell them you will be having a drink at the Pebble Beach Lodge. Not a bad idea, by the way.
The same can be done coming from the north. Start along the shoreline at Pacific Grove at Cannery Row or Lover's Point to Point Pinos past the lighthouse at the municipal golf course. Continue past Asilomar Beach and the first right is another Pebble gate. Tell them that you will be having a drink at Spanish Bay or pay the admission fee to 17 Mile Drive (bikes are free after you sign a liability release). Especially if it is late afternoon, do stop in for a cocktail out back through the Spanish Bay Hotel lobby. If it is near sunset there will be a highland bagpiper piping the sunset down. Exquisite.

Los Lobos national park is meant to be spectacular, OP. Is that what you mean by a "poor man's" 17 mile drive?

Ummm.
That would be Point Lobos State Reserve, just south of Carmel Highlands, cybergal.
A great place to stop and explore and almost as good as a notional park.

Los Lobos is a fabulous band out of east LA, but no national park has yet been named for them.
I'm sure David Hidalgo, Cesar Rojas and the boys thank you for the sentiment though.

Sorry, that would be north of Carmel Highlands and south of Carmel River State Beach. Pt. Lobos

The "poor man's 17-Mile-Drive" is Ocean View Boulevard/Sunset Drive (the name changes) in Pacific Grove. In some ways, it's prettier than 17-Mile-Drive.
Also, you can get into 17-Mile-Drive w/o paying by just using the right-hand lane (unless it's closed) and not slowing down too much. Just wave as you pass by. The residents don't stop. If you hold your driver's license as you wave, they'll probably think you're holding up your resident's pass.
That said, just pay the effing $8 toll. All the tourists that come through really put a lot of wear and tear on the road and cause noise/air pollution.