CARMEL’S SECRET COURTYARDS AND PASSAGEWAYS – MISSION LANE

When does a sidewalk between some small office buildings and a parking lot become a “lane”? Well just wait and see if you don’t agree this is not your average sidewalk.

Mission Lane (Mission Street between Fifth and Sixth)  with its unobtrusive business offices and an arched gateway at the end, works hard to earn its name.

This little lane is a wonderful example of how plantings, pride and good design can make most any spot special.  Through a break in the tall pines, sunlight showers roses, salvia and other flowering shrubs along the brick pathway.

We have eaten breakfast at Katy’s and I am still trying to track down all of Carmel’s little courtyards and passageways.  I always admire the facade of this building just south of Katys .

The color of the stucco glows and the window boxes overflow with Impatiens. 

I walk just a little further and find this sign.

Aha! I have been looking for Mission Lane and here it is.

What could have been a straight paved sidewalk is an undulating brick path with stunning plantings on either side. The wooden railing I see to my right marks the beginning of a parking lot made barely visible by the plantings.

The offices are not a mishmash of styles but are handsome adobe-like stucco buildings with red tile roofs, and heavy timber beams.

I like the shutters on either side of this door

and the wonderful rounded wooded gate in the wall at the end of  the lane draws me along..

Midway along the path , a tiny courtyard on the north grabs my attention.

A small gate covered by an arbor disguises the entrance to a service alley.

Potted plants, window boxes

and this great trellis

create a special nook.

At this same point on the path I find an inviting bench on the south side.

The dahlias take my breath away with their black foliage and companion plantings.

The tall spires of acanthus ( Bear’s Britches) and a boxwood hedge stop the eye from traveling to less glorious sights .

I try the door at the end ( of course) but find it locked – darn.

So I peek through the window to see the other side.

Another wonderful Court of course.

As I return

I take note of the offices who respect themselves enough to make their site so lovely.                                                                           

GHW Inc.- Anders Czerwiak. I find that Mr. Czerwiak is the president of  GH Wilke Jewelers and Goldsmiths. He describes his clients as investors, collectors and discerning connoisseurs who value magnificence.                                                                            

Mark Investment Co. Real Estate Investment                                                                                                                                                   

Magic People Productions   An Art Gallery                                                                                                                                                      

Studio ——- D  A Recording Studio.

What a good job you have done of “brightening the corner where you are”.