Basic HTML Version
30
MAY 2012
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HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
MAP BY JEFF QUINN
THE WOMAN WITH THE DOG
is staring at me, and
maybe so is the dog, although he keeps glancing
sideways at the car and growling. I’ve pulled off
California’s Route 154 just above Santa Barbara and
stepped out of my 2012 Rolls-Royce Ghost to snap
a few shots of the legendary winemaking valley of
Santa Ynez. Through some bay laurels, the early
a ernoon light is gleaming off the Ghost’s sleek body,
at the nose of which “The Spirit of Ecstasy,” a.k.a.
the hood ornament, is perched as if to dive into the
car’s imposing grille. The dog, it seems, is a little
intimidated. Maybe the woman is too. And I think
that’s very much the point.
Here, at a scrub-lined photo stop containing two
dusty hatchbacks with sur oards sticking out the
back, the Ghost is so u erly, ludicrously luxurious—
stately silver carriage, self-righting Rolls-Royce logo
wheel caps, lambswool floor mats, full-size umbrel-
las that spring from the front doors at the push of
a bu on—that it’s impossible even to stand next to
it without feeling as if a diadem has miraculously
popped out of my forehead. Everyone I meet treats
both me and the car with the kind of veneration
normally reserved for the queen of England. They
look away nervously. They stand up straighter. They
use words like “shall” and “may,” and I find myself
State of Ecstasy
Longing to render people speechless and servile? Try tooling
down the Pacific Coast Highway in a spanking-new
Rolls-Royce Ghost
BY JACQUELINE DETWILER
CALIFORNIA
LOS PADRE S
NAT I ONAL FORE ST
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154
SANTA YNEZ
LOS
ANGELE S
THE BAZAAR BY
JOSÉ ANDRÉS
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TERRANEA
IN-N-OUT
BURGER
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