In Apple’s early days, the swanky La Playa Carmel hotel was on the list of preferred venues for the company’s offsite retreats. Carmel-By-The-Sea’s quaint charm coupled with the property’s privacy made it an ideal spot for their gatherings.
In fact, it was where the company’s Macintosh retreat was held in late January of 1983. That’s where Steve Jobs first revealed the team’s Macintosh computer prototype, right there in the hotel’s ocean-view banquet room.
I am just back from EG, a fantastic conference for/by/of creatives held in Carmel-By-The-Sea, and ate dinner in that room.
This room…
EG’s director Michael Hawley pointed out this commemorative plaque, which resides on the room’s back wall.
It reads, “In this room Steve Jobs unveiled the MacIntosh computer prototype during a development team retreat, and ceremoniously christened it with a bottle of La Playa Carmel water.”
Hawley also shared the rest of the story. Apparently things got a little wild at this gathering, resulting in getting Apple banned from the hotel for 30 years. The team — who were drunk — stripped naked and jumped in the hotel’s pool (“oblivious to the polite strangling sounds of the blue-haired ladies all around,” according to author Frank Rose) and then headed to the beach to start a bonfire. The next morning the hotel politely asked them to not return.
In 2013, the hotel changed ownership and Apple was invited back with the message, “All is forgiven.”
Read: Carmel hotel ends ban on Apple retreats 30 years after skinny-dipping incident (2013 article)
photos by Rusty Blazenhoff