A Big Sur Podcast
A Big Sur Podcast
An ongoing conversation with people from near and far about Big Sur's past, present, and future. A Big Sur Podcast interprets “community” to mean ALL people from around the world who are curious about, and who care about, the preservation and restoration of the wild and rural character of Big Sur. Stories are told by visitors and residents, plumbers and linesmen, musicians and authors, dancers and jugglers and others. Sometimes we drift (way) off-topic into the arts, sciences, personal stories, gossip, politics, philosophy, ornithology, Henry Miller, and our zeitgeist in general. We like that!
The opinions expressed here belong to the people who express them. They may or may not line up with yours, mine, or your neighbor’s — and that’s exactly the point. Different perspectives, lived experiences, and even wildly clashing views are what make conversations worth listening to: enriching, infuriating, life-affirming, and sometimes all three at once.
If you are planning a visit to Big Sur and you listen to some of the folks on this Podcast talk about their love of the place your visit will probably be a lot more rewarding. Please email magnus@henrymiller.org with any comments, critique & suggestions.
Music intro clip courtesy John Holm: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DZ06evO0Rh2QU
Sound editing software by Hindenburg: https://hindenburg.com/
Please support the podcast by making a donation to the Henry Miller Library, a 501(c)3 nonprofit arts organization. Thank you!
A Big Sur Podcast
#127 Letting People In on the Secret: Stuart Thornton on Big Sur, Guidebooks & the Crowds They Create
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Travel writer, guidebook author, former Big Sur ranger, and old friend, Stuart Thornton, returns to Big Sur—at least in spirit—to reflect on a career spent encouraging people to visit the very places he sometimes wishes they would leave alone.
We talk about discovering California's coast, writing guidebooks, the challenge of over tourism, and whether AI will help travelers find deeper experiences or simply send more people to the same beautiful places. Along the way, Stuart shares stories from Big Sur, the road, and a lifetime of chasing the next hidden corner of the map.
Stuart traces his path from a Richmond, Virginia upbringing to a campsite at Andrew Molera, a ranger job that came with a phone book and a dorm bed, years living in the old naval housing at Point Sur, and a writing career that runs from the Monterey County Weekly to National Geographic to a shelf of Moon guidebooks.
Along the way: a condor egg airlifted from the backcountry, an interview with James Cameron fresh from the Mariana Trench, a settlement after Anthropic ingested four of his books, and the contradiction he's lived with for years — a man who spends his days off chasing empty beaches while writing the books that fill them.
Plus monks and silence at New Camaldoli, Gary Clark Jr. winning over the Monterey Jazz crowd, and a novel about "Billy the Brewer."
Links
- Stuart Thornton — personal site · Moon author page
- Joe Burnett / Ventana Wildlife Society — condor biologist who got Stuart access to the egg story
- Gary Clark Jr at Albert Hall
- James Cameron — record Mariana Trench dive (National Geographic)
- Pico Iyer — author; wrote on New Camaldoli and on Henry Miller
- William T. Vollmann — The Atlas — Stuart's early influence
- Ryan Masters — Monterey County Weekly writer; band Suborbitals
- Eric Johnson — longtime Monterey County Weekly editor
- Kem Nunn — "surf noir" novelist (Tapping the Source, The Dogs of Winter, John from Cincinnati)
- Martin Gurri — The Revolt of the Public — Magnus's earlier guest
- Hipólito Bouchard — Argentine raid on Monterey, 1818
- Kayla Anderson — Moon Northern California Road Trips (co-author)
- "Billy the Brewer" — California's first beer brewer; subject of Stuart's novel-in-progress
Places
- Henry Miller Memorial Library
- New Camaldoli Hermitage
- Andrew Molera State Park (and Pico Blanco above the Big Sur River)
- Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park / Big Sur Station
- Point Sur State Historic Park & Lighthouse — site of the former naval housing
- Partington Cove (Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park)
- Monterey State Historic Park — Custom House, Casa Serrano, California's First Theatre
- "Shipwrecks: Every Broken Piece Tells a Story" — Casa Gutiérrez exhibit (opened June 12; the Natalia, wrecked 1834)
- Monterey Bay Aquarium — Stuart's tip: Tue–Thu, 2–6 pm
- Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park (albino redwoods)
- The Dyerville Giant — Humboldt Redwoods State Park
Music & events
- Monterey Jazz Festival
- Folk Yeah! (Britt Govea)
- Pixies — played the Henry Miller Library
- Bonnie "Prince" Billy / Will Oldham — the first Folk Yeah show at Fernwood
- Gary Clark Jr. — Stuart wrote an early national profile
- Relix Magazine
- Taj Mahal — Magnus's Fiji/Stockholm anecdote
Books, publishers & other
- Moon Travel Guides (incl. Moon California Road Trip, IPPY Gold Medal 2016)
- Monterey County Weekly / Monterey County NOW
- National Geographic Education
- John Steinbeck — The Pastures of Heaven · Sweet Thursday · East of Eden — Netflix series, fall 2026
- The Anthropic copyright settlement ($1.5B; Bartz v. Anthropic)
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This podcast is a production of the Henry Miller Memorial Library with support from The Arts Council for Monterey County!
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