Photograph by Ed Anderson, HABS photographer, Public domain. Via
Wikimedia Commons.
Deetjen's Big Sur Inn
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. 9 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1948.
From the record
“Deetjen's Big Sur Inn is a collection of single wall buildings, cabins, and a restaurant in Castro Canyon along Highway 1 in Big Sur, California. It was one of the first visitor accommodation to offer overnight lodging and meals in Big Sur for California visitors and travelers after the opening of Highway 1 in 1937.”
Wikipedia article Deetjen's Big Sur Inn, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 64 National Register listings published here for Monterey County · listed in 1990 · category: District.
National Register reference number.90001464- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Then and now
1948 to 1995
The ground this property stands on, surveyed
47 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are
United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
19481995
Fires near this property
95 since 1992
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 95 fires within 5 miles of Deetjen's Big Sur Inn
between 1992 and 2020, burning about 4,892 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 3 were recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
27
Equipment and vehicle use
18
Recreation and ceremony
15
Power generation/transmission/distribution
13
Debris and open burning
8
Natural
5
Misuse of fire by a minor
3
Arson/incendiarism
3
Other causes
2
Firearms and explosives use
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
2 workings within 5 miles of Deetjen's Big Sur Inn: 1 prospect, 1 producer.
1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silver. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Big Sur, the town this property stands in, in 7 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 2 wildfire, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain, 1 flash flood.
No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
Heavy rain fell on top of a recently burned forest causing flash flooding and debris flows. More than three feet of mud covered State Route One closing it for several hours. Vehicles parked at the Big Sur Lodge were stuck in mud and debris. One vehicle was even forced into a culvert and buried. At least three separate debris flows were reported along Highway One, all within a 3 mile span.
Heavy rain on saturated soil triggered a rock slide/debris flow onto SR 1 near Captain Cooper Elementary School in Big Sur. Highway 1 was at least partially blocked.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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