"Along California's Monterey Peninsula, the town of Pacific Grove sits quietly between the pines and the ocean just over two hours south of San Francisco. It feels local and safe, welcoming travelers drawn by the coastline, art galleries, restaurants, and the calm that define this part of the world. It's also home to a new kind of boutique hotel experience that blends stylish elegance with inclusion: The Charles Hotel Pacific Grove."
"The Charles is the creation of veteran, gay hotel designer Charles Gruwell, whose career spans four decades and more than forty boutique hotels, including work on properties such as the Four Seasons and Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, and the recently opened Stilwell Hotel in Carmel-by-the-Sea. After years designing for clients up and down the Monterey Peninsula, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, Gruwell wanted to build something personal."
"Returning to his hometown, he reimagined a historic Victorian inn into an eleven-room property that feels intimate, stylish, and distinctly local. The result is a hotel that feels like a conversation between past and present with historic, handcrafted woodwork, rich fabrics and textures, warm lighting, and the quiet rhythm of coastal life. Guests describe the feeling as a private-club atmosphere without the pretension."
Pacific Grove sits between pines and ocean on the Monterey Peninsula, offering coastline, art galleries, restaurants, and calm. The Charles Hotel Pacific Grove is an eleven-room boutique created by hotel designer Charles Gruwell and partners Don and Jay Desai from a historic Victorian inn. The property combines handcrafted woodwork, rich fabrics and textures, warm lighting, and a private-club atmosphere without pretension. LGBTQ+ inclusion is central to the brand, expressed through curated music playlists and staff training to anticipate guest needs. Guests report feeling seen, respected, safe, and welcomed whether traveling as couples or solo. The hotel blends past and present to create an intimate, stylish, and locally rooted hospitality experience.
Read at San Francisco Bay Times
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