West Shore is the Best Shore

This week from Gemme Group Studios we tour the West Shore of Beautiful Lake Tahoe. In this episode we check out our favorite beaches, spots and restaurants. Want to see more? Follow us on YouTube.

Sunnyside – Tahoe City California

History

The history of Sunnyside Resort dates back to 1908, when the original building was constructed as a summer home. It was opened as a lodge in 1946, with seven rooms, two baths, and a small marina. In 1986, Sunnyside was sold to a group of Bay Area families who decided the old building needed a major overhaul after almost 80 years of service. The resort underwent a thorough renovation and once again became a Lake Tahoe social center. The beautifully rebuilt Sunnyside Restaurant and Lodge re-opened in June of 1987.

Restaurants

Sunnyside Restaurant & Lodge – https://www.sunnysidelodge.com/

Fire Sign Cafe – firesigncafe.com

West Shore Market – https://www.westshoremarket.com/

Spoon – spoontahoe.com

Restaurants

Sunnyside Restaurant & Lodge – https://www.sunnysidelodge.com/

Fire Sign Cafe – firesigncafe.com

West Shore Market – https://www.westshoremarket.com/

Spoon – spoontahoe.com

Fleur De Lac

History

In 1935, notable industrialist Henry Kaiser—the father of modern shipbuilding—constructed Fleur du Lac, a 15-acre lakefront utopia on Lake Tahoe’s west shore. A crew of 300 men worked eight-hour shifts around the clock, successfully fulfilling Kaiser’s ambitious goal of completing the estate in just 30 days.

Kaiser desired a venue to celebrate the completion of his Hoover Dam project with family and friends in a locale he adored, Lake Tahoe, and where he could also keep his beloved boats. Lavish parties took place with his contemporaries, who he would entertain in his personal yacht club with decadent meals followed by races across the lake in extravagant, V12 watercraft.

Chambers Landing

History 

The building we know today as Chambers Landing was started by John Washington McKinney when he founded Hunter’s Retreat in 1863, a hunting and fishing camp in the Sierra Nevada. The current Chambers Bar building was built in 1875. It was the first boathouse on Tahoe and also doubled as a bar and clubhouse. In Homewood in the late 19th Century, the “Tahoe Steamer” used to pull up to the Chambers dock that led to a building that housed a post office, a sundry store and a saloon. In 1920, David Henry Chambers purchased McKinney’s Hunter’s Resort from the Westhoffs and renamed it Chambers Lodge. Ernest Kettenhoffen purchased the property in 1956 and in 1969 sold Chambers Lodge to the Pirini Corporation.

Homewood

History

Lake Tahoe, including the West Shore, was the summer and fall home to the Washoe tribe for many centuries before non-Native Americans even knew Lake Tahoe existed. However, things changed quickly during the mid-1800s. The westward exploration by John C. Fremont in 1844 put Lake Tahoe on the maps and shortly after, the California Gold Rush and the discovery of the Comstock Lode in Virginia City inspired a westward migration of people hoping to strike it rich. 

The Lake Tahoe basin wasn’t particularly fruitful when it came to precious metals, but many of the failed miners that settled the area found success logging the forests to provide lumber for the railroad and the Comstock Lode in Nevada. A couple of these settlers landed on the west shore of the lake including Jack Sargeant Ellis, a dairy farmer for whom Ellis Peak is named, and Dick Madden who settled along the creek that now bears his name.  

Though logging and mining brought settlers to the West Shore, the area slowly began to evolve into a resort destination. A Homewood District was established as a vacation resort and marina. The Hotel Homewood was built in 1910, soon followed by a large casino and dance hall that attracted people in search of fun to the area.  

Restaurants

Swiss Lakewood – https://www.swisslakewood.com/

West Shore Café & Inn – https://www.westshorecafe.com/

Chambers Landing Bar & Grill – https://www.chamberspunch.com/

Meeks Bay

History

1878 – George Thomas and James Andrew Murphy, winter residents of Coloma and native Californians, settled at Meeks Bay. They enter the cattle business, herding their milk cows from Coloma to Meeks bay in the summer. They saved to buy the land from the Central Pacific (who had acquired it through an extensive railroad grant.) A few days before the sale was to take place, Duane L. Bliss bought the land, representing Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company. Bliss promised the Murphy brothers that they could buy the land for the original price after it had been logged.

Meeks Bay is on Tahoe’s West Shore. Meeks Creek comes out of Rubicon Lake and flows to Meeks Bay. The bay was named after John Meeks who, with his brothers, harvested 25 tons of wild hay in the meadow there in 1862. From that time to now the meadow and creek, like a lot of other places on the lake, have been damaged.