Santa Barbara beach-club-to-the-stars reopens after renovation

Groucho Marx, I beg to differ: I do want to be a member of a club that would have me as a member — as long as it’s this club.

“This club” is the Coral Casino Beach & Cabana Club, and it recently reopened after a $65-million makeover that took three years. The Santa Barbara club is the neighbor of the Four Seasons Resort the Biltmore. Billionaire Ty Warner, who owns both, spent a cool $240 million freshening up the 80-year-old hotel.

One puzzle piece remains: the beach club’s Tydes restaurant (Get it? TYdes), the second-floor eatery that is to open as soon as next month.

The club, which is open to guests of the hotel (although some areas remain for members only), has a celebrity-studded history. Since its opening in 1937, it has played host to such stars as Esther Williams and Marlon Brando. Among those who attended the reopening party this month: Julia-Louis Dreyfus, Dennis Miller and Carol Burnett.

What they and other guests saw were a renovated Olympic-size pool and 31 private cabanas, along with a view that’s been opened up to show off its location on Butterfly Beach. The club also has a 4,600-square-foot ballroom and a fitness center.

The tab for joining? A limited number of memberships are available for $250,000. Visiting the club via a stay at the Biltmore is cheaper, but not cheap: Standard rooms recently were available on its website for $550 a night.

— Catharine Hamm/Los Angeles Times Travel editor

[Photo: Wireimage / Four Seasons]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 8, 2008 at 3:26 pm by Catharine Hamm and is filed under California, Islands & Beaches, Santa Barbara, Spa, Weekend Getaways. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.