Sade's

Sade's, is a historic Tudor-style English cottage in downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. It was designed and constructed by Lee Gottfried in 1925, for novelist and dramatist Harry Leon Wilson and his wife Helen MacGowan Cooke as a flower shop and dress shop. In the 1930s, Sade (Sade Carr-Latham) was a former Ziegfeld Follies dancer, made the lower level into a restaurant and Bohemian bar. It continues to be a restaurant with outdoor seating.

History


Sade's is a two-story, wood-framed Tudor Revival style commercial building in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, built for Harry Leon Wilson (1867-1939). The exterior walls are textured cement stucco. It has two steep pitched side-gabled roofs, and two chimneys. There is a Carmel stone entry to the building in the Court of the Golden Bough, with other small “old world” shops. The entry has a round wood planked door with a window and an outside staircase that leads to the second floor. Behind the courtyard was the entrance to the Theatre of the Golden Bough. Because of this, the courtyard has been named the Courtyard of the Golden Bough.

Sade's was built in May 1925, two years after Edward G. Kuster and Gottfried completed the first European shop, the Carmel Weavers Studio, in an area of the Court of the Golden Bough, at Monte Verde and Ocean Avenue. Writer and editor Harry Leon Wilson commission Lee Gottfried to build the "Bloomin Basement," a flower shop, for his wife, Helen MacGowan Cooke. The shop was built for $8,000 (.

For fifty years Sade's was one of the most popular social spots in the village. Sade died of a heart attack at her home in Carmel Woods on November 11, 1940.

On December 28, 1951, Paul Swanson became the owner of Sade's. He was manager of the restaurant since 1934. Swanson purchased the restaurant and cocktail lounge from Margaret and Bertram Dienelt, owner of the Mission Ranch since early 1941. Joel Thomas changed the name to El Matador. The building changed hands many times, with the name changing back to Sade's, until its last opening day on February 26, 1994. Sade's has since moved to east side of Lincoln Avenue, south of Ocean Avenue. It was co-owned by Carmel resident actress Kim Novak during the 1980s. It continues to be a restaurant with outdoor seating.

Sade's was designated as a significant commercial building in the city's Downtown Historic District Property Survey because of its historical importance. The City has recognized the building as a historical resource in the area of architecture, as an important contributor to the design of the Court of the Golden Bough, and as a significant example of commercial Tudor Revival design by Lee Gottfried.