Back in the early 1950s, after he was drafted into the U.S. Army and stationed at Central California ‘s Fort Ord overlooking the picturesque Monterey Bay, Clint Eastwood would often find himself visiting the small beach city of Carmel -by-the-Sea, even partaking in his first legal beer at the historic Mission Ranch.
The San Francisco native inevitably wound up falling in love with the charming coastal area, telling a local magazine in a Q&A interview shortly before his 94 th birthday in May that he “always felt it was a place I’d like to come back to, a place to call home.” And call the place home he did, making a big mark along the way. The now legendary and still-working actor, producer, director, and composer of more than 100 films and TV shows—among them, the award-winning movies Gran Torino , Unforgiven , and Million Dollar Baby —not only starred in and made his directorial debut with 1971’s Play Misty for Me , but he also served a two-year stint as mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea in the late ’80s and named his Malpaso production company after a local creek.
He still lives in the area at Tehàma, an exclusive 2,000-acre private residential enclave in the hills of Carmel that he himself founded. However, Eastwood at one time resided in an eye-catching spread in the heart of the quaint oceanfront village down below, just one street up from Carmel Beach. It’s this seaside retreat that has popped up for sale at $21 million for the first time in almost three dec.