The Pfieffers were one of the original homesteading families to make it to the wilds of Big Sur.
In 1908, John Pfeiffer’s wife was busy running Pfeiffer’s Ranch Resort in the area that would year later become a State Park that bear’s their name. For him, it was like living in a restaurant. He was a quiet, introspective man and a master beekeeper who like to spend time by himself with his bee hives. No doubt, he built the "Loma Vista" so he could get away from all the activity in and around his home.
Loma Vista expanded in the 1930’s with the building of the current homestead, by Alice Jaeger who was a descendent of both the Pfeiffers and the Posts (one of the other original Big Sur pioneer families, of which the children of both families intermarried) Alice and her husband Steve expanded the property as an inn, diner, and the coast’s first gas station.
In the 1930s, when the newly built Pacific Coast Highway connected the rugged and untamed Big Sur wilderness to the rest of the world for the first time, Loma Vista filled a new need in the community, becoming a place to rest, refuel, and share news from the outside world.
The building that now houses the Big Sur Bakery is the home, which also served as the inn and diner. Alice’s greenhouse, where she grew and sold her prized begonias, is now home to Mother Botanical. The carriage house barn, located beneath the Bakery, is presently our pop-up art gallery, featuring a revolving roster of local artisans. In the gardens, many of our cacti and trees were planted by Alice herself, nearly 100 years ago.
Still family owned and operated, Loma Vista continues to be a centerpiece of Big Sur, and a place for the community to gather in times of celebration.