Carmel Impresarios: A cultural biography of Dene Denny and Hazel Watrous

Carmel-by-the-Sea on the California Coast was becoming an artistic hot spot of the West in the 1920s, when two extraordinary women paid a visit and never left. During the 1920s, 30s, and 40s Dene Denny and Hazel Watrous worked together to bring art, music and beauty to the world. Against all odds, and even through the Great Depression, they founded the Carmel Music Society and the Carmel Bach Festival; ran a repertory theater in Monterey and a major concert series in San José; and designed Carmel's first art gallery and three dozen of its distinctive early houses. Dene and Hazel were visionary artistic innovators who used the arts to bring people together in harmony, and their full story has never been told before. Carmel Impresarios tells their tale in the context of their pioneer parents, their childhoods, how they met for the first time in San Francisco, and how they joined their lives together in the world of art, music and theater. This 400-page volume includes nearly 300 vintage photos and illustrations. It places the life and work of its two colorful subjects within the context of the artistic, intellectual, and cultural currents of early 20th century California, and sheds new light on the musical and theatrical history of Carmel-by-the-Sea.