Guest Hook Travel Guides California's Coastside & Loma Mar | Page 3

MEET YOUR INSIDER

AMY BLOMQUIST...
My DNA is literally in Loma Mar! In the
1800’s my ancestors came over from
Sweden and were one of the first families
to settle in Loma Mar.

So, after graduating from Pescadero high school (with
16 in my class!), I did what any kid from a small town
does: I moved to Los Angeles!

They operated a saw mill and logged many of the
redwood & oak trees in the area until the early twentieth
century. It was a very dangerous job and often took all
day to cut down one redwood tree!

I was a working actor for about 7 years in LA having a
blast doing theater, commercials, print, and indie films.
I sometimes joke how I owe some of my “dramatics”
from taking long walks in the forest as a kid and talking
to the redwoods.

Fortunately, the county bought the land in the 1920’s,
which is now part of Memorial Park - so no more logging
virgin redwoods!

But I grew to miss those trees (or maybe it was all that
LA smog!) and I eventually moved back to Loma Mar a
few years ago.

“We’ve put a ton of love and detail back into the house as it’s obviously
very special to us... I get such a kick out of how guests feel so relaxed
and comfortable in the house."

I often feel apologetic to the trees for my relatives
behavior. But, I guess they didn’t know what they were
doing back then, right?
The Cottage was built by my grandfather in the
1940’s on the same property as his parents (my great
grandparents) house. The house was a weekend
getaway for my grandparents, dad and aunt. In fact,
when my parents first got married, they lived in the
house for a year or so while building the house I grew
up in on the same property!
I have fond memories of family & friend get-togethers,
meeting distant relatives and even walking down as a
teenager to babysit at the house (which later became
a rental). I never in a million years thought one day I
would be running it as a vacation rental! Weird how life
throws you a curve ball.

Since June of 2012, The Cottage has been a vacation
rental which I manage with the help of my parents.
We’ve put a ton of love and detail back into the house
as it’s obviously very special to us.
We’ve been so fortunate to have had guests visit from
all over - our first international guests were ironically
from Sweden of all places!
I get such a kick out of how guests feel so relaxed and
comf