The Early Origins of the Writing of Sideways and My Love of Alisal Ranch

Over 20 years ago, dead broke, divorced, and living in rent-controlled Santa Monica, CA I started making pilgrimages to the Santa Ynez Valley, two hours north of Los Angeles. Initially, I drove up, always mid-week, to play golf. By myself. It was affordable, the courses were beautiful and uncrowded. Soon, I started staying overnight so I could get in more rounds of golf until I discovered it was wine country. I made friends, got to play all the courses up there, including the Alisal Ranch private course with the then head professional. The beauty of the property was sublime. It wasn’t until later, when finances allowed, that I got a chance to really enjoy the Alisal Ranch.

Going back to my origins visiting Santa Ynez, wine tasting was free back then, and I was just starting to learn about wine. For reasons that have to do with my palate I gravitated to Pinot Noir, and fell in love with the grape, a lifelong love that endures to this day. There was precious little Pinot Noir back then, mostly a few hundreds across just west of the 101 planted by the iconic Richard Sanford.

Writers are like thieves; we're always working. I started taking more and more sojourns up to the Santa Ynez Valley, but my focus was now more on wine tasting than on golf. I remember the first time I ventured up the sinuous Foxen Canyon Trail and stopped at some of my favorites: Foxen, Byron, others. I became more and more enamored of the beauty of the land, the wonderful wines, the inexpensive Windmill Inn (now the Sideways Inn), almost as if I had discovered an edenic paradise just north of me that brought me peace and happiness — two things I was in short supply of at the time. Two hours of driving out of congested L.A. and I found myself in a little bit of paradise that few knew about.

Soon I began to take friends up. Often we would stay at Alisal Ranch, when I wanted to impress them. They, too, fell in love with Santa Ynez Valley's beauty, its wines, Alisal Ranch’s charm and, yes, golf. Coming from the cement landscapes of Los Angeles, I can’t explain the splendor of the sylvan views Alisal Ranch filled my soul with in each stay. One does not expect luxury and dude ranch to amalgamate so spectacularly as it does in every aspect of the Alisal Ranch. Wine, cuisine, experience, Alisal Ranch is the pinnacle expression of Santa Ynez Valley’s central California western roots, sense of adventure, and exquisite taste.

Always looking to share my love for Santa Ynez with others, way back in '96, I took a road trip with my friend Roy Gittens. He's larger than life, boasts a hearty laugh and a true, insatiable, Falstaffian love of life. For three days and two nights we caroused, visited all the winery tasting rooms we could find, played golf at Alisal and La Purisima, ate ostrich burgers at Hitching Post II. No, we weren't chased down by a naked man. No, I didn't drink from the spit bucket at Frass Canyon in frustration. At one point, Roy said to me, "Rex, you should write a screenplay of our experiences." I did. I didn't like it. I didn't show it to anyone. Then, I was toying around with writing a novel, in first person from the point-of-view of one Miles Raymond (Paul Giamatti in the movie), and everything just clicked. I wrote it quickly. I was afraid to show it to anyone because it was so bawdy, so irreverently funny. When I wrote it, I dared to bare my soul and throw in everything and the kitchen sink. It felt personal, autobiographical, and I thought I would be vilified by my agent. But, my career was nowhere, and I had nothing to lose. So, I did. He, Jess Taylor of the Endeavor Agency, loved it. The submissions to Hollywood heavyweights began.

To be continued…

In the meantime visit https://www.alisalranch.com/experiences/sideways-anniversary/ to join me for the Official Sideways Anniversary Weekend at Alisal Ranch.