Steichen herself hails originally, not from Hollywood, but
from South Dakota, moving to New Orleans in 1997 where
she became intrigued by what she calls "Plantation Style"
and the French influence in the Deep South. At Cal A Vie
she has brought a certain Southern opulence to bear on a
rather more rugged landscape, one once inhabited by the
Luiseno Indians, using southern California's natural beauties
and attributes to advantage while setting a luxurious stage
for spa clients seeking repose, retreat and new regimes of
fitness and health.
Steichen's French transplant scheme was ambitious,
indeed, magisterial; her mission was nothing less than to
create a new "kingdom." She had dismantled in France an
ancient chapel—once belonging to a Carmelite convent in
Dijon—and rectory which were brought to California; the
weight of their components was so great that they had to
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