La Playa Hotel Lifts 30-Year Ban on Apple Corporate Retreats - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

La Playa Hotel Lifts 30-Year Ban on Apple Corporate Retreats

by

Back in 1983, Apple's Macintosh team attended a retreat at the La Playa Carmel hotel in Carmel, California, where employee shenanigans resulted in a 30-year company gathering ban from the resort.

According to SFGate, the La Playa Carmel, which is located about two hours south of Cupertino, recently lifted the restrictions preventing Apple from using the spot for corporate retreats. Apple has already booked an upcoming meeting at the hotel.

laplaya
Frank Rose, author of "West of Eden: The End of Innocence at Apple Computer," details the trip in his book, calling it a "college beer blast," where the Macintosh team went skinny dipping and had a bonfire.

When [Elliot] was eating dinner in the La Playa's primly starched dining room and saw a dozen Macintosh people swimming nude in the lighted pool outside, he chuckled softly and went on with this meal, oblivious to the polite strangling sounds of the blue-haired ladies all around. He was, after all, the official guardian of Apple's corporate culture, and if this was what he was supposed to guard, he was ready for the task.

Following the hijinks, the Macintosh team was asked to leave and to never return, a ban that has been revoked after the hotel went through both a remodel and a change of ownership.

The new La Playa Carmel hotel offers ocean view hotel rooms, meeting facilities with team building activities like golf and sailing, lush gardens, and the infamous pool where Apple employees once skinny dipped.

Top Rated Comments

175 months ago
...and a big-ass chess board!

No, that's a regular-sized chessboard in a tiny-ass garden.

----------

...and the infamous pool where Apple employees once skinny dipped.

I hope they've cleaned the filters since then. People were pretty hairy in the early 80's.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
camomac Avatar
175 months ago
I hope they do it again. Get drunk and party like it's 1983!!
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
duervo Avatar
175 months ago
It was a permanent ban, not a 30 year ban.

It ended 30 years later only because the hotel changed ownership/management, and the new powers-that-be decided to lift it, not because it "expired".

The wording makes it seem as if it was originally intended to last 30 years. It was intended to be permanent.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MyMac1976 Avatar
175 months ago
A penis was seen and this is America, so ban it was.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
175 months ago
30 year ban for skinny dipping? Should've been fined instead.

It's the hotel's loss. They lost 30 years worth of skinny dipping revenue. :)
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
175 months ago
Of course the board is set up wrong...
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 27 Next to iPhone

Here's When iOS 27 Rolls Out Today in Every Time Zone [Update: It's Out]

Sunday September 13, 2026 3:00 am PDT by
Update 10:04 a.m.: iOS 27 is rolling out now, though it may take a bit for all users to see it, so keep checking! Apple is about to release iOS 27, which will finally deliver more advanced Siri AI capabilities as well as a variety of other refinements, improvements, and new features to iPhones. It's Apple's biggest software update of the year, and Apple announced at Wednesday's iPhone event...
iOS 27 Icon iPhone

iOS 27 Available Now With These 8 New Features

Monday September 14, 2026 9:00 am PDT by
Update — 10 a.m. Pacific Time: Apple has released iOS 27. During its iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo event last week, Apple announced that iOS 27 will be released widely on Monday, September 14. iOS 27 should be available around 10 a.m. Pacific Time / 1 p.m. Eastern Time today via the Settings app, under General → Software Update. Below, we have highlighted eight new features and...
Apple iCloud Plus expansion hero

iCloud+ Now Includes Apple TV, Apple Arcade, and Curated Apple Music Stations in Over 100 Countries

Tuesday September 15, 2026 1:43 am PDT by
Apple today announced a new subscription initiative that turns paid iCloud+ subscriptions into a broader services bundle in more than 100 countries. In select countries, Apple says every paid iCloud+ plan, including the cheapest 50GB tier, now includes Apple TV and Apple Arcade "at no additional cost," while family sharing extends the storage, TV and Arcade access to up to five people....