Sleep in a castle on Catalina

Call it the Hearst Castle alternative. Unlike that day-visit rich man's digs on the south-central California coast, the late William Wrigley Jr'. s hilltop hideaway on California's Santa Catalina Island welcomes you to stay overnight, savoring the splendor enjoyed by the late chewing-gum magnate and Chicago Cubs team owner.

This 1921 house is now the Inn on Mount Ada bed-and-breakfast. Surveying the sapphire-hued harbor hundreds of feet below, you can pretend Catalina Island, a 1 ½-hour ferry ride from Los Angeles, is your personal playground as it once was for Wrigley.

OK, so the inn is small compared to Hearst Castle. It offers other perks. Each of its six guest rooms comes with a golf cart, breakfast and lunch, plus evening wine and appetizers. Rates start at $350 per night. But for just $30, any visitor, by reservation, can sit on the porch, enjoying lunch, Champagne and that million-dollar vista. A heady experience indeed.

Info: 800-608-7669, www.innonmtada.com.

— Los Angeles Times