Hog's Breath Inn

Few restaurants in Carmel carry as much collective memory as Hog's Breath Inn. Founded by Clint Eastwood in 1970, its fire-lit courtyard, dining rooms, and bar are part of how the town remembers itself — and any renovation would be judged less by what changed than by what remained familiar.

The work therefore focused on renewal rather than reinvention. The building was opened to its structure, systems were replaced, and the worn rooms returned in the materials the restaurant was always made of: native Carmel stone, redwood slab tables, leather seating. The restaurant closed in February 2025 and reopened that May, recognizable to the people who had been coming for fifty-five years. Julia carried the project from design through the City of Carmel's approvals and into construction — coordinating consultants, resolving conditions as the opened building revealed them, and producing the visualizations through which The Carmel Pine Cone introduced the work to the community before it was complete.