Sam Amico
We all know Clint Eastwood as a Hollywood legend, an actor and a director. A man who made kids in the 1970s and in the ’80s wanted to be Dirty Harry, the renegade cop who tracked down bank robbers and psychopaths.
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But did you know Eastwood was also once elected mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California?
Unless you were around in 1986, the answer is probably no — but that’s what happened back then. In April of ’86, Eastwood became more than just a famous face. He ran a town.
Carmel-by-the-Sea was an interesting choice for Eastwood to dive headfirst into politics, of course. It was a town of just about 4,000 people and remains that way today. It is considered a fairly wealthy area that’s located on the Monterey Peninsula.
Eastwood, now 92, served just a single two-year term, but those in Carmel-by-the-Sea will tell you he got things done. For starters, he displayed undying support for small business interests, as well as led the charge behind a library annex, beach walkways and a new parking lot for tourists.
Clint Eastwood Mayor of Carmel, California
Along with that, he made overnight campfires illegal on Carmel Beach and attempted to overturn the “ice cream cone law,” which limited the sale of fast food and ice cream cones.
Clint Eastwood won as a Republican candidate, though he has been a Libertarian since 2008.
And that wasn’t his only foray into politics. In 2001, he was appointed to the California State Park and Recreation Commission by Governor Gray Davis. Three years later, fellow celeb and then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger re-appointed Eastwood to the same role, as well as to the California Film Commission.
