There are places that were never meant to become famous, and yet they did, precisely because they disregarded the conventions of tourism. In July 2009, Kitty Mrache and her husband Michael decided to rent out a small cabin, built by a friend in the woods of their Aptos property, on a nascent platform called Airbnb. No one expected them to. And yet, seventeen years later, the Mushroom Dome Cabin has made history as the platform’s most booked location among more than five million listings worldwide.
A Geodesic Dome Born of Ingenuity and Wood
The cabin is unlike anything else. Its name says it all: a pentagonal dome with a mushroom-like profile, composed of 144 hand-cut wooden triangles, elevated above the ground like a treehouse, surrounded by oak, redwood, and madrone trees. The entire structure originally measured barely a hundred square feet, a size that has only slightly evolved since its construction. The architecture embodies a 1990s Californian ideal: self-taught, organic, indifferent to trends. Glazed sections allow the canopy to enter the interior. A spacious outdoor terrace extends the living space towards the forest.
Kitty Mrache, An Unknowing Pioneer
Katherine Mrache, known as Kitty, is an art and meditation teacher. Her family settled on this ten-hectare property in 1984. When she published the Mushroom Dome listing in July 2009, Airbnb had only existed for a year: the listing bore the number 8,357. The decision to rent a makeshift cabin in the woods would prove to be one of the foundation stones of what Airbnb would later call the ‘unique homes’ category. The platform even installed a replica of the cabin in its San Francisco offices and dedicated a global advertising campaign to it, celebrating singular hosts like Kitty.
The Experience: Disconnecting, Literally
Beyond the last turns of the road, where there is no mobile network, access instructions are consulted on paper. Inside, there’s no mobile connection, no rush: a mezzanine bed, a convertible sofa, a kitchenette, a grill, an old refrigerator, and some eighty carefully selected DVDs. The bathroom is a pleasant surprise: a travertine shower with a skylight, compostable toilets. Kitty provides coffee, oatmeal, and popcorn. This economy of means is not a flaw, it is the product. Guests come precisely for this · for the sensation of the forest entering the room first thing in the morning, for the hiking trails that start a few metres from the terrace, and for the silence which, in Aptos, still holds meaning.
Practical Information
The Mushroom Dome Cabin is accessible from San Francisco (approximately an hour and a half drive) or San Jose Airport (one hour). The cabin accommodates up to three people, at a rate of approximately $156 per night. Bookings are highly sought after: allow eight to eleven months in advance for a weekend. On the same property, the Mraches also offer a second rental, “Hummingbird Haven”, a forest studio nestled among hundreds of hummingbirds. Since its first night rented in 2009, the Mushroom Dome has hosted several thousand visitors and generated tens of thousands of five-star testimonials. A record that no one on Airbnb has yet surpassed.
There are luxury accommodations that offer greater comfort, more spectacular views, impeccable services. The Mushroom Dome Cabin, however, offers something else: proof that a simple idea, inhabited by someone sincere, can transcend time and continue to fill a booking calendar without ever needing to reinvent itself.
