Cannery Row is the waterfront street in Monterey. It is the site of several now defunct sardine canning factories. Originally the street was Ocean V iew Avenue, but officially became Cannery Row in January 1958 to honor John Steinbeck and his famous novel Cannery Row. I bought a copy of the book on Cannery Row--silly I know, but I did it anyway.
Among the shops was a Toll House Cookie shop where you xcould spend a fortune on cookies--including the original Toll House Kind. We bought a few, and they were good.
The city of Monterey is located on Monterey Bay. Variations of the name include Monte Rey and Montery. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet. It is the home of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Monterey American Viticultural Area, Cannery Row, Fisherman's Wharf and the Annual Monterey Jazz Festival.
In prehistoric times the Rumsen Ohlone tribe, one of seven linguistically distinc Ohlone groups in California inhabited the area now known as Monterey. They lived a subsistent life of hunting, fishing and gathering in what has been deduced a biologically rich Monterey Peninsula. The most permanent archological resources here are shell middens, the garbage dumps of the originaly inhabitants. From these dumps it has been determined that mussels and abalone were chief marine staples of the Ohlone. First established in 1770 by Father Junipero Serra and Gaspar de Portola, Monterey served as gthe Capital of California from 1777 to 1849 under the flags of Spain and Mexico. Portola erected the Presidio of Monterey to defend the port against an expected Russian evasion. On June 3, 1770 Father Serra founded the Cathederal of San Carlos Borromeo, also known as the Royal Presidion Chapel. When the mission was moved to Carmel the following year the exisiting wood and adobe building became the San Jose Chapel for the Presidio of Monterey. MOnterey became the capital of the Province of Both Californias in 1777 and the chapel was named the Royal Presidion Chapel. The original church was destroyed by fire in 1789 and was replaced by the present sandstone structure. It was completed in 1794 by Indian labor in the form of a Latin Cross. In 1840 the chapel was rededicated to the patronage of Charles Borromeo. The cathedral is the oldest continuously operating parish and the oldest stone building in California. It is the oldest and smallest serving cathedral along with St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the only presidio chapel in California and the only exisiting building in the original Monterey Presidio.
The city was originally the only port of entry for taxable goods in California. All shipments into California by sea were required to go through the Custom House, the oldest governmental building in the state and California's Historic Landmark Number One. Built on three phases, construction on the Custom House began in 1814 under the Spanish, the corner section under Mexican rule in 1827, and the tower completed by the United States in a846. MOnterey was also the site of the July 7, 1846 Battle of Monterey during the Mexican-American War. It was on this date that John D. Sloat, Commodore in the United States Navy, raised the United States Flag over the Monterey Custom House and claimed California for the United States.
In addition, many California "firsts" occured ion Monterey. These include California's first theatre, brick house, publicaly funded school, public building, public library, and printing press, which printed The Californan the first newspaper. Larkin House, one of Monterey Sated Historic Park's National Historic Landmarks, built in the Mexican period by Thomas Oliver Larkin, is an earlyexample of Monterey Colonial Architecture. The old Custom House, the historic district and the Royal Presidio Chapel are also National Historic Landmarks. The Cooper-Molera Adobe is a National Trust Historic Site. Colton Hall, built in 1849 by Walter Colton, was originally a publuc school nad gfovernment meeting place. It also hosted California's first constitional convention. Today it houses a museum, while adjacent buildings serve as the seat of local government. The MOnterey post office opened in 1849. Monterey incorporated in 1889. Monterey had long been famous for the abundant fishery in Monterey Bay. That changed in the 1950s when the local fishery buiseness collapsed due to overfishing. A few of the old fisherman's cabins from the early twentieth century have been preserved as they originally stood along Cannery Row. 
The city has a noteworthy history as a center for California painters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Such painters as Arthur Frank Mathews, Armin Hansen, Xavier Martinez, Rowena Meeks Abdy and Percy Gray lived or visited to pursue painting in the style of either En Plein air or Tonalism. In addition to painters many noted authors through the years have also lived in and around the Monterey area such as John Steinbeck, Robinson Jeffers, Robnert A. Heinlein, Henry Miller, Ed Ricketts and Robert Louis Stevenson.
More recently, Monterey has been recognized for its significant involvement in post-secondary learning of languages other than English and its major role in delivering translation and interpretation services around the world. In November 1995, California Governor Pete Wilson proclaimed Monterey as "The Language Capital of the World".
Monterey has a strong arts community. Museums and entertainment venues abound in the city as do local and internationally known artists. Monterey is also known as the home of the Monterey Museum of Art. Also, the Thomas Kinkade National Archive was founded in 1994 and is located within the Harry A. Greene Mansion at 361 Lighthouse Avenue. Notable artists who made the area their home include John Steinbeck, who grew up in Salinas, and lived in nearby Pacific Grove for many years as well as the city of Monterey for a very short time. Steinbeck immortalized Monterey with his novels Cannery Row, Tortilla Flat and East of Eden and his play Of Mice and Men. Among Steinbeck's friends were some of the city's more colorful characters, including Ed Ricketts, a marine biologist, and Bruce Ariss, artist and theater enthusiast who designed and built the Wharf Theatre. After Ricketts' death, the new owner and a group of his friends would assemble in Ricketts' lab for drinks and Jazz music every Wednesday evening. While visiting with the group, San Francisco DJ, Jimmy Lyons suggested holding a Jazz celebration in Monterey which eventually became the Monterey Jazz Festival. In 1879 Robert Louis Stevenson spent a short time in Monterey at the French Hotel, during the time he was writing "Amateur Immigrant," "The Old Pacific," "Capital," and "Vendetta of the West." The former hotel, now known as "Stevenson House", is located at 530 Houston Street and features various items that once belonged to the writer.The above picture was taken from a restuarant where we ate dinner. If you look closely you can see some birds and also four sea lions.
This is another picture from the resturant. The black shapes on the rock in the very front are two of the sea lions.
Cannery Row was the setting of John Steinbeck's novels Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday. Both were the basis for the movie Cannery Row, starring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger. It is also mentioned in Bib Dylan's song Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands. Pacific Biological Laboratories, a biological supply house, was located at 800 Cannery Row from 1928 until 1948 and operated by Edward F. Ricketts, whoi was the inspiration for several characters in Steinbeck novels.
The canneries failed after the colapse of the fishing industry in Monterey BAy in the mid-190s. Before the collapse, the fishery was one of the most productive in the world due to the upwelling of cold, yet nutrient-rich water from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean that is funneled to the surface via the vast underwater Monterey Canyon.
Today the area around Cannery Row is a marine sanctuary and is home to a large resurgant population of California Sea Lions. Cannery Row itself is now a tourist attraction with many resturants and hotles, many of which are located in former cannery buildings, and a few historical attractions. A few privately owned and operated fishing companies still exist on Cannery Row, housed on piers located a short distance from the historic district frequented by tourists.
This is Steinbeck Plaza, which houses several shops and a museum to John Steinbeck.
A bust of John Steinbeck in Steinbeck Plaza
This plaque displays the opening lines of the novel Cannery Row
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