|
Cannery Row, the mile-long street that runs along the waterfront
of Monterey Bay is best known as the setting for John Steinbeck's
1945 novel of the same name, but few people realize that it extended
into the city of Pacific Grove. The street runs eight blocks,
bordered on the Monterey end by the Coast Guard Pier (built in
1934) and on the P.G. end by Hopkins Marine Station. The street
was originally known as Ocean View Avenue on the Monterey side,
and was renamed "Cannery Row" in 1958, 13 years after
Cannery Row and four years after Sweet Thursday
were published.
It was and is named Ocean View Blvd. on the P.G. side.
From the 1850s to 1906, China Point was occupied by a Chinese
fishing village, one of the largest on the West Coast. The industrious
people who lived here fished for, dried and exported
squid and other fish. Despite the intolerance they encountered
from their neighbors, the Chinese flourished here until the night
of May 16, 1906, when a devastating fire destroyed almost all
of the village. There are more images of the Chinese Village
here.
The American Can Company, now the home of the American Tin Cannery
Factory Outlets, produced many of the cans used by the local
packing houses.Part of the Hovden Food Products Corp./Portola
Packing Co. building (which operated from July 7, 1916 to February
9, 1973) was located in P.G. That site is now occupied by the
Monterey Bay Aquarium,
which opened to the public in 1984.
1995 marked the 50th anniversary of
the publication of Cannery Row, and the street has seen many
changes. The overpowering smell of the reduction plants--which
caused a great deal of contention between Monterey and P.G. and
inspired the saying "Carmel-by-the-Sea, Monterey-by-the-Smell,
and Pacific Grove-by-God"--is gone now, and tourism has
replaced the canning and reduction of sardines as the main industry.
Even with all the changes, the popularity of Steinbeck's work
endures, and his readers are apt to hear the strains of church
music from Doc's phonograph wafting over the Row.
"Cannery Row in Monterey in
California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of
light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream." --Cannery
Row
You have now completed
your virtual tour of John Steinbeck's Pacific Grove. |
|