This document describes a self-guided tour through locations in California that were inspirations for author John Steinbeck's works. It discusses places in Monterey, such as Cannery Row, that were featured in his novel of the same name. It also covers the towns of Soledad, which was the setting for Of Mice and Men, and Salinas, where Steinbeck was born. Museums like the National Steinbeck Center and his childhood home provide insight into the author and his writings. Taking this tour allows visitors to experience and understand the real-world settings that shaped some of Steinbeck's most famous books.

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Take a self-guided literary tour of John Steinbeck’s California
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By Ashwin Bhardwaj
19 OCTOBER 2017 • 9:15AM
Literary inspiration: John Steinbeck based some of his characters on Monterey locals CREDIT: GETTY
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A
Follow in the footsteps of John Steinbeck and see the inspiration behind some of the great American writer’s most celebrated books,
including Cannery Row and Of Mice and Men
journey along Highway 101 is a journey through the novels of John Steinbeck: the author of The Grapes of Wrath was born in
Salinas; Of Mice And Men is set in Soledad; and Cannery Row is about life in Monterey.
Ashwin Bhardwaj explores the towns and countryside that inspired a Nobel Prize winner
Monterey
In 1930, John Steinbeck moved to Monterey, California. Back then it was a busy fishing town with a main street lined by sardine
canneries, and he described it as “a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream”.
Steinbeck was happier in Monterey than anywhere else he lived, and it was here that he became friends with Ed Ricketts, a marine
biologist who he immortalised as “Doc” in the novel Cannery Row. Through a series of vignettes, the novel tells the story of shop
owners, prostitutes and friends who lived or worked on the titular row.
The canneries closed when the sardine population collapsed in the 1950s, but the buildings enjoy a new lease of life as cafés,
restaurants and antique stores. Ocean View Avenue was officially renamed Cannery Row in 1958 and today it’s a lively street, where
you can hire kayaks or paddleboards to explore the bay.
At Steinbeck Plaza, in the centre of Cannery Row, is a statue that depicts some of the areas most famous characters. Seated on top is
Steinbeck himself and Ricketts appears at the bottom, studying starfish that he has found in a tidal pool. There are also sculptures of
Chinese fishermen and Dora Woods, the brothel madam from Cannery Row who gave food to the poor during the Great Depression.
Ricketts’ Pacific Biological Laboratories survive as a museum, and the backyard still has the grid of concrete containers that he used
to store samples. The ocean behind the lab is now the Edward F Ricketts State Marine Conservation Area, and it’s home to the most
nutrient-rich waters on the Californian coast.
Next door, Monterey Bay Aquarium draws its water directly from the bay. Built on the site of the Row’s last cannery, the aquarium was
inspired by Ricketts’ study of marine ecosystems. The Kelp Forest is the aquarium’s centrepiece: 28ft tall and open to the sky, it grows
at an incredible rate. The Open Sea gallery is also quite remarkable, with turtles, sharks and a 3,000-strong school of sardines (the
original source of Monterey’s wealth) all putting on a shimmering display.
Further along the shore is Fisherman’s Wharf. In Monterey’s heyday, tonnes of sardines were landed here every morning, and
although that industry is gone, seafood is still king: the wharf is lined with restaurants, each claiming to make the best clam chowder,
and you can barely go a minute without being offered a sample.
Water world: Old Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey, California CREDIT: GETTY

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But Monterey’s greatest marine feast is for the eyes, not the belly. Monterey Bay is full of harbour seals and sea otters, and
whalewatching boats launch from the wharf all day. Humpbacks are here throughout the year, and grey whales can be seen in spring.
It is also one of the best places in the world to see the majestic blue whale.
While in Monterey, Steinbeck wrote The Harvest Gypsies, a series of seven news articles that documented the lives of migrant
workers in California. In the early 1930s, the Dust Bowl drove tens of thousands of families from Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas and
Oklahoma farming family. It won him the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
The young Steinbeck spent his summers working on ranches, wandering from farm to farm. As well as employment, his experiences
gave him material for his writing: Lennie in Of Mice And Men was based on a real migrant worker who was put in an asylum for
killing a foreman.
Soledad
Of Mice And Men is set in Soledad, 25 miles south-east of Salinas. Today it is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the
world, surrounded by rows of lettuce and vineyard tasting rooms.
The modern migrant workers come from Mexico, rather than the Midwest, and they’ve brought taco trucks with them. Ask locals
where to find them, because the quality food and bargain prices make for a perfect lunch stop.
In 1952, Steinbeck wrote East of Eden, set in and around Salinas. Living in New York, he missed California and wanted to make it feel
vivid to his two young sons through the sights, sounds and smells that he described in the book.
Steinbeck thought of East of Eden as his magnum opus, so it seems only right that he paid so much attention to the people and
landscape that had inspired his career.
National Steinbeck Center
This museum in Salinas houses artefacts from Steinbeck’s life, as well as manuscripts and first editions of his books.
It has an excellent chronologically arranged exhibition, which explores each of his books and their themes (steinbeck.org
(http://steinbeck.org/)).
The Steinbeck House
Two blocks from the National Steinbeck Centre, this turreted Victorian house was Steinbeck’s childhood home. Today it is a house
museum, with a restaurant that serves fixed lunches (steinbeckhouse.com (http://steinbeckhouse.com/)).
Steinbeck stomping ground: Main Street in Salinas, where the author was born CREDIT: GETTY

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Ed Ricketts’ Pacific Biological Laboratories
The museum, located on Cannery Row, contains specimen jars and examples of Ricketts’ unique cataloguing methods.
Guides prepare their own material, so you might have a focus on marine biology, Steinbeck or Ricketts biographies, depending on
who the guide is. Check the museum website (https://monterey.org/museums/City-Museums/Pacific-Biological-Laboratories) for opening hours and
details.
To plan your trip to the USA, see VisitTheUSA.co.uk (http://www.visittheusa.com/) or go to visitcalifornia.co.uk
(http://www.visitcalifornia.com/uk)
Home sweet home: Steinbeck House, where John Steinbeck spent his childhood CREDIT: GETTY

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