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There’s much more than meets the eye in California’s Cannery Row in Monterey. Famed author John Steinbeck tried to capture its very essence in his infamous novel Cannery Row long before anyone knew of its magic and intense history. Even before its notorious canneries, Cannery Row has been influenced, restored, and redeveloped by many cultures into what it is today.
The Beginning
The 1850s marked the beginning of Cannery Row’s fishing empire when Chinese fishing families immigrated to Point Ohlones, which is fittingly now referred to as China Point. There, Cannery Row’s fishing industry flourished. The very first cannery, the American Tin Cannery, was developed on China Point in 1927. The structure still stands today, restored as an entertainment and shopping center, and is a pillar in Cannery Row’s beginning.
This seaside road is Monterey’s epicenter of tourism. It’s largely thanks to the Southern Pacific Railroad that brought the tourists in the 1880s, as well as the building of Hotel Del Monte, one of the most luxurious seaside resorts in the world.
Construction for both visitors and those looking to settle down in the area continued through the turn of the century. The construction of the elegant Tevis Estate, with carriages, cottages, and overall coastal grandeur, helped shape what Cannery Row is today. If the sea and fishing didn’t bring people to the area, the elegance of the Tevis would. Because of this 1901 development, today’s Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa, designed to resemble the original Tevis Estate, gives visitors the chance to experience that same elegant era.
Nearly 50 years after its founding, Monterey’s infamous canning industry began. In 1902, the very first cannery, Monterey Fishing and Canning Company, opened, as well as Monterey Harbor’s Booth Cannery.
To be continued next week….
Everything else is just history
