LEARNING FROM STEINBECK

LEARNING FROM STEINBECK
By Dick Meister

There are many reasons to visit California's dynamic Central Coast: its
rugged mountains and coastline, lush farmland and historic, colorful cities.
All that plus John Steinbeck, who wrote of the area and its people in many
of his universally-praised short stories and novels.

Start, if you can, at the National Steinbeck Center a couple hours drive
south of San Francisco along U.S. Highway 101. It's at No. 1 Main Street in
Salinas, the small farm town where Steinbeck was born and where he died in
1968. There, in what surely is one of the best museums anywhere devoted to
an author, you'll learn more about the Central Coast than any mere guide
book could possibly tell you. You'll be learning from John Steinbeck.

He'll speak to you on audio tapes, and you'll view film and video excerpts
from several of the movies and plays that have been based on his works.
You'll see realistic reproductions of places vividly described in
Steinbeck's writings -- crumbling migrant labor camp shacks and cabins like
those that housed farmworkers in "The Grapes of Wrath," for instance, and
such specific sites as the Wing Chong Grocery in Monterey that Steinbeck
wrote of in "Cannery Row."

As the exhibits demonstrate, Steinbeck stuck closely to reality. While
eloquent, his writing was simple, clear and highly descriptive, based on
actual events with very little literary embellishment. Steinbeck wrote about
real people doing real things in real places.

In covering Steinbeck's work, the center also of necessity covers much of
the history of the Salinas Valley, whose agriculture has made it extremely
important to the economic life of the entire country. "America's Salad
Bowl," it's rightly called.

The displays candidly note the irony of Steinbeck being honored in Salinas.
For most of his life, the home folks -- or at least their political leaders
-- reviled him as a dangerous radical who had brought shame to his hometown
by showing how badly locals treated the desperate migrants who had swarmed
into the region from Oklahoma, Arkansas and other drought-ravaged southern
and southwestern states during the Great Depression of the 1930s. They were
among the heroes of his stories. Among the villains were the members of the
agricultural establishment who controlled Salinas and environs.

Steinbeck's books actually were banned -- and burned -- in Salinas. Local
hostility against him didn't ease until after he was awarded the Nobel Prize
for literature in 1962.

You could easily spend several hours in the Steinbeck Center, if not several
days. But not to worry: Ticket holders have in-out privileges and there are
several good places for lunch in the very near vicinity.

You can also visit the house at 132 Central Avenue where Steinbeck was born
and raised and his grave in the Garden of Memories Memorial Park nearby.

Plenty of motels to choose from in the Salinas area and more than a few
moderately priced restaurants featuring the excellent seafood that's a
regional specialty.

For more Steinbeck lore, head off to Monterey, about 15 miles west on State
Highway 68, and onto Cannery Row along the Monterey Bay waterfront. Although
it's hardly what it was in Steinbeck's day, Cannery Row is well worth
visiting.

The pungent smells and loud machine noises of sardine factories and fish
canneries that Steinbeck described are long gone. Now it's the noise of
tourist crowds and the smell of garlic and frying fish and fresh candy and
ice cream wafting from shops and restaurants that line the street. If you
look closely -- and follow the guide available free at Cannery Row shops --
you'll nevertheless discover a few of the old places. Among those still
there is the ramshackle laboratory of Steinbeck's close friend, marine
biologist Ed Ricketts -- "Doc" in "Cannery Row" and "Sweet Thursday." You
can also see the actual Wing Chong grocery.

The greatest attraction in the area is at the northern end of Cannery Row --
the huge, world-renowned Monterey Bay Aquarium. Be warned: it's invariably
crowded -- but crowded for very good reason. All of the more than 500
species there are native to Monterey Bay, and you'll view many of them by
looking directly into the water where they live, through high glass walls at
some of the more than 100 exhibit spaces. It's a unique experience. You'll
feel as if you're at the bottom of the bay, amidst the marine life swimming
around you.

Back in downtown Monterey, you can walk along a three-block "Path of
History" laid out by the State Parks System on Alvarado Street. Yellow lines
on the pavement lead you past, and in some cases into, carefully restored
adobe buildings dating from the days when Spanish, then Mexican and finally
Americans governed California from Monterey.

There's much more in the area of particular interest, certainly including
the art galleries and beaches of Carmel and scenic countryside of the
fertile Carmel Valley just a few miles from Monterey.

And of course there's the memory of John Steinbeck, whose stories have evoked for
millions of readers the very special nature of a very special place.

Copyright © Dick Meister

Story ID:	2574
Written by:	Dick Meister (bio, link, contact, other stories)
Story type:	Travel
Location:	Monterey CA USA
Year:	2007
Person:	John Steinbeck