Monterety

The Capital of Alta California under the Spanish, Mexican and American flags, Monterey lies on the Monterey Peninsula and ranges in altitude from sea level to 360 feet.

Fisherman's Wharf is no longer a working wharf by any account. Built by stone by enslaved natives, convicts, and military deserters when Monterey was Alta California's capital, Fisherman's Wharf was originally a pier for cargo schooners. Later it was used by whalers and Italian-American fishing crews to unload their catch.

On Cannery Row the colorful locale of John Steinbeck's novels Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday, galleries and restaurants have replaced the fish canneries. Of all the places the Nobel-Prize winning author immortalized, few remain unchanged.

"Doc's" marine lab (800 Cannery Row) is still a brown shack, almost as unassuming as it was in 1948, but is now a private drinking club

Lee Chong's Heavenly Flower Grocery is across the street, and is now the Row's General Store.

The fictional "La Ida Cafe" cathouse still survives, in actuality the most famous restaurant and salon on the Monterey Peninsula, as Kalisa's.

Monterey Bay Aquarium (886 Cannery Row) is one of the largest aquariums in the world. Opened in 1984, the aquarium is the brainchild of marine biologist Nancy Packard and her sister, aquarium director Julie Packard. Some help came from Hewlett-Packard computer magnate David Packard, who supported this nonprofit public-education endeavor with a $40 million donation to his daughters' cause.

Packard also designed many of the unique technological features of the major exhibits here. Most remarkable are the aquatic tanks with unbreakable one-ton acrylic windows over seven inches thick. The exhibits' "wave action" is simulated by a computer-controlled surge machine and hidden water jets. More than a half million gallons of seawater are filtered and pumped through the various aquarium tanks daily to keep these habitats healthy.

Six huge "organic" water filters screen out microorganisms which would otherwise cloud the water. In the event of an oil spill or other oceanic disaster, the aquarium's 16 inch intake pipes can be shut down on a moment's notice and the aquarium can operate as a "closed system" for up to two weeks. More that 6,500 creatures are displayed together in environments closely approximating their natural underwater communities.

The Presidio of Monterey, one of the oldest military posts in the U.S.A., was founded by Captain Gaspar De Portola, assisted by Father Junipero Serra and Juan Crespi. It is now the home of the U.S. Language School. When Lighthouse Ave was widened through the Presidio, most of what remained of a 2,000 year old Rumsen Indian village was destroyed, leaving only a ceremonial rail rock, a rock mortar for grinding acorns, and an ancient burial ground marked by tall wooden crosses.

California's First Brick House (351 Decatur) was started by Gallant Duncan Dickenson in 1847, built with bricks fashioned and fired in Monterey. The builder left for the gold fields before the house was finished, so the home - the first brick house built in California - and 60,000 bricks were auctioned off by the sheriff in 1851 for just over $1000.

Old Whaling Station (391 Decatur St) was a two-story adobe flophouse for Portuguese whalers in the 1850s. The sidewalk in front of the house is made o f whalebone. It is now a private home.

California's First Theater (Pacific & Scott), first a sailor's saloon and lodging house, was built by the English sailor Jack Swan and is now Jack Swan's Tavern. Commandeered by soldiers in 1848 for a makeshift theater, later - with a lookout station added to the roof - the tavern became a whaling station.

Casa Del Oro (corner of Scott and Oliver), also known as the Boston Store, was built by Thomas Larkin as part of his business empire. This two story chalk and adobe building was later a barracks for American troops, the Joseph Boston & Co. general store, a saloon, and even a private residence. Rumor has it that this "house of gold" was once a mint, or that (while a saloon) it accepted gold dust in payment for drinks - thus the name.

Casa Soberanes (336 Pacific) was built in 1830 and occupied by members of the Soberanes family until 1922.

Larkin House (Jefferson & Calle Principal) was built out of adobe and wood in 1835 by Yankee merchant Thomas Oliver Larkin, the only consul in the territory during Mexican rule. This home then became the American consulate, then later military headquarters for Kearney, Mason and Sherman. The home and headquarters of William Tecumseh Sherman is next door, now a museum focusing on both Larkin and Sherman.

The House of the Four Winds (540 Calle Principal) is another Larkin building. This small adobe building was built in the 1830s and name for its weathervane.

The Gutierrez Adobe (580 & 590 Calle Principal) is a typical middle-class Monterey "double adobe" home. It was built in 1841 and later donated to the state by the Monterey Foundation. Half the home is now the Sancho Panza Mexican Restaurant and Coffee House.

Colton Hall (on Pacific St. facing Friendly Plaza and Colton Hall Park) is where California's constitutional convention took place during September and October of 1849. The Reverend Walter Colton, Monterey's first American alcalde, or local magistrate, built this impressive, pillared "Carmel Stone" structure as a schoolhouse and public hall. Colton and Robert Semple published the first American newspaper in California here, on August 15, 1846.

The Monterey Jail (next door to Colton Hall) was built in 1854. It was once the home of the gentleman bandit Tiburcio Vasquez and killer Anastacio Garcia, who "went to God on a rope" pulled by his buddies.

The Cooper-Molera Adobe (508 Munras Ave) was finished in pinkish plaster when constructed in 1829 by Captain John Bautista Rogers Cooper for his young bride Encarnacion (of California's influential Vallejo clan and sister of General Mariano Vallejo). The 2-1/2 acre complex, which includes a neighboring home, two barns and a visitor center, has been restored to its 19th century authenticity.

Stevenson House (530 Houston St) is the old French Hotel where Robert Louis Stevenson spent the fall of 1879, while he was courting his American love (and later wife), Fanny Osbourne.

While in Monterey he collected material for Treasure Island, and worked on Amateur Immigrant, The old Pacific, Capital, and Vendetta of the West. He also worked as a reporter for the local newspaper - a job engineered by his friends, who, in order to keep the flat-broke Stevenson going, secretly paid the paper $2 a week to cover his wages.

Local rumor has it that a 19th century ghost - Stevenson's spirit, according to the previous caretaker - lives upstairs in the children's room.