The Cannery Row Monument

Cannery Row evolved through the contributions of many diverse people. John Steinbeck immortalized it with his novel Cannery Row, while his friend Ed Ricketts, one of the fathers of marine biology, studied the sea life and tide pools of Monterey Bay. A Chinese fisherman recalls the Chinese fishing village established on this shore in the mid-1800s. "Madam" Flora Woods and one of her girls represent her generosity. Four entrepreneurs, Ted Balestreri, Bert Cutino, Harry Davidian, and George Zarounian, embraced the rotting remnants of the canneries and dedicated themselves to the area's rebirth, and with the Coniglio, Crispo, and Meyers families and Judge Ralph Drummond, helped bring Cannery Row back to life as a vibrant tourism destination. First inhabited by Native Americans and then settled by the Spanish, Monterey later became home to many Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, Mexican, Filipino, Norwegian, Scottish, and Japanese immigrants, among others.

Monterey, California · United States