This Victorian house was built by merchant J. J. Conner in 1897 and sold at the turn of the century to John Ernst and Olive Hamilton Steinbeck. John Steinbeck was born there on February 27, 1902, in what is now the reception room, and he lived in the house until leaving for Stanford University at age 17, returning home at various times. From behind the upstairs front window, he wrote his first short stories and the novels "The Red Pony" and "Tortilla Flat." He later received the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for "Grapes of Wrath" in 1940 and the Nobel Prize in literature in 1962. In 1973, the Valley Guild, a group of prominent women, purchased the house to preserve this literary landmark.

Photo: AP Photo

Photo: I.G.V.Atajar