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By the time I started visiting Cannery Row as a child in the 1960s, the sardine canneries that gave the area its name were long gone. When I would drive over to the area in the late 1970s, Cannery Row had a giant carousel, an arcade, an old west photography studio, and popular restaurants. In a district that constantly reinvents itself, most of those have come and gone, and an area that defines change continues to change to this date.

When I return to Cannery Row, the salty wind carries a mix of ocean mist, caramel corn, and seafood drifting from waterfront cafés. Gulls wheel overhead, calling above the hum of visitors along the sidewalk. In between the buildings, you get glimpses of sea kayakers on the bay or rafts of otters munching on shellfish. Families wander between shops, and cyclists glide past on the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail. It is hard to imagine that this same lively waterfront was once a gritty industrial district filled with the clang of machinery, the smell of sardines, and the relentless hiss of steam.

John Steinbeck captured this world in his 1945 novel Cannery Row, transforming a working-class fishing street into an enduring symbol of hope, humor, and human resilience. Traces of that version of Cannery Row still linger between souvenir shops, tasting rooms, and ocean-view restaurants.

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Monterey’s First Fishermen: The Rumsien People and a Sustainable Legacy

Long before steam engines and canning lines filled the air with noise, the Rumsien people lived along this coast, fishing Monterey Bay for thousands of years. They built tule boats from reeds gathered along the shoreline and paddled out into the bay to catch fish, sea lions, and abalone using simple tools carved from bone and stone. Everything they took from the sea was used; nothing was wasted.

An interpretive sign along the waterfront features sketches by Spanish artist José Cardero, showing a young Rumsien woman in traditional dress, wearing sea otter pelts and shell jewelry crafted from abalone and Olivella shells. These delicate adornments were traded across the region, linking coastal peoples through networks of commerce long before the Spanish arrived. The Rumsien had no metal, no pottery, and no crops, but they mastered the art of the ocean, shaping a sustainable life from what the sea offered.

 

McAbee Beach: From Whalers to Weekend Swimmers

A short walk from the Monterey Bay Aquarium lies McAbee Beach, a small crescent of sand framed by rock outcroppings. It is easy to pass by without realizing its deep past. In the late 1800s, Portuguese whalers launched wooden boats from this very shore, rowing into the bay to harpoon migrating whales. They would tow the enormous carcasses back to the beach, where blubber was boiled and rendered into oil for lamps, a common trade before electricity made whale oil obsolete.

It was a time when Carmel was known as “Carmel by the Sea”, Pacific Grove, with its church retreat centers, was “Pacific Grove by God”, and Monterey was “Monterey by the Smell.”

By the early 1900s, entrepreneur John B. McAbee transformed this spot into one of Monterey’s first seaside attractions. He built small cottages and rented them to visitors who came for the ocean air and scenic views. Yet the real story of McAbee Beach lies with the Chinese fishermen who settled here after their original village at China Point, now the site of Hopkins Marine Station, was destroyed by a suspicious fire in 1906. They rebuilt a smaller community along McAbee Beach, launching boats to fish the rocky shallows and drying their catch in the sun. Their presence endured until the 1920s, when the booming sardine industry took over the waterfront.

Today, McAbee Beach is a small, peaceful, pocket beach behind the Spindrift Inn, where families escape the bustle of Cannery Row.

Early Canning and the First Factories

Cannery Row’s industrial era began with a visionary Japanese immigrant named Otosaburo Noda. In 1902, he and his partner Harry Malpas opened Monterey’s first abalone and fish canning operation near Point Lobos. The idea was simple but revolutionary: to preserve the sea’s bounty in tins so it could travel far beyond the coast. Their success set off a chain reaction. Within a decade, Monterey’s shoreline was lined with canneries, warehouses, and fish oil plants, transforming the sleepy port into one of California’s busiest industrial zones.

The Pacific Fish Company, founded in 1907, became the model for future canneries. Workers gutted fish by hand, packed them into cans, and sealed them over open flames. By World War I, automation had arrived, and sardines were fed through mechanical sorters and cooked in massive steamers. Crossovers, covered bridges connecting warehouses to the canneries on the bay side, allowed workers to shuttle cans safely over the busy street below. Even today, these catwalks remain one of Cannery Row’s most recognizable architectural features.

The scientific side of fishing grew alongside the industry. A sign titled The Real Docs introduces Frances Clark and Julius Phillips, pioneering marine biologists who studied sardine populations for the California Department of Fish and Game. Clark became the first woman in the state to earn a doctorate in fishery management. She and her colleagues collected data from canneries, tracked sardine migrations, and tried to warn of the dangers of overfishing. Their research laid the groundwork for the sustainable fishing practices now embraced by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Marine Sanctuary.

The Boom Years: 1920s to 1940s, The Street of the Sardine

By the 1920s, Monterey’s waterfront was roaring. Boats left the harbor nightly, their lights glimmering like constellations across the dark bay. They returned at dawn, holds bursting with sardines. Factories clattered to life as whistles blew, and steam rose into the cool morning air. The smell of sardines, sharp, oily, and inescapable, hung over the town.

People from around the world came to work here. Italians, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, and Filipinos labored side by side, their sweat fueling an industry that seemed limitless. An interpretive sign titled Cannery Row Bustled and Hummed describes these decades vividly: fishing boats lumbered back full of fish, whistles called workers to their shifts, and everything smelled of sardines. By 1930, Filipino workers alone numbered over 35,000 in California, many of them employed in the canneries or fish reduction plants along this very row.

The rhythm of life here was relentless. Fishermen worked long nights at sea, and cannery workers endured heat, noise, and the constant risk of injury. Yet the pay was steady, and communities flourished. Boarding houses, taverns, and dance halls sprang up to serve the diverse workforce. A Salinas-based newspaper, the Philippines Mail, covered social events, card games, and cultural gatherings for Monterey’s Filipino residents.

This was also the world that inspired Steinbeck’s characters, Doc, Mack, Dora, and the Palace Flophouse crew, each drawn from real people who lived and worked along the row. Their humor and resilience mirrored the spirit of the community that kept the canneries running.

Ed Ricketts and the Spirit of Cannery Row

No exploration of Cannery Row would be complete without mentioning Edward F. Ricketts, the marine biologist and philosopher whose laboratory still stands along the street. Ricketts, known simply as Doc to his friends, ran the Pacific Biological Laboratories, a small marine specimen business that supplied universities across the country. His curiosity about life in the intertidal zone made him one of the most influential early ecologists on the West Coast.

Ricketts’ friendships with John Steinbeck, artist Bruce Ariss, and composer Jimmy Hopper created a community of writers and thinkers whose conversations often stretched long into the night. The Pacific Biological Laboratories became a gathering place where science and art met over music, wine, and deep discussion about life, nature, and philosophy. Steinbeck based the character of Doc in Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday on Ricketts, portraying him as the compassionate observer at the heart of the community.

In 1940, Ed Ricketts and John Steinbeck set sail aboard the Western Flyer for the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez. The trip combined Ricketts’ scientific curiosity with Steinbeck’s literary sensibility. Together, they collected marine specimens and recorded their observations, producing the book Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research (1941). The journey shaped both men’s views on ecology and community, ideas that still echo through Cannery Row’s conservation ethic.

There is still one small section of the original railroad tracks that passed through Canery Row that has been preserved. This section is a memorial to Ricketts who was hit by a train at this spot and killed.

The Collapse: When the Sardines Vanished

For decades, the sea seemed endless. By 1945, Monterey’s fleet hauled in over 250,000 tons of sardines annually. But nature has its limits. In 1946, the sardine runs collapsed almost completely. The causes were complex; relentless overfishing, changing ocean temperatures, and natural population cycles all played a part. One by one, canneries shut down. Workers left town, machinery rusted, and the once vibrant Street of the Sardine fell silent.

By 1960, nearly all the canneries had closed. The wharves stood empty, windows broken, roofs sagging under decades of salt and wind. Steinbeck returned to Monterey during this time and described the eerie quiet, a ghost of the place he once knew.

A sign along the waterfront captures it best: “The disappearance of the sardines taught us a lesson; the ocean’s bounty is limited and should be used with care.”

Hurray for Hollywood: Cannery Row on the Silver Screen

Cannery Row’s gritty beauty has not gone unnoticed by Hollywood. Since the early 1930s, dozens of films have used Monterey as a backdrop. Director Howard Hawks filmed Tiger Shark here in 1932, starring Edward G. Robinson as a tuna fisherman haunted by tragedy. In 1952, a young Marilyn Monroe appeared in Clash by Night, playing a cannery worker.

From Canneries to Conservation: The Aquarium and the Marine Sanctuary

By the 1970s, Cannery Row was home to restaurants and shops, and the Edgewater Packing Company’s carousel spun through summer days before closing in 1983. Luxury hotels had not yet arrived, and many cannery buildings still stood vacant.

Right behind the factories were the rail lines. The trains stopped running in 1979, and the tracks were converted to the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail in the mid-1980s. The trail opened in stages through 1986, giving locals and visitors a scenic route that now traces the path of the old Southern Pacific Railroad.

In 1984, the abandoned Hovden Cannery reopened as the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a symbol of renewal and education. It felt fitting that a building once used to process sea life now exists to protect and celebrate it. The Aquarium quickly became the area’s biggest draw.

Inside, you can wander past the towering kelp forest tank, watching sunlight filter through the water as sardines shimmer in tight formation. In the Open Sea exhibit, giant tuna dart past, while moon jellies pulse like living lanterns. Sea otters play in their pools, cracking shells open with rocks, oblivious to the visitors watching through the glass.

The Aquarium embodies Cannery Row’s transformation, from extraction to education, from exploitation to preservation. Exhibits on sustainable seafood, climate change, and marine research continue the work started decades earlier by scientists like Frances Clark and Julius Phillips.

The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, established in 1992, extends this vision across thousands of square miles of protected ocean. From the kelp forests near the shore to the deep-sea canyon offshore, it safeguards one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet.

Cannery Row Today

Today, Cannery Row is a place of contrasts, a tourist hub, a local hangout, and a historical landmark all at once. The smell of coffee and salt water taffy has replaced sardine oil, and the air hums with conversation and the strum of street musicians.

Cannery Row Restaurants

• Cannery Row Deli at 101 Drake Avenue offers sandwiches and breakfast burritos.
• Chart House at 720 Cannery Row advertises Brunch with a View. It opened in 1969, one of the earliest full-service waterfront restaurants during the area’s transition from an abandoned industrial district to a visitor destination.
• The Sardine Factory at 701 Wave St is a fine dining institution known for its abalone bisque and award-winning wine list.
• The Fish Hopper at 700 Cannery Row offers seafood and steak with sweeping views of Monterey Bay.
• Lalla Oceanside Grill at 654 Cannery Row blends seafood and California cuisine with oceanfront seating.
• Old Fisherman’s Grotto at 39 Fisherman’s Wharf serves hearty clam chowder and local specialties.
• Schooners Monterey, at 400 Cannery Row, offers elevated coastal dining and sunset views.
• Louie Linguini’s at 660 Cannery Row has a casual, family-friendly vibe and great fish tacos.
• Bubba Gump Shrimp Company at 720 Cannery Row is a fun, themed spot popular with families.
• Up the hill, locals favor First Awakenings at 300 David Ave for breakfast and brunch.

Cannery Row Attractions

Cannery Row offers more than food and history; it is packed with interactive and family-friendly attractions that help visitors experience the spirit of Monterey’s waterfront in new ways. While you should definitely visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium, there are many things to do in Cannery Row.

Monterey Mirror Maze and Laser Challenge – 751 Cannery Row, Suite 109
A fun diversion for families and kids, this mirrored labyrinth combines bright lights and music with an interactive laser challenge. It is an entertaining way to break up a day of sightseeing or add some playfulness between museum visits.

Escape Room 831 – 700 Cannery Row, Suite DD
Groups can team up to solve puzzles, search for clues, and race the clock inside themed escape rooms. It is especially popular with families and friends looking for a cooperative challenge. Booking ahead is recommended on weekends.

Public Art and Murals – Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail, Cannery Row
As you stroll or bike along the coastal trail, you will pass colorful murals and sculptures depicting Monterey’s fishing heritage, marine life, and literary past. Morning light makes for great photos, and several interpretive panels provide historical context.

Bargetto Wine Tasting Room – 700 G Cannery Row
This tasting room represents one of California’s oldest family-run wineries. Guests can sample Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the Santa Cruz Mountains while enjoying ocean views through the windows.

Treasure Hunt, The Ride – 700 Cannery Row
Hidden beneath Cannery Row, this interactive ride uses motion and special effects to immerse visitors in a pirate-themed adventure. It is whimsical, surprising, and a fun choice for both kids and adults.

Shopping on Cannery Row reflects its mix of history and playfulness. Boutiques, specialty stores, and galleries fill the old cannery buildings, offering everything from handmade candles to imported art. Here are a selection of some of the shops:

Cannery Row Antique Mall – 471 Wave St
This sprawling antique emporium fills a former cannery with treasures from more than a hundred dealers. Visitors can browse everything from maritime tools to vintage postcards, each piece telling a story of Monterey’s past.

Pebble Beach Outlet Shop – 660 Cannery Row
Golf fans and travelers alike enjoy the official Pebble Beach merchandise here. You will find apparel, caps, and accessories featuring the world-famous logo at lower prices than on the course.

Monterey’s Tasty Olive Bar – 751 Cannery Row
With more than seventy varieties of olive oils and balsamic vinegars, this gourmet stop invites you to taste, compare, and bring home unique flavors. The shop also sells olive oil-based soaps and body products.

IT’SUGAR – 751 Cannery Row #129
A bright, colorful candy store where nostalgia meets novelty. Kids love the oversized sweets and quirky treats, and adults enjoy the tongue-in-cheek humor of the displays.

Talavera Memories – 700 Cannery Row suite C
With Mexican-themed souvenirs, if you are shopping for Day of the Dead decorations, this is your store.

California Classics – 750 Cannery Row
This locally owned store offers Monterey-branded clothing, jewelry, and accessories, making it a reliable stop for souvenirs and casual wear.

Fine Art Turkish Grand Bazaar – 685 Cannery Row
A vibrant shop filled with handmade Turkish rugs, ceramics, mosaic lamps, and jewelry. It brings a touch of Istanbul to the Monterey waterfront.

International Bazaar Monterey – 700 Cannery Row
Globally inspired gifts, apparel, and décor items fill this eclectic boutique. It is a fun stop for travelers seeking something beyond the usual souvenirs.

Monterey Harley Davidson Retail Shop – 700 Cannery Row
A small but distinctive shop offering Harley-branded apparel, boots, and collectibles. Motorcycle enthusiasts will find it hard to walk out empty-handed.

Carmel Honey Company – 660 Cannery Row, Suite 119
Founded by a young local beekeeper, this shop sells premium honey, beeswax candles, and bee-friendly gifts. The staff happily explains the importance of pollinators to the coastal ecosystem.

Planning Your Visit

When to Go: Monterey’s weather is famously mild, and the clearest skies often arrive in September and October. Spring brings wildflowers along the recreation trail and calmer seas for kayaking. Always bring a sweatshirt whenever you visit. You will see fog, but almost never rain, from May through September.

Getting There: Cannery Row is about a two-hour drive from San Francisco or ninety minutes from San Jose via Highway 1. The scenic route from Santa Cruz follows rugged cliffs and ocean vistas worth stopping for.

Parking: Public garages are available on Wave Street and Foam Street. Arrive before 10 a.m. to avoid the midday rush. Alternatively, park near Fisherman’s Wharf and walk the recreation trail, an easy and scenic mile. There is often free on-street parking along the coast between the Aquarium and Lover’s Point.

Where to Stay:

• Luxury: InterContinental The Clement Monterey, 750 Cannery Row, oceanfront balconies and an unbeatable location.
• Historic: Spindrift Inn, 652 Cannery Row, antique charm with fireplaces and bay views.
• Romantic: Martine Inn, 255 Ocean View Blvd, a short walk from the Aquarium with a classic car motif and memorable breakfasts.
• Budget: Cannery Row Inn, 200 Foam St, clean rooms and proximity to the action at a reasonable price.

Cannery Row Legacy

Cannery Row has lived many lives: industrial powerhouse, ghost town, tourist magnet, and now a symbol of renewal. Its story is not just about fish and factories, it is about people, the fishermen who risked their lives at sea, the immigrants who built the canneries, the scientists who sounded the alarm, and the dreamers who reimagined what the place could become.