Along one small section of Monterey's shoreline, the street names tell you almost everything about the neighborhood's original promise.

Surf Way. Tide Avenue. Beach Way. Spray Avenue. Seafoam Avenue. Dunecrest Avenue.

They evoke a simple idea: build a house beside Monterey Bay and live at the beach.

…

Originally published April 17, 2026; substantially updated September 2026.

By the end of the 1940s, Monterey faced an economic crisis.

For decades, enormous schools of sardines had supported one of the busiest industrial fishing districts on the West Coast.

Fishing boats filled Monterey Bay. Canneries crowded …

Originally published April 17, 2026; substantially updated September 2026.

Before Cannery Row became a destination of restaurants, hotels, shops and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, it was one of the hardest-working industrial waterfronts on the West Coast.

Fishing boats returned to Monterey Bay carrying tons of sardines.

…

Originally published April 16, 2026; substantially updated September 2026.

Long before Monterey became known for Cannery Row, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and its dramatic coastline, it occupied a very different position in California.

Monterey was the political, military and commercial center of Alta California.

Under Spanish …

Originally published April 2026; substantially updated September 2026.

Few military installations in the United States occupy a landscape with a history as long and layered as the Presidio of Monterey.

The story begins in 1770, when Spain established a fortified settlement beside Monterey Bay to protect …

Originally published April 14, 2026; substantially updated September 2026.

Few cities in California have played as many different roles as Monterey.

Long before California became a state, the Monterey Peninsula was home to Indigenous communities whose relationship with Monterey Bay, the surrounding forests and inland valleys extended …

Originally published April 13, 2026; substantially updated September 2026.

Originally published October 10, 2014; substantially updated August 2026.

Alta Mesa is easy to miss.

Drivers traveling between downtown Monterey, Highway 1, Del Monte Center and Monterey Peninsula College can pass within a few hundred yards of the neighborhood without realizing that a remarkably private collection of winding …