Before the Beach Club: The Chinese Fishing Village at Stillwater Cove

Today, Stillwater Cove is one of the most recognizable corners of Pebble Beach.

The Beach & Tennis Club overlooks its sheltered water. Pebble Beach Golf Links wraps around the shoreline. The 17th green and 18th fairway sit nearby, and Point Lobos rises dramatically across Carmel Bay.

It is difficult to imagine this same place without golf, manicured fairways, resort buildings or the Pebble Beach we recognize today.

But long before the Beach Club stood above Stillwater Cove, a small Chinese fishing community lived and worked here.

Families raised children here.

Fishermen launched boats from the protected beach.

Fish dried on racks above the cove.

Abalone shells accumulated along the shoreline.

And when wealthy visitors began traveling past in horse-drawn carriages on the newly created 17-Mile Drive, one enterprising family realized that the tourists themselves represented a new opportunity.

This isn't really Local Lore in the sense of an uncertain legend.

It is documented history — and one of the most easily overlooked chapters in the story of Pebble Beach.

Before Pebble Beach Became the Pebble Beach We Know Today

The Monterey Peninsula already had a long Indigenous, Spanish and Mexican history before Chinese immigrants arrived on the California coast.

By the middle of the nineteenth century, however, another important chapter was beginning.

Chinese immigrants — many with extensive maritime knowledge — began establishing fishing communities around Carmel Bay and Monterey Bay.

Historical accounts place early Chinese fishermen at Point Lobos, Pescadero and Point Alones near present-day Cannery Row.

They harvested abalone and later expanded into rockfish, cod, halibut, mackerel, flounder, shark, squid and other marine species.

The Monterey County Historical Society credits these fishermen with helping establish Monterey's first true commercial fishing industry.

One of those settlements developed on the protected shoreline of what we now call Stillwater Cove.

Why Stillwater Cove?

Even today, the name explains a lot about the location.

Stillwater Cove is protected by the surrounding coastline and offshore rocks, creating considerably calmer conditions than many exposed stretches of the Monterey Peninsula coast.

For nineteenth-century fishermen working from relatively small boats, that mattered.

The location offered a protected beach where boats could be pulled ashore during bad weather.

The terrace above the water provided space for drying fish.

Fresh water was available nearby.

And immediately offshore lay the extraordinarily productive waters of Carmel Bay.

It was, quite simply, an excellent place to build a fishing village.

The 1868 Lease

One of the strongest pieces of evidence for the settlement appears in an 1868 lease involving landowner David Jacks and a Chinese fishing company.

The terms of the agreement offer a remarkable glimpse into daily life: the China Man Hop Company agreed to pay David Jacks six dollars and two dozen abalone each month to lease the fishing site. The document referred to an existing “Old China House,” suggesting fishermen may have been working from the cove before the lease was signed.

Jacks' ledgers reveal another side of the relationship. Chinese residents sometimes earned credit toward their rent by clearing brush, repairing fences and performing other work on his land. The settlement was more than a line on a map: it was a working community whose residents adapted to the opportunities available.

From there, the community grew.

This Was a Community, Not Just a Fishing Camp

It is easy to reduce nineteenth-century Chinese history in California to stories of temporary laborers.

Stillwater Cove tells a more complicated story.

People did not merely come here, fish for a season and disappear.

Families lived here.

Children grew up here.

Homes were built above the water.

And perhaps no family illustrates that better than the family of Jung San Choy and Yeung So.

Jung San Choy Comes to Stillwater Cove

Historian Sandy Lydon's extensive research into Chinese communities around Monterey Bay places Jung San Choy at the Pescadero fishing village as a young immigrant during the nineteenth century.

Jung married Yeung So in 1870, and the couple established their home overlooking Stillwater Cove.

They would raise an extraordinary family there.

Thirteen children were born to Jung San Choy and Yeung So while the family lived at Stillwater Cove.

Their children grew up in a household closely tied to the sea, fishing and the changing economy around them. They also helped operate the family's shell stands, polishing abalone shells and preparing souvenirs for passing travelers.

See a genuine circa-1890 photograph of the Jung family's shell stand in NOAA's interview with historian Sandy Lydon. The photograph is credited to the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley, courtesy of Sandy Lydon.

Then 17-Mile Drive Came Through Their Front Yard

The next transformation began in 1880.

The Pacific Improvement Company — associated with the Southern Pacific Railroad — acquired much of the western Monterey Peninsula, including the land occupied by the Stillwater Cove fishing village.

Hotel Del Monte opened that same year in Monterey.

Then, in 1881, the company created a scenic carriage excursion through its vast coastal property.

That route became 17-Mile Drive.

The early drive carried Hotel Del Monte guests through forests and along the coastline, presenting the wild scenery of the Peninsula as part of the resort experience.

And the route passed right by the Chinese fishing settlement.

Suddenly, affluent travelers were moving past the Jung family's home almost every day.

Jung San Choy saw an opportunity.

One of Pebble Beach's Earliest Souvenir Stands

The Chinese fishing industry had long relied heavily on abalone.

The meat was valuable, but so were the large iridescent shells.

As tourism increased, the Jung family began polishing those shells and selling them along with other marine curios and souvenirs to people traveling 17-Mile Drive.

By the 1890s, the family was operating multiple souvenir stands along the route.

In other words, one of the earliest families living in what would become Pebble Beach also became part of its emerging tourism economy.

That creates a fascinating overlap.

Fishing village and luxury tourism existed side by side.

Residents who had made their living from Carmel Bay were now selling pieces of that coastal environment to wealthy visitors who had come to admire it.

A Presidential Customer

Pebble Beach's own historical archives preserve one particularly memorable story.

When President Benjamin Harrison visited the Monterey Peninsula in 1891, he reportedly stopped at the Chinese family's abalone stand.

According to the story preserved by Pebble Beach, Harrison tried to pay for his purchase with a $10 bill.

The seller apparently wasn't interested in such an unusually large bill and insisted on more practical payment.

Whether remembered because of the president or because of the exchange itself, the episode illustrates something important:

By this time, the Stillwater Cove community was no longer isolated from Pebble Beach's emerging visitor economy.

It had become part of the experience.

The Fishing Village Becomes a Tourist Attraction

There is an uncomfortable side to that story as well.

As tourists traveled 17-Mile Drive, the Chinese settlements along the route were sometimes presented to visitors almost as attractions themselves.

The families living there were going about their everyday lives — fishing, repairing boats, preparing food, raising children and operating small businesses.

Yet to wealthy travelers from Hotel Del Monte, the settlements could be treated as part of the scenery.

The same road that created an economic opportunity for the Jung family's souvenir business also signaled the profound transformation that was coming to the land around them.

Change Comes to Stillwater Cove

As the twentieth century approached, the Monterey Peninsula was changing rapidly.

The Pacific Improvement Company increasingly viewed the Del Monte Forest as resort and real estate property.

Lots along the scenic drive became valuable.

A lodge opened at Pebble Beach.

Development increased.

And the long-established Chinese fishing settlement occupied land that was becoming part of an entirely different economic vision.

By the early 1900s, members of the Jung family began leaving Stillwater Cove.

Historical research generally places the end of the Pescadero Chinese fishing village at about 1912.

Only a few years later, the landscape would change dramatically again.

Then Came the Beach Club and Golf

Plans for recreational facilities at Stillwater Cove appeared soon after the fishing village disappeared.

By the early twentieth century, a fishing club, pier and recreational facilities were developing along the cove.

During the early 1920s, Monterey County's historic research says a clubhouse and swimming pool were constructed in the immediate vicinity of the former Chinese fishing village.

That recreational club eventually evolved into today's Beach & Tennis Club.

Meanwhile, Pebble Beach Golf Links opened in 1919.

The shoreline where Chinese fishing families once dried fish and pulled boats onto the beach became surrounded by one of the world's most famous golf landscapes.

The transformation was remarkable.

Within only a few decades, the same cove moved from fishing settlement to scenic tourist stop to resort recreation center.

The 18th Fairway Has Another Story Beneath It

Today, the 18th hole at Pebble Beach Golf Links is one of the most recognizable finishing holes in golf.

But part of the land beside Stillwater Cove once supported the Jung family's shell-selling business.

Pebble Beach's own historical material notes that an abalone stand operated in the area that is now associated with the 18th fairway.

That is one of the things I enjoy most about researching Monterey Peninsula history.

Places we think we know can contain completely different landscapes beneath the modern one.

A famous golf hole can also be the site of an immigrant family's small business.

A private beach club can occupy the ground where children once grew up in a fishing village.

And one of America's best-known resort communities can have roots that predate the resort itself.

Don't Confuse Stillwater Cove With China Rock

There is one important historical distinction worth making.

Visitors driving 17-Mile Drive today also encounter a landmark called China Rock.

Pebble Beach identifies China Rock as the site of another small Chinese fishing settlement during the late nineteenth century.

That location and the Stillwater Cove/Pescadero community are related parts of the Peninsula's Chinese fishing history, but they should not simply be treated as the same site.

The settlement discussed in this story was centered around Stillwater Cove and Pescadero, near the area occupied today by the Beach & Tennis Club and Pebble Beach Golf Links.

China Rock lies farther north along 17-Mile Drive.

The Larger Chinese Fishing Story of Monterey Bay

Stillwater Cove was only one part of a much larger story.

Chinese fishing communities existed at several points around the Monterey Peninsula during the nineteenth century.

Their fishermen helped develop commercial markets for abalone and numerous species of fish and shellfish.

They built boats, processed catches, dried fish for shipment and helped connect Monterey's marine resources with markets far beyond the Peninsula.

But their success unfolded during an era of intense anti-Chinese discrimination in California.

State and federal laws increasingly restricted Chinese immigration and economic activity.

Fishing regulations and competition from other immigrant fishing groups also placed pressure on Chinese fishing operations.

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 added another enormous obstacle to Chinese families attempting to build lives in the United States.

Against that background, the long life of the Stillwater Cove settlement — and families such as the Jungs — becomes even more significant.

A Family Returns to Stillwater Cove

There is a wonderful epilogue to the story.

In 1987, descendants of Jung San Choy and Yeung So returned to Stillwater Cove for a family reunion.

Five generations of the family gathered at the Beach Club.

The location was particularly meaningful.

Historian Sandy Lydon's research places the Beach Club on the site of the family's ancestral home.

One of Jung San Choy's sons — born at Stillwater Cove in 1904 — was there.

Nearly a century after his family had lived beside the cove, their descendants stood on the same ground in a Pebble Beach that had become almost unrecognizable from the world their ancestors knew.

Look at Stillwater Cove Differently

The next time you stand near The Lodge, look across the 18th fairway toward Carmel Bay or visit Stillwater Cove, imagine another shoreline: wooden houses overlooking the water, fishing boats pulled onto the beach, abalone shells polished for sale and children growing up within sight of the sea.

I find that one of the most rewarding things about Monterey Peninsula history is discovering how many different lives a familiar place has held. Where visitors now see championship golf and a renowned resort, generations of Chinese families once built homes, worked the waters and welcomed travelers to roadside stands.

In 1987, five generations of the Jung family returned to Stillwater Cove for a reunion. That return makes this history more than a vanished settlement: it is a story of people, family, enterprise and belonging.

Before the Beach Club, families were already building lives beside Stillwater Cove. Their history belongs to Pebble Beach every bit as much as The Lodge, the golf course or 17-Mile Drive.

Frequently Asked Questions

Was there really a Chinese fishing village in Pebble Beach?

Yes. Monterey County's Pebble Beach Historic Context Statement documents a Chinese fishing community at Stillwater Cove during the nineteenth century. The first documented lease dates to 1868, although historical evidence suggests Chinese fishermen may have been using the area earlier.

Where was the Chinese fishing village located?

The settlement was located around Stillwater Cove in the Pescadero area of what is now Pebble Beach. The general area is associated today with the Beach & Tennis Club and portions of Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Who was Jung San Choy?

Jung San Choy was a Chinese immigrant, fisherman and entrepreneur who lived at the Stillwater Cove settlement with his wife Yeung So. The couple raised 13 children there. Jung and his family later operated souvenir stands selling polished abalone shells and other items to tourists traveling 17-Mile Drive.

When did the Chinese fishing village disappear?

Historical sources generally place the end of the Pescadero/Stillwater Cove Chinese fishing settlement at about 1912 as resort, residential and recreational development transformed the surrounding area.

Is China Rock the same Chinese fishing village?

No. China Rock on 17-Mile Drive is associated with another small Chinese fishing settlement. It is part of the same broader Chinese fishing history of the Monterey Peninsula, but it should be distinguished from the settlement centered around Stillwater Cove and Pescadero.