Freeway-Free in California – Salinas is Steinbeck Country
It would be easy to breeze past Salinas on your way to the Monterey Peninsula, San Francisco, or San Jose, but that’s a mistake. Salinas is Steinbeck Country, the thinly disguised locale of “East of Eden”, “The Red Pony”, and “The Long Valley.” The National Steinbeck Center is a modern, manageably sized exhibition space right at the end of Main Street in the middle of “Old Town Salinas”, with easy access off 101, and a sizable parking garage on the same block.
If you’ve been traveling up California’s Central Valley on 101 on a hot day, it’s worth the stop just to get out of the car and sit in the luxuriously air-conditioned theater (on the right as you enter) to watch the 15-minute documentary about Steinbeck’s life. Across the lobby space from the theater is the exhibition space, which includes displays and discussion covering each of Steinbeck’s novels, a number of movie screens showing excerpts from the movie versions of “East of Eden”, “Grapes of Wrath”, “viva Zapata”, and videos of Steinbeck’s Nobel prize winning speech and various interviews.
And the rest rooms are lovely.
If you happen to be stopping near lunchtime, stretch your stay and your legs by walking two blocks down Central Avenue to the Steinbeck House Restaurant, run by volunteers in the renovated boyhood home of John Steinbeck. The menu features local produce and an eclectic selection of dishes, including of course “East of Eden Pasta”. During the summer you can also take a tour of the home from attic to cellar (location of the gift shop).
Allyson Johnson 