Steinbeck, Miller, and Dennis the Menace

My trip to California had a literary twist, which linked John Steinbeck, Henry Miller, and Dennis the Menace. I'll start with Steinbeck, who grew up in Salinas, CA, and wrote about the surrounding area. 

We spent several hours at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas soaking up film clips, quotes, and memorabilia. Here's the actual camper truck that took him around the country in 1960 for the trip he wrote about in "Travels With Charley." You can see Charley, his poodle, looking out the window.

There were settings for many of his stories, including this one for "East of Eden." It was fascinating to see the stories come to life.

Afterward, we had lunch at Steinbeck's childhood home. We talked with one of the docents in the room (below) where Steinbeck was born. It was his parents bedroom at that time.

Next up was a tour of the old Pacific Biological Laboratories in nearby Monterey, home and workplace of the Steinbeck character "Doc." Doc, made famous in the 1945 book "Cannery Row," is based on Steinbeck's good friend Ed Ricketts, who lived in the lab. The short story "The Snake" also takes place in the lab.

Ricketts was a marine biologist, ecologist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the study of intertidal ecology. His lab was positioned to give him direct access to the bay's tide pools, above. The back of the building, below, leads to the bay, and the cement tanks are where he kept the ocean animals he was studying.

Visitors could pore over the books on his shelves and look at some of his hand written notes.

 

The lab building is where Ricketts and Steinbeck planned their 1940 voyage to Baja California's Sea of Cortez, a trip that led to "The Log from the Sea of Cortez." 

An extra bonus for us was that their boat, the "Western Flyer," had just been refurbished and returned to the Monterey waterfront the day before our arrival and we got to see it (below)! It arrived in a boat parade to crowds of people, speeches and other festivities that we just missed.

Years after Ricketts died, the lab was purchased by some Monterey men as their private club in order to save it from being destroyed of redeveloped. They each had their own liquor stash above the bar for their meetings. The members included artists, cartoonists (including Hank Ketchum, who wrote "Dennis the Menace"), politicians, judges, and doctors who maintained it much as Doc had left it. The club, real movers and shakers, started the Monterey Jazz Festival, which is still going strong.

And speaking of Ketchum, he designed the Dennis the Menace Playground in Monterey, which we also visited. It opened in 1956 and includes a boat that I think resembles the "Western Flyer."

The last literary site we visited was the Henry Miller Memorial Library on Big Sur, just down the road from Monterey. Miller hung in some of the same circles as Steinbeck.

It's in the building where one of Miller's friends lived and turned it into a memorial when Miller died. Giant redwoods surround the library (and book store), and the grounds are filled with quirky art.

This dog looked so regal on the old sofa under a tree hung with books protected by plastic cases.

Inside was plastered with posters of events related to Miller.

The Miller place was fun, but it's Steinbeck who is all over Monterey. This parting shot is a sculpture of Steinbeck (with the seagull perched on his head) and some of the characters from his books.

Have a colorful day