Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE STEINBECK
HOUSE
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”When I was a child growing up in Salinas, we called San Francisco 'The City.' Of course it was the only
city we knew but I still think of it as The City, as does everyone else who has ever associated with it.”
—John Steinbeck
Author John Steinbeck was the third of four children. Born on February 27, 1902, in the room to the
immediate left as you enter the front door, John would spend all of his formative years here.
This Queen Anne-style Victorian home was built in 1897 by J. J. Connor and was purchased by
John Ernst and Olive Hamilton Steinbeck in 1900. The second floor had never been finished by the
original owner, so Mr. Steinbeck built “climbing things” for the children to enjoy, and it became an
indoor playground until finished as a bedroom and bath in 1906.
The future Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize winner began his education at the “Baby School,”
located only five blocks from home. He went on to attend the West End School and eventually
graduated from Salinas High School in 1919. He had taken an active roll at Salinas High, perform-
ing in the school play, serving as president of the senior class, working as a member of the yearbook
staff, and participating on the track and baseball teams. He went on to attend Stanford University
but left without a degree.
John was an active, strong-minded person but was greatly influenced by his father, who encour-
aged him in his writing efforts. He no doubt lavished extra attention on John because he was his only
son, and they were greatly outnumbered by the four women in the house. His mother, however, was
much more inclined for John to “be something decent like a banker.”
In his 1952 novel,
East of Eden
, John describes his boyhood home: “On an impulse he turned off
Main Street and walked up Central Avenue to number 130 . . . it was an immaculate and friendly
house, grand enough but not pretentious, and it sat inside its white fence surrounded by its clipped
lawn and roses and cotoneasters lapped against its walls.” He also describes the room he was born in:
“The pleasant little bedroom was crowded with photographs, bottles of toilet water, lace pin cushions,
brushes and combs and the china and silver bureau-knacks of many birthdays and Christmases.”
Dining at The Steinbeck House is a must for anyone traveling through the area. Menus are
changed every week to take advantage of both the seasonal produce from the fertile Salinas Valley and
the wines of Monterey County. Sunday tours of the house are available during the summer months.
