The National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California

"We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.” 

- John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Downtown Salinas, early 20th century, when Steinbeck lived there as a boy. Photo from National Steinbeck Center exhibits
Photo by Madeline Horn

I finally made it to the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, on an impromptu trip with my mother and my son. We were in Salinas dropping my sister off at the train station, after a quick weekend visit. It was a special day - my son Wilder’s first museum visit! It means a lot to our family since both myself and my mother have careers in museums.

As a Central Coast native, I especially enjoy Steinbeck’s stories that are set locally. However, I would love his work even if we didn’t share a stomping grounds. Like all my favorite authors, Steinbeck is a true philosopher, capturing the experience of being human with his words. 

The National Steinbeck Center is located at the foot of Main Street in downtown Salinas, anchoring a strip of historic art deco and victorian buildings, sports bars, coffee shops, florists, and banks. Salinas still has a Fox Theater, with a swirling gold and aluminum confection of a box office. Historic photos depict a bustling, crowded, thriving downtown Salinas, which just isn’t the case anymore. The strip was calm on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Many of the businesses were closed on Sundays.

Fox Theater, Salinas - the first of many historic theater box offices this boy will pose in front of 

Photo by Dorris Welch

Visitors enter the National Steinbeck Museum through a large airy atrium. The immersive exhibits bring Steinbeck’s writing to life through audio, text, artifacts, interactives and film. Exhibits are laid out chronologically. I enjoyed interactive elements, such as drawers and doors opened by visitors to further explore themes. Audio of text being read aloud in some sections made it nearly impossible for me to read the large amount of text on the walls. I didn’t represent your typical museum visitor - I had an infant strapped to my chest. That said, I found myself unable to get motivated to read all the quotes and interpretive text.  

The museum has preserved sea creature specimens from Ed Ricketts (“Doc” in Steinbeck’s book Cannery Row) on display, as well as Rocinante, the actual camper Steinbeck drove across the United States in his book Travels With Charley: In Search of America. I would have appreciated them so much more had they been labeled as the actual artifacts. Instead, I wasn’t sure, so I assumed that they were replicas. Later, I read on the museum website that they were the real thing. 

East of Eden exhibit, National Steinbeck Center
Photo by Madeline Horn

The museum gave me a sense of what the Salinas area was like in the early 20th century, when Steinbeck was born and raised there. Exhibits also include sections on Asian and Mexican immigrants to the area throughout history, important to represent in light of the current population of migrant and immigrant farmworkers.

Pillow quote - National Steinbeck Center
Photo by Madeline Horn

We ate lunch at Patria, a sprawling restaurant on Main Street with a full bar that made us feel like we were in the twilight zone. The restaurant is so spacious that we got our own dining room to sit in. Patria’s fanciness and old school European vibe felt out of place in Salinas. However, that wasn’t a bad thing at all. The crab cake was practically 100% crab, and the caramelized onion, goat cheese and bacon pizza was delightful. The prices were surprisingly reasonable for a restaurant whose waiters wore head to toe black uniforms.

I learned a lot about Salinas on our day trip. I was surprised at the wealth of historic information available to the public. I found a historic house at the train station and a sign with a phone number for an audio tour. I also picked up a brochure and map on Salinas’ art deco architecture. By happy accident we drove by Steinbeck’s childhood victorian home (now a restaurant) on our way out of town. Steinbeck’s work is an important legacy for the Central Coast. It was great to explore his world for an afternoon. 

Rocinante  - Steinbeck's home on the road in the book Travels with Charley: In Search of America
Photo by Madeline Horn

Interior of Rocinante trailer, complete with Courvoisier 
Photo by Madeline Horn

Museum Website - http://www.steinbeck.org

The Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies, San Jose State University - http://as.sjsu.edu/steinbeck/index.jsp