Old Salinas Armory
60 West Alisal Street

Built in 1895-96, the building was used for many events such as basketball games and proms, in addition to being the home of California National Guard Troop C. The young man whose death so upset Steinbeck's mother in East of Eden, Martin Hopps, joined Troop C because the armory had a basketball court.

For a recorded history by Destination Salinas, call: 831-401-9587 # 8

Site of the Old Monterey County Jail, Literary Marker!
142 West Alisal Street

While held in this jail December 4th to 24th in 1970, Cesar Chavez was visited by Ethel Kennedy and Coretta Scott King. Ethel Kennedy walked in a candlelight procession from Monterey Street up Alisal Street. Mass was held across the street. The Californian reported that close to 3,000 people were jammed in about an acre for three hours of emotional confrontation between Chavez supporters and an anti-Chavez Citizens Committee. Cesar Chavez's An Organizer's Tale: Speeches, and Mark Day's personal account, Forty Acres, reference the time. The old brick jail that was once next to the old courthouse is mentioned in Tortilla Flat, Cannery Row, and East of Eden.

Monterey County Courthouse, Literary Marker!
West Alisal and Church Streets

Begun in 1936, the present courthouse was built around the old courthouse. Heads of historical figures by Jo Mora, noted artist and author, adorn the edifice. Author John Steinbeck's father, county treasurer from 1923 to early 1935, had his office in the old courthouse. His wife Olive and son John sometimes helped him, which may account for the author's penchant for writing in ledgers. However, in 1933, after filling in at the treasurer's office for his father, John confessed that he would rather starve than "write columns of figures in big ledgers." The old Courthouse is mentioned in The Harness and "The Time the Wolves Ate the Vice Principal."

In 1970 UFWOC members and other supporters marched to the courthouse for Cesar Chavez’s appearance. The parade, 2,000-3000 by some counts, was a mile long and took half an hour to pass. The silent crowd filled the courtyard and courthouse halls at noon when Judge Gordon Campbell ordered Cesar Chavez imprisoned in the Monterey County Jail.

For a recorded history by Destination Salinas, call: 831-401-9587 # 6

Site of the Former Salinas City Hall
West Gabilan between Salinas and Lincoln

In his memoir, Big Mitch, city council member Joseph E. Mitchell finds Salinas politics "far from dull."

Salinas Police Department
222 Lincoln Avenue

The Salinas Police Department is featured in a number of non-fiction works: UpFromElPaso, a memoir by Paul Diaz; MurderSalinasStyle, Books 1 and 2, by Lisa Eisemann; TheFirstPolicewoman, by Lisa Eisemann; and The Constitution of a Dream: My Unique and Yet Timeless Story of Becoming an American, by Ralph Serrano.

John Steinbeck Library
350 Lincoln Avenue

Opened in 1960, the building was named for author John Steinbeck in 1969. Mary Davies Kelly, author of Dream's End: Two Iowa Brothers in the Civil War, visited the Library while researching her family in the 1990s. The Steinbeck Library and the efforts to save the Salinas Public Library system in 2004-2005 feature in Lewis Buzbee's Steinbeck's Ghost. To Travis Williams, the statue of Steinbeck on the library lawn is special, almost alive, and a guardian of the library. Travis finds the library more real than his own room in the new house or the house where he once lived. Unlike the houses, the library still belongs to him. Lisa Eisemann used the Steinbeck Library to research her books about her grandmother and the Salinas Police Department. Other local authors visiting the library include Burton Anderson, Betty Brusa, Junis Childers, José Carlos Fajardo, Lee Richard Hayman, Bowen Lyam Lee, Brigid Massie McGrath, Pauline Pearson, Michael Roddy, Irv Rodgers, Edward Ryder, Melchizedek Maraon Solis, and G.M. Weger. Children's author Carol Diggory Shields was a children's librarian here for many years.

El Gabilan Library
1400 North Main Street

This library serves the community of north Salinas and beyond. A tree honoring poet Violet Kazue de Cristoforo has been planted in the Literary Garden of the Library.

National  Steinbeck Center
1 Main Street

The National Steinbeck Center is the largest U.S. literary museum dedicated to a single writer. The National Steinbeck Center contains the Steinbeck Museum and Archives and hosts the annual Steinbeck Festival, a tradition in Salinas for 30 years, author talks and other programming.

For a recorded history by Destination Salinas, call: 831-401-9587 # 31

Site of the Salinas Public Library Carnegie Building
1909-1960 405 Main Street

The Carnegie Library was built in 1909. As a youth, author John Steinbeck browsed the stacks extensively. In The Pastures of Heaven, an enrapt and hopeful Pat Humbert studies interiors at the Library and loses his sense of time. In "The Time the Wolves Ate the Vice-Principal," the wolf pack first scents Mr. Hartley when he is in front of the Carnegie Library. The institution was also praised by mystery writer Paul H. Dobbins, who wrote Murder Moon when he worked in canneries and Salinas packing sheds.

Cesar Chavez Library
615 Williams Road

Named for labor leader Cesar Chavez, the library is the home of the Chicano Resource Center and site of the historic twenty-four hour read-in from April 2 to April 3 of 2005, where authors read to support the Salinas Public Library during the days of its threatened closure. Among the many writers, musicians and poets who gathered in support of libraries were Hector Elizondo, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Dolores Huerta.