National
Steinbeck Center
One Main
Street
Salinas,
California
November 5, 2000
While
staying in Monterey, California we heard many
references to John Steinbeck's writings. One of the books that
Steinbeck wrote is called Cannery Row
which talks about the life and times of the people that ran the
sardine canneries that lined the streets along Monterey Bay.
Today these buildings still exist but have been turned into shops
and restaurants for tourists. Since we had seen Cannery Row we
decided to run up to Salinas and see the Steinbeck Center. I
found it difficult to picture how one would present a center on
one writer and make it interesting. Well, the people responsible
for the Steinbeck Center did all that and more. They used a
number of multi-media presentations to draw the visitor into the
actual stories created by Steinbeck. One of his stories was The
Red Pony. Since this story was written for children, the exhibit
was for them as well. They had a small pony that had a mane that
could be brushed. Also the children could mount the pony. At the
display for Cannery Row you could actually smell the sardines. In
addition they featured a "pipe-home" which was simply a
very large section of iron pipe that was
used by people in the Cannery Row area during
the depression years as homes. During his career Steinbeck wrote
17 novels in addition to five journals and four plays. Steinbeck
had the ability to write about the people and times surrounding
him and make them very real to the reader. Several of his books
were adapted for the stage. The Broadway version Of Mice and Men
was so successful that it ran for 207 performances. In addition
his plays have been translated into many different languages and
performed all over the world. Several of his books were picked up
by Hollywood and turned into movies. East of
Eden starring James Dean was one of these.
Several places in the center they had clips from the many movies
playing. In addition 
to many other awards he won a Pulitzer Prize for
fiction for his Grapes of Wrath.
As we wandered through the center I couldn't help but admire
anyone who was able to turn out the number of writings that he
had. I just had to wonder how one can write that kind of volume
and still have any kind of life. For me, just writing our stories
once a week sometimes seems like a monumental chore. The last
exhibit in the center was my favorite. They had the pick-up truck
and camper that Steinbeck traveled the country in, with his dog
Charley(a full-size French Poodle), writing Travels
with Charley in Search of America. A letter
that Steinbeck wrote to a friend stating "I am trying to say
clearly that if I don't stoke my fires and soon, they will go out
from leaving the damper closed and the air cut off...what I am
proposing is not a little trip or reporting, but a frantic last
attempt to save my life and the integrity of my creative
pulse.." In other words he needed to get out and meet new
people, see new places to get his creative juices flowing again.
The interior of his camper was compact but pretty much complete,
much as many
of our campers are today. He carried with him a
week's supply of food, a number of tools, tow lines, and a
30-gallon tank of fresh water. It's hard to picture America as it
was then. The expressways that many of us travel today to get
from place to place just didn't exist. Everywhere he went he
traveled the two lane roads. His forte seemed to be to get out
and talk to "the common man" at their level. People
accepted him as one of them and talked with him freely about
their lives. Then it was up to him to put these things he learned
down on paper in such a manner as to interest his many readers
which he seemed to do judging from the vast number of books he
sold.
While you're there don't fail to see his boyhood home which is
only two blocks from the Center. The house was built in 1897 and
purchased by the Steinbeck family in 1900, John, was the
third of
four children born in the house. His parents' bedroom is
described in East of Eden.
It was while he was living in this house that he wrote The
Red Pony and Tortilla
Flat. In 1971 a group of Salinas Valley
women raised funds needed to purchase and renovate the home.
Today they operate a gourmet restaurant out of it. All profits
from the restaurant and gift shop (located in the basement) go to
Salinas Valley charities.
If you are interested in getting more information you can call
831-775-4720 or check out their website at: http://www.steinbeck.org.