Salinas

By 1880, Monterey County had a population of 11,309. The Hotel Jeffery, pictured here on the right, opened on New Year's Day in 1888.
Monterey County's first "horseless carriage" arrived in Salinas in August 1900. The Salinas Electric Works, owned by proprietor W.D.
Evans, is across the street from the Hotel Jeffrey circa 1920s. Click the image to see the full resolution version. From Facebook's
Salinas History page.

Central Avenue around 1920. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

Fox Theater, 1929. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

The 300 block of Main Street looking north in the 1930s.

The courthouse on West Alisal.

The water tower on clay street, 28 August, 1931. My mother was born and lived on Clay Street near there. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

The Jeffery Hotel in the 1930s. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

Map of Salinas, 1935. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

Map of Salinas, 1935. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

El Rey Theater.

Hotel Jeffery advertisement, 1946.

Valley Center on South Main, 1947. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

The YMCA on Clay Street. My brothers and I used to do summer day camp and swimming lessons there. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

Aerial photograph looking east, 1949. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

The county courthouse on West Alisal.

County courthouse and Salinas Californian building, 1949.

Map of Salinas, 1950. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

Lucky supermarket, that Mom, who shopped there, called "Lucky's". An anchor store of Valley Center on the south. The big sign
was one of the first things you saw when driving into Salinas on the Monterey Highway.

Salinas is the home of the California Rodeo (pronounced Row-Day-Oh). The Rodeo Grounds in 1954. North is to the right.
Click the image to see the full resolution version.

Mel's Drive-in, 1956. Notice the inverted roof. Hence, "Valley in the Sky," an allusion to the Salinas Valley as a whole.

March 1957--"Equipment and air compressors from four Salinas contracting firms were put to full use on Saturday, March 23 when
union painters donated their time to paint the entire seating section of the grandstand, and the fences from the stands to the
outfield walls. Municiple Stadium could be the nicest in the League, with new paint and a completely worked over playing field.
The city again has waived payment of the scheduled reimbursement for work done when the team entered the League in 1954."
--Sporting News photo. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

Aerial photo, 1957.

Hotel Jeffery map, 1958. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

The Jeffery Hotel on Main and Alisal, undated photo. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

Andersen's Cycle and Key advertisement in the Salinas Californian, date unknown. John Andersen was a classmate of my mother's and
he survived the Bataan Death March.

Inside Toys Galore on South Main. Unknown date and source. The red and white check pattern was their trademark.

Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, June 1960. My dad would take me on his rounds there sometimes.

The John Steinbeck Library on San Louis Street. I lived across the street from it for a while after high school.

Aerial photo, 1961. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

The Salinas Californian, June 9, 1961. I used to deliver about a hundred copies a day of that paper, for a short while.

Mel's Drive-in, 1962.

Mel's Drive-in, undated.

Foster's Freeze, known for cones, milkshakes, hamburgers, and french fries, across the street from the high school, south side.

Aerial postcard 1965. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

Becky's Burger Pit at Willow Street, across from the High School bell tower, 1965. It later became the Peppermint Stick.

The Arroyo Seco River flows into the Salinas River near Greenfield just up the Salinas Valley from Salinas.
The campground in the hills above Greenfield is a popular get-away for Salinas residents.

A swimming hole in the Arroyo Seco River.

Rodeo poster by Bruce Ariss, 1967.

The Salinas High School class of '67 panorama photo.

The Salinas High School class of '67 panorama photo detail. That's me in the center rear.

Me on my birthday in 1969.

Salinas fields and hills. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

The Fox Theater in 2009. I saw many Saturday matinees there as a child.