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You can’t really drive through the Salinas Valley of California and not think about John Steinbeck. There were other authors to write about the “everyday man” before him such as Mark Twain and Jack London but Steinbeck really knew how to capture the experiences of the working man. Born in Salinas in 1902, Steinbeck spent most of his life in the Salinas Valley and on the central coast of California before heading to New York. But he always called Salinas home and the town has forever paid homage to the Nobel Prize winning writer. Here are the best John Steinbeck literary sites you should visit the next time you’re there. 

THE BEST JOHN STEINBECK LITERARY SITES IN SALINAS

The National Steinbeck Center

We arrived at the National Steinbeck Center around 10:30am on Saturday morning in January. We parked on a nearby side street but there is a parking garage adjacent to the building (and also plenty of street parking). The center offers educator and military discounts (use those perks when you can!) and the ticket counter is directly to the right as you enter the vast building. We purchased tickets and entered the exhibit space to the left and were quickly aware that we had the entire place to ourselves.

The museum is organized to take you through book by book though not in chronological order. It begins with a large East of Eden display including the 1955 film starring James Dean playing on loop. From here, you wind your way through most of Steinbeck’s work come to life with displays that regularly feature numerous poignant quotes pulled from his novels. About two-thirds of the way through there is a small side gallery that has rotating exhibits. When we visited it had a display on the history of book jackets and showed most of Steinbeck’s first editions with information about the book jacket illustrator. The librarian in me swooned. 

The museum ends with exhibits about his 1962 Nobel Prize and his final book, Travels with Charlie: In Search of America. Here you can view his campervan Rocinante (named after Don Quixote’s horse because Steinbeck’s buddies called his cross-country journey “quixodic”). I cupped my hands to the plexiglass that covers the back of the camper so I could peer in without a glare. Imagining Steinbeck sitting at the little table somewhere in the dusty Sonoran desert or among the densely wooded forests of the PNW with his little dog alongside is enough to send chills through any bibliophile. 

We were alone in the museum until the very end when I noticed one additional couple. What a lovely surprise–especially since I had my small children in tow. I was delighted to learn that the museum was much more kid-friendly than I was expecting. There were all kinds of hands-on and interactive exhibits; coloring pages and crayons, photo props, and a welcoming vintage typewriter with spare pages. At no point were my kids (ages 4 and 6 at the time of visit) bored and even exclaimed at the end how much they loved the museum.

What I learned from moving through all of the exhibits is that it’s good to go in at least knowing who Steinbeck is and to have a general idea of the books he wrote. There is a timeline of his life at the very end of the museum but I found that having this basic understanding was helpful as the exhibits seemed to dive in head first to his books without providing a lot of background information first. Give yourself about two hours to tour the whole museum. There is a small book/gift shop adjacent to the ticket counter. 

The Steinbeck Center is located at 1 Main Street, Salinas, CA 93901. It’s open Wednesday-Sunday from 10am-5pm and closed most major holidays. Ticket prices vary–adult tickets are $15, children 5 and under are free.

The Steinbeck House and Restaurant

To be honest, I was quite skeptical about John Steinbeck’s boyhood home being turned into a restaurant–I don’t know, it just screamed tourist trap to me–but was pleasantly surprised by how lovely my experience was and would encourage anyone to go for a bite after visiting the Steinbeck center. The home and restaurant is an easy five minute walk from the Steinbeck Center; turn right when you exit the building and walk down Central Avenue two blocks (0.2 miles). 

The gorgeous Queen Anne Victorian house is now owned and operated by the Valley Guild. The guild began decades ago by a group of women who had a shared interest in cooking and highlighting Salinas Valley produce. They purchased and renovated the home and opened it as a restaurant on February 27, 1974 (which would have been Steinbeck’s 72nd birthday). All gratuities left to the volunteer waitstaff go towards the preservation of the home–which was added to the National Historic Register in 2000.

As you enter the front doors to the home there is a front room to the left which was originally Steinbeck’s parents room. Though it’s now furnished like a parlor, it was here that he was born on February 27, 1902. You’ll be greeted by the sweet volunteers who run the place and taken to a table in one of the front rooms. We were seated adjacent to a large fireplace and I quickly noticed a photo on the wall of members of the Steinbeck family gathered in front of the same space long ago. 

The menu changes weekly and lunch offerings include a number of sandwiches and rotating entrees and soup. There was a small kids menu called The Red Pony and a box of crayons for my girls. Don’t skip dessert–the brownie pie was a Steinbeck favorite and delighted my family as well. 

Tours of the home are offered on Sundays and during other special events. While we were there on a Saturday, I wasn’t able to venture upstairs but the staff could tell I was interested (I was gently poking my head into the front rooms while trying not to disturb a party gathered for a baby shower) and one of them shared all of the information he had about the lower rooms with me. In the front room with the bay window, the Steinbeck descendants requested that the portraits of John’s parents be switched around so that his father was gazing at his mother and not in the opposite direction.

There is a small corner sink in a side room (with gorgeous green wallpaper that even flanks the ceiling) that Steinbeck’s dad built and installed himself. You see, there was a Jack and Jill bathroom connecting this room–which was the daughters room–to the parents room and Steinbeck’s father was tired of the girls monopolizing the bathroom to do their hair so he installed the sink. Details like this make the house sing with authenticity. 

If you can’t get upstairs, make sure to look at the second story window above what was Steinbeck’s parents room on your walk out to the sidewalk. This was John’s room and it was here that he began writing his novels. 

The Steinbeck House is located at 132 Central Ave. in Salinas and serves lunch Tuesday-Saturday from 11:30am-2pm. There is also a gift shop in the basement of the home that is open from 11:00am-3:00pm. They accept cash and credit cards. Check their calendar for additional special events.

The John Steinbeck Library

From the restaurant it’s a quarter of a mile to the John Steinbeck Library. We hopped in our car and drove but it could be a nice walk after lunch on a sunny day (though I’d walk Main Street most of the way there before cutting over to Lincoln Ave). The library is closed on the weekends but it’s worth a photo stop for the bronze statue of Steinbeck that stands larger than life in the small side yard adjacent to the entrance.

The statue has adorned the library since 1971. It was made by an art student at Cal State, Long Beach and then was donated by the Soroptomist Club of Salinas. What’s curious is that Steinbeck was originally holding a cigarette in his right hand–it was the 70s afterall–and early on an iconoclast hacked it off. Their identity is still unknown. If the library is open when you visit, head inside for the John Steinbeck collection and local history. 

The Steinbeck Library is located is located at 350 Lincoln Ave. in Salinas and is open Monday-Friday (hours vary). 

John Steinbeck’s Gravesite

Once you’re done at the library, it’s two miles over to the Garden of Memories Memorial Park. I wouldn’t have even thought to come here had I not asked the museum aid what she thought about any other Steinbeck places not to miss in Salinas. So this is your reminder to always ask the locals what they think. It was also helpful because she told me he was in the Hamilton plot. Until we got there I thought this was the section of the section of the cemetery he was buried in but no, it’s the actual plot. The Hamilton’s were Steinbeck’s maternal family members. 

Depending on how you enter the cemetery, you’ll want to park about halfway down John Steainbeck Way (all of the streets are well signed). From here walk west. Sadly, you’ll pass through a children’s section before you make it to the Hamilton plot–and Hamilton is what you should be looking for, as all of the Steinbeck markers are flush with the ground.

What struck me was how unassuming his grave is. People have left pencils and small items that I’m sure are cleared away every once in a while but his final resting place seems so common–much like the characters in his books. If you’re looking for bigger and flashier headstones you’re bound to miss the giant lying beneath your feet.

FURTHER READING: After you’ve read the classics like Of Mice and Men, East of Eden, and The Grapes of Wrath you might want to learn more about what drove Steinbeck’s writing. Try Mad at the World: A Life of John Steinbeck, a biography by William Souder.

Hope you enjoyed the best John Steinbeck literary sites in Salinas! Think I missed something? Please let me know in the comments.