Cannery Row

Cannery Row is a historic waterfront street in Monterey, California, once home to a thriving sardine canning industry. Originally named Ocean View Avenue, it was nicknamed 'Cannery Row' as early as 1918 and officially renamed in 1958. The area was immortalized in John Steinbeck's Cannery Row (1945) and Sweet Thursday (1954). Monterey's sardine industry began in 1902 when Frank E. Booth bought a cannery near Fisherman's Wharf and started canning sardines. He hired Knut Hovden, a Norwegian fisheries expert, and Pietro Ferrante, an experienced Sicilian fisherman to modernize the cannery's operation and to improve its fish supply. Production surged during World War I due to an increased demand for canned goods, which triggered a boom in cannery construction on the shoreline. At its peak, 30 canneries and reduction plants lined Ocean View Avenue. By the early 1950s, the sardines had vanished and canneries went out of business. The last cannery closed in 1973. Over time, entrepreneurs took over the row, transforming old buildings into restaurants, hotels and stores. The former site of the Hovden Cannery became home of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which opened in October, 1984.