For History Buffs Only
City
Gains Cannery Row Squid Industry Records | The
Who Behind Simoneau Plaza
City Gains Cannery Row
Squid Industry Records
A collection of Cannery Row Squid Industry Records from 1924-1936
has been added to the the Monterey Public Library archives.
The
records include those from the Wing Chong Company, owned and operated by
Won Yee (on whom John Steinbeck based his character of Chinese grocer Lee
Chong in the novel Cannery Row). They document the important role of the
Chinese community in the dried squid industry in Monterey’s fishing
economy.
The collection also contains work records of squid industry
employees, including that of Harold “Gabe” Bicknell, who Steinbeck
identified as the basis for the character of “Mack” in Cannery Row. With
its historical value and literary associations, this collection is
important to the preservation and interpretation of Monterey’s cannery and
fishing heritage.
The Cannery Row Squid Industry Records were donated
to the Library’s California History Room archives by Frances Yee, owner of
the Wing Chong Store.
For more info about this collection or about
donating to the archives, call Library Archivist Dennis Copeland at
646-3741 (copeland@ci.monterey.ca.us).
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The Who Behind Simoneau
Plaza
Simoneau Plaza, informally known as Monterey’s transit center, was
the site of Jules Simoneau’s restaurant in the nineteenth century. He
befriended the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson who visited here in
1879, and they remained friends for the rest of their lives.
The City,
the Robert Louis Stevenson Club of Monterey and California State Parks
have been working together to help tell the story behind the Plaza.
As
a result, an information marker that includes photographs of Simoneau and
Stevenson and quotations from Stevenson’s writings was placed at the Plaza
this fall. A painting of Simoneau and Stevenson playing chess, which faces
the street, was painted by local artist N. J. Taylor.
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