Skip to main content

Cannery Row and Monterey Bay Aquarium 2018 versus 1993

By
This past weekend I visited Cannery Row and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  The visit to Cannery Row wasn't anything too out of the ordinary but it was the first time I had been to the Aquarium since 1993. 


My Dad had taken this photo from the middle of Cannery Row looking at the facade of the Aquarium during a family trip to California in 1993.  The real photo is much higher quality, I took a picture of it using an old cell phone camera back in 2010 while looking through family albums in Florida.


The 1993 family trip to California was a foray all the way from Connecticut.  The trip started out in San Francisco and ended in San Diego at the San Diego Zoo.  My Dad wasn't one for the primary roads so largely we stuck to California State Route 1 south to Ventura.  The 1993 included stops at; The Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, The Devil's Slide, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Big Sur, Six Flags-Magic Mountain, Balboa Park, and the San Diego Zoo.

Despite the facade of the Monterey Bay Aquarium appearing as it did in 1993 the interior was vastly different.  Back in 1993 the interior of the Aquarium largely resembled the Hovden Cannery facility which occupied the location from 1916 to 1973.  The Hovden Cannery shut down in 1973 due to the waters of Monterey Bay being over-fished.  The entryway to the Aquarium had some Hovden Cannery displays still in place.




The Monterey Bay Aquarium opened in 1984 at the site of the Hovden Cannery.  The Monterey Bay Aquarium has approximately 35,000 animals on display spread through the 322,000 square foot facility.  By the early 1990s the Monterey bay Aquarium was pulling two million visitors and apparently was the most popular aquarium by foot traffic in the United States.  I seem to recall it being a favorite of my Mom and Sister who really enjoyed the Otters.  The displays are really well done and a lot more well thought out than what I recall from a quarter century ago.








The weather was a little on the gloomy side which obstructed views of the Santa Cruz and Gabilan Ranges from Monterey Bay.


Of course the visit to Monterey Bay Aquarium included a walk down Cannery Row for old times sake.








I went into the history of Cannery Row in far greater detail back last September during another visit to the Monterey Peninsula.  That particular blog entry can be found here:

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2017/09/cannery-row-monterey.html





Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2018 Mojave Road Trip Part 2; The deadly desert highway (California State Route 127 and Nevada State Route 373)

By
After leaving Barstow via Old Highway 58 my next destination was in Death Valley.  To access Death Valley from rural San Bernardino County required a trek on north on Interstate 15 to California State Route 127 which becomes Nevada State Route 373 at the state line. Along I-15 I encountered the road sign oddity that is Zzyzx Road about eight miles south of Baker.   Zzyzx Road is a four mile road that used to go to the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa.   The spa was founded in the 1940s and the owner made up the name "Zzyzx" to claim it was the last word in the English Language.  The spa has been shut down since the 1970s and is now part of a Desert Studies Center for California State University. The southern terminus of CA 127 in Baker is located at I-15 exit 246.  CA 127 is a 91 mile north/south highway which runs to the Nevada State Line in Inyo County.  CA 127 is called Death Valley Road from I-15 northward.  South of CA 127 ...
4 comments
Read more

Finding the Pre-Emption Road of New York State

By
  The Pre-Emption Road (or rather a series of roads named Pre-Emption Road) follows a survey line called the Pre-Emption Line, drawn in the early days of the United States. The story begins with Massachusetts and New York having competing land claims to modern day Western New York State that have their roots in colonial charters granted by the British. After the Revolutionary War ended, this land became the frontier of the nation and its settlement became a priority for the new American government. During this era, there were a lot of competing land claims that needed to be settled. It was no different with the land claims between New York State and Massachusetts. On November 30, 1786, Massachusetts and New York sent representatives to Hartford, Connecticut to resolve their competing land claims. In less than three weeks, the representatives had reached a compromise. Massachusetts would receive pre-emption rights, meaning the right to sell the land after the Indian title ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What's In a Name?: When the Roads Really Do Tell a Story

By
  Our tagline on the Gribblenation blog is "because every road tells a story". Some roads tell different stories than others. Along our travels, we may see historic markers that tell us a little story about the roads we travel or the places we pass by. Some historic markers are more general, as to telling us who lived where or what old trail traversed between two towns. During my travels across New York State and other states or provinces, I pass by many historic markers, some with interesting or amusing references to roads. I wanted to highlight a few of the markers I've seen along my travels around the Empire State and help tell their stories. Those stories may be as specific as explaining the tales of a tree that was used to help measure a distance of eight miles from Bath to Avoca in Steuben County, as referenced on the Eight Mile Tree historical marker above. They may also help point the way along historical roads first used centuries ago, or may help tell a local l...
Post a Comment
Read more