Cannery Row is the waterfront
street in the New Monterey section of
Monterey, California. It is the site of a number of now-defunct
sardine canning factories. The last cannery closed in 1973. The street name, formerly a nickname for
Ocean View Avenue, became official in January 1958 to honor
John Steinbeck and his well-known novel
Cannery Row. In the novel's opening sentence, Steinbeck described the street as "a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream."