A Journey into Steinbeck's California

by Susan Shillinglaw

  5: “the great word sounds …”: JS journal, April 17, 1948, Pierpont Morgan Library (Pierpont Morgan).

  5: “and I think very few will follow …”: JS to Pascal Covici, July 7, 1941, University of Texas.

  6: “The floor of the Salinas …”: JS, East of Eden (New York: Penguin, 1992).

  6: “orange and speckled and fluted nudibranchs …”: JS, Cannery Row (New York: Penguin, 1994).

  6: “Each figure is a population …”: JS, 1932, To a God Unknown notebook, Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries (Stanford University).

  8: “wall of background …”: Long Valley Ledger, Center for Steinbeck Studies, San Jose State University (SJSU).

  8: “I don’t know who the dark watchers …”: JS to Miss Ridley, 1953, National Steinbeck Center (NSC) archives.

  9: “After the valleys were settled …”: East of Eden.

  10: “Behind each story, inside it …”: Joseph R. McElrath, Jr., Jesse S. Crisler, and Susan Shillinglaw, John Steinbeck: The Contemporary Reviews (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 178.

  10: “You know the big pine tree … “: Life in Letters, p. 31.

  10: “Adults haven’t the fine clean …”: JS to Ben Abramson, 1936, University of Texas.

  10: “colors more clear than they …”: Jackson J. Benson, The True Adventures of John Steinbeck, Writer (New York, Penguin: 1984), pp. 325–26.

  Chapter 2

  13: “Strange how I keep …”: JS journal, April 24, 1948, Pierpont Morgan.

  13: “Portuguese and Swiss and Scandinavians”: “Always Something To Do in Salinas,” Shillinglaw and Benson, America and Americans, p. 5.

  14: “the richest community … “: Shillinglaw and Benson, America and Americans, p. 5.

  15: “a kind of local competition … “: Shillinglaw and Benson, America and Americans, p. 6.

  15: “I can remember my mother … “: JS to Dorothy Vera, Salinas Californian, January 11, 1969.

  16: “social structure of Salinas was a strange …” and “blackness …”: Shillinglaw and Benson, America and Americans, pp. 6–7.

  16: “have condemned the action of Japan …”: Clifford Lewis, “John Steinbeck’s Alternative to Internment Camps: A Policy for the President, December 15, 1941,” Journal of the West, January 1995, pp. 55–61.

  18: “a tough little monkey …”: “The Summer Before,” Kiyoshi Nakayama (ed.), The Uncollected Stories of John Steinbeck (Tokyo: Nan’Un-Do, 1986).

  18: “He loved a sense of home …”: Terry Grant Halladay, “The Closest Witness: The Autobiographical Reminiscences of Gwendolyn Conger Steinbeck” (M.A. thesis, Stephen F. Austin State University, 1979).

  18: “I think no one ever had …”: JS to Nelson Valjean, March 13, 1953, Life in Letters, p. 467.

  18: “Wish I had a good farm and a sure crop …”: Mr. Steinbeck to Esther Steinbeck, January 20, 1911, Stanford University.

  19: “In my struggle to be a writer …”: quoted in Benson, The True Adventures, p. 15.

  19: “never knows when to quit …”: Mr. Steinbeck to Esther Steinbeck, October 27, 1910, Stanford University.

  19: “Mother stated …”: JS to parents, March 1926, Stanford University.

  20: “I had a cloth hat …”: JS to Esther Steinbeck, January 9, 1950, Stanford University.

  21: “The novel of Salinas …”: JS to Ted Miller, September 1930, author’s collection.

  21: “practice poetry”: JS journal, 1948, Pierpont Morgan.

  21: “while I am talking to the boys …”: Journal of a Novel, p. 8.

  23: “was a very good listener …”: Glenn Graves interviewed by Pauline Pearson, 1969, NSC archives.

  24: “a perfect example, inside and out”: National Register of Historic Places proposal for historic status, NSC archives.

  26: “name a bowling alley after me …”: JS to Mrs. Radcliffe, December 22, 1957, NSC archives.

  26: “Your charming suggestion …”: JS to Mr. Ward, November 21, 1962, NSC archives.

  26: “no town celebrates a writer …”: JS to “Editors, artists, writers of the Rodeo Edition,” July 25, 1963, NSC archives.

  27: “I voted against it …”: quoted in Herb Caen, “Latest from Lettuceland,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 3, 1969.

  27: “Your only weapon is your work”: Robert DeMott (ed.), Your Only Weapon is Your Work: A Letter by John Steinbeck to Dennis Murphy (San Jose: Steinbeck Research Center, 1985).

  27: “set the cross…”: Winter of Our Discontent, p. 99.

  28: “And do you remember …”: East of Eden.

  30: “He set armed guards over … “: Shillinglaw and Benson, America and Americans, p. 11.

  Chapter 3

  35: “an execrable place at best …”: Stephen Powers, A Walk from Sea to Sea (Hartford, CT: Columbian Book Co., 1872), p. 305.

  36: “the howling wind came through …”: “Fingers of Cloud,” Stanford Spectator, February 1924, p. 149.

  37: “The surges of the new restless …”: Shillinglaw and Benson, America and Americans, p. 320.

  37: “The peak used to be …”: JS to Carl Wilhelmson, 1920s, Stanford University.

  39: “found the old stage road …”: JS to Gwyn Steinbeck, February 17, 1948, Life in Letters, p. 307.

  39: “Some workers testified …”: Court case documents on the short-handled hoe, NSC archives.

  40: “Now if you farmers …” : Quoted in Jim Conway, “Spreckels Sugar Company: The First Fifty Years,” MA thesis, SJSU, December 1999, p. 19.

  40: “the greatest of all undertakings …”: Salinas Index, April 27, 1899, quoted in Conway, p. 30.

  40: “You’d soak the ground in March …”: John Vierra, quoted in Conway, p. 59.

  42: “worked alongside …”: Thomas Fensch (ed.), Conversations with John Steinbeck (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1988), p. 9.

  42: “I have usually avoided using …”: JS to Harry Thornton Moore, March 26, 1939, University of Virginia.

  42: “He saw the quail …”: JS, The Red Pony (New York: Penguin, 1994).

  43: “And then the summer came …”: “The Summer Before,” Nakayama, The Uncollected Stories (New York: Penguin, 1995).

  44: “The oaks had put on new leaves …”: JS, The Pastures of Heaven (New York: Penguin, 1995).

  45: “The view from the ‘Pastures … “: David Ligare, Viewpoint: The Pastures of Heaven: An Exhibition in Celebration of the John Steinbeck Centenary, April 27-August 4, 2002, p. 4.

  45: “It looks so large, especially …”: Author interview with David Ligare, July 2005.

  47: “I would love to have the old place …”: JS to Bo Beskow, April 29,1948, Life in Letters, p. 311.

  Chapter 4

  Unless noted otherwise, all letters in this chapter are held at Stanford University.

  49: “What I do know …”: JS to Belle McKenzie, 1939, author’s collection.

  50: “an institution for the relief …”: Quoted in David Starr Jordan, The Days of a Man: Being Memories of a Naturalist, Teacher and a Minor Prophet of Democracy, Vol. 1 and Vol. 11 (Younkers on Hudson, NY: World Book Company, 1922).

  51: “have a sound practical idea …”: Ibid.

  52: “something in the pioneer tradition …”: Author’s collection.

  53: “You’ll never find …”: Webster Street to JS, author’s collection.

  53: “Neither this person …”: JS to Ruth Carpenter Sheffield, June 1926, Life in Letters, p. 13.

  54: “My tattoo stands up pretty well …”: JS to George Mors, February 25, 1964, NSC archives.

  55: “One should never miss …”: Robert De Roos, “Stanford Greats: Edith Mirrielees,” Stanford Observer, October 1988, p. 19.

  56: “monstrous New York …”: Shillinglaw and Benson, America and Americans, pp. 33–34.

  56: “I was scared …”: Life in Letters, p. 9.

  59: “as a whole, utterly …”: JS to Sheffield, Life in Letters, p. 11.

&n
bsp; 61: “How beautiful …”: Shillinglaw and Benson, America and Americans, p. 15.

  61: “The Caen type of gossip column …”: JS to Mr. Downie, April 12, 1963, NSC archives.

  62: “vague and optimistic …”: Carlton Sheffield, John Steinbeck: The Good Companion (Berkeley, CA: Creative Arts Book Company, 2002), pp. 160–61.

  63: “John and Carol enjoyed participating …”: Sheffield, p. 159.

  Chapter 5

  67: “were coming back from Palo Alto …”: Pauline Pearson interview with Toby Street, NSC archives.

  68: “There was the great Feast of Lanterns …”: JS, “This Is the Monterey We Love,” Monterey Peninsula Herald, July 3, 1946, Sec. 3. p. 1.

  68: “I have been planting …”: Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley (UCB).

  69: “we found ourselves to be in the best port”: Sandy Lydon, Chinese Gold: The Chinese in the Monterey Bay Region (Capitola, CA: Capitola Book Company, 1985), pp. 17–18.

  70: “minds inflamed by moving pictures …”: “John Steinbeck States His Views on Cannery Row,” Monterey Peninsula Herald, March 8, 1957, p. 1.

  70: “Hard, dry Spaniards came exploring …”: East of Eden.

  71: “The Monterey of last year exists …”: Robert Louis Stevenson, Across the Plains (New York; Scribner’s, 1900).

  72: “native Californians of Monterey …”: Lucy Morse, “Monterey, The Old Capital of California,” Noticias del Puerto de Monterey: A Quarterly Bulletin of Historic Monterey, February 2002.

  72: “good people of laughter and kindness …”: JS, foreword to Tortilla Flat, 1937 edition (New York: Penguin, 1997).

  72: “a chronic thorn …” and “truly an institution …”: Earl Hofeldt, “Monterey Paisano Dies,” Monterey Peninsula Herald, November 7, 1957.

  72: “Absolutely, Pilon and me …”: Dudley Towe, “Pilon and Me,” Game and Gossip, January 20, 1958. p. 14.

  72: “I protest Pilon’s arrest …”: JS to Judge Baugh, 1953, California History Room, Monterey Public Library.

  73: “There was always available Pilon …”: “Memoirs of Sal Colleto,” Maritime Museum of Monterey.

  73: “There are so many …”: JS to Annie Laurie Williams, December 8, 1937, Life in Letters, p. 150.

  74: “those in the office representing …”: Del Monte File, California Room, Monterey Public Library.

  75: “These were pretty good people …”: Dennis Copeland, “Susan Gregory’s ‘Tortilla Flat’,” Noticias del Puerto de Monterey: A Quarterly Bulletin of Historic Monterey, February 2002.

  75: “We had a whole lot of fun …”: Towe, p. 14.

  75: “bounded by First and Third Avenue …”: Emil White (ed.), Circle of Enchantment: Big Sur, Carmel, Pebble Beach, Monterey, Pacific Grove (Pacific Grove: Emil White 1964).

  76: “we will startle …”: Ray A. March, “Dali Throws the Party of the Century,” Buying the Best: The Magazine for People Who Love The Monterey Peninsula, pp. 66–68.

  76: “Dali Baffles Best People,” Monterey Peninsula Herald, September 3, 1941.

  78: “splendid gallops …”: Teddy Roosevelt, 1903, Del Monte File, California Room, Monterey Public Library.

  79: “might have grown …”: Mary Austin, Pebble Beach archives.

  81: “There was a great fire last night …” JS to Carl Wilhelmson, Life in Letters, pp. 30–31.

  Chapter 6

  83: “I expect to give myself …”: JS to Kate Beswick, early 1930, Stanford University.

  84: “I must have at least one book …”: JS to Ted Miller, Life in Letters, p. 25.

  84: “Such a nice little place …”: JS journal, February 10, 1948, Pierpont Morgan.

  84: “Sometimes I catch eels …”: JS to Kate Beswick, early 1930, Stanford University.

  85: “I Don’t Like Mr. Hearst …”: Carol Steinbeck, “A Slim Volume to End Slim Volumes,” Center for Steinbeck Studies, SJSU.

  85: “ Nothing mattered but John …”: Helen Worden, “Mrs. John Steinbeck Fights for Her Man,” San Francisco News, August 12, 1941.

  86: “almost an unconscious state …”: JS journal, 1948, Pierpont Morgan.

  86: “when there is no writing …” “foetus …” “my own children …” “satisfaction …”: Life in Letters, pp. 25, 35, 48, 119.

  87: “I think flowers …”: JS to Pascal Covici, September 1948, Life in Letters, pp. 333–34.

  87: “It is a gloomy day …”: JS to Carl Wilhelmson, Life in Letters, p. 30.

  87: “The little Pacific… “: UCB.

  88: “We went to PG …”: JS to Pat Covici, January 1943, University of Texas.

  88: “Must have anonymity …”: JS to Elizabeth Otis and Annie Laurie Williams, March 19, 1937, Life in Letters, p. 138.

  89: “and planted me …”: Almira Steinbeck to Esther Steinbeck, April 10, 1905, Stanford University.

  89: “very wild and full of weeds …”: JS to Kate Beswick, February 1929, Stanford University.

  89: “My garden is so lovely …”: JS to Ted Miller, 1931, Life in Letters, p. 45.

  89: “Pacific Grove and Monterey … “: JS, Sweet Thursday (New York: Penguin, 1996).

  90: “It took …”: Mary Austin, Carmel Cymbal, September 8, 1926, p. 11.

  90: “Belgian shepherd puppy …”: All references to dogs are from Life in Letters.

  91: “It wasn’t all fun …”: “A Primer on the Thirties,” Shillinglaw and Benson, America and Americans, pp. 22–23.

  91: “John went completely …”: Author interview with Marjorie Lloyd, March 1990.

  91: “Minor tragedy stalked …”: JS to Elizabeth Otis, May 27, 1936, Life in Letters, p. 124.

  92: “Abbott nabs brewery …” and all other quotes in this paragraph: Pacific Grove Tribune, 1931-32, Pacific Grove Public library.

  93: “the one who feels …”: Benson, The True Adventures, p. 477.

  94: “mysterious marvel …”: Monterey Peninsula Herald, June 17, 1932, p. 6.

  94: “No, I’m afraid it wasn’t your man …”: JS to John S. Coats, Monterey Peninsula Herald, February 22, 1964.

  95: “Why don’t those men …”: Julia Platt, quoted in Pacific Grove Tribune, 1932.

  97: “Today I have been thinking ….” JS to parents, fall 1927, Stanford University.

  98: “It was wartime …”: Author interview with Red Williams, August 18, 1993.

  99: “Among themselves, when … “ Ricketts, Between Pacific Tides.

  100: “little trailing glasses …”: Sweet Thursday.

  102: “They go out at night and burn fagots …”: C. B. Wilson, “Hopkins Marine Laboratory: Interesting California Institution” (Hopkins scrapbook 1), p. 10.

  102: “The wind is ashore tonight …”: Life in Letters, p. 337. 102: “amazing people …”: Author’s collection.

  103: “I remember it well …”: “John Steinbeck States His View on Cannery Row,” Monterey Peninsula Herald, March 8, 1957, p. 1.

  104: “visited Dohrn’s Marine Station …”: David Starr Jordan to O. L. Elliott, August 13, 1923 (Hopkins scrapbook 1), p. 5.

  104: “It proves a perfect paradise …”: Oliver Peebles Jenkins, “Hopkins Seaside Laboratory,” (Hopkins scrapbook 1), p. 58.

  104: “It is within the scope …” and “bears a very”: W. K. Fisher, “Hopkins Marine Station,” Stanford Review, 1919.

  104: “little known research project”: “Scientists at Hopkins Laboratory also prying into Sardines Affairs,” Monterey Peninsula Herald, February 28, 1941.

  105: “largely for scientific purposes …”: Donation letter, Ricketts folder, Miller Library.

  105: “Quite aside from the aquarium …”: Memo to Mr. Walker from Lawrence Blinks, February 23, 1945, Ricketts folder, Miller Library.

  Chapter 7

  107: “Everyone found himself …”: JS, “About Ed Ricketts,” preface to Log from the Sea of Cortez, 1951 edition (New York: Penguin, 1995).

  108: “mutual interdependence …”: W. C. Allee, Animal Aggre
gations: A Study in General Sociology (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1931) and Cooperation Among Animals: With Human Implications (New York: Henry Schuman, 1938).

  108: “decided that it would be best …”: “Recollections,” Anna Maker Ricketts, Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies.

  109: “had more fun …”: “About Ed Ricketts.”

  110: “a primitive biological …”: Ed Ricketts to Joseph Campbell, April 11, 1947, Stanford University.

  110: “a predictable rhythm in the changes …”: “Marine Station Studies May Aid Local Canneries,” Monterey Peninsula Herald, July 15, 1937.

  111: “I am a water fiend”: JS journal, April 17, 1948, Pierpont Morgan.

  111: “a spiritual streak”: Author interview with Elaine Steinbeck, November 6, 1998.

  111: “I don’t like Yosemite at all …”: JS to Elizabeth Baily, May 1935, NSC archives.

  111: “went up and down the escalator at a major …”: Benson, The True Adventures.

  111: “I consider the last of …”: JS to Harry Guggenheim, April 26, 1966, Harmon collection, SJSU.

  111: “Modern sanity and religion …”: JS to Carl Wilhelmson, Life in Letters, p. 31.

  112: “Always prone …”: JS to Carl Wilhelmsen, August 8, 1933, Life in Letters, p. 88.

  112: “the true things …”: Ed Ricketts, “2 p ms.,” Stanford University.

  112: “not only the ‘beauty’ of ugliness …”: Ed Ricketts, “Non-Teleological Thinking,” Stanford University.

  112: “There were great …”: “About Ed Ricketts.”

  113: “People who are concerned …”: Ricketts’s diary, December 22, 1942, Stanford University.

  113: “I went over there …”: Rolf Bolin, author’s collection.

  113: “Some kind of release of the spirit …”: 1948 notebook, Pierpont Morgan.

  113: “Wouldn’t it be interesting …”: JS to Ritch and Tal Lovejoy, Life in Letters, p. 316.

  114: “our year of crazy beginnings”: Joseph Campbell to Ed Ricketts, September 14, 1939, Stanford University.