How did Monterey become a multicultural society?
The United States took possession of California in Monterey in 1846 and set in motion a transformation of the economy and society. Ownership of the land changed hands, a new class of merchants and land barons emerged while immigrant Chinese and Japanese joined the working class of Hispanic “paisanos”. The railroad arrived, especially the powerful Southern Pacific Railroad (coincidentally nicknamed “The Ocotopus”) which launched tourism with its “world famous” Hotel Del Monte. Monterey, along with much of California, developed an image and pseudo-history of romantic Spanish times designed to appeal to real estate investors. Beneath the illusion was a restive ethnic population that occasionally made its grievances known. How did Monterey become The Sardine Capital of the World? Although Asian and Italian fishing communities developed from the 1870s onward, Monterey’s legendary Cannery Row began in 1905, first with a salmon fishery and, before long, sardine canneries that would soon trans
