John Steinbeck House (Salinas)

Built in 1897, this Queen Anne Victorian at 132 Central Avenue is where John Steinbeck was born in 1902 and where he wrote his first short stories and completed *The Red Pony* and *Tortilla Flat*. The Valley Guild, a nonprofit established by civic-minded women, bought the house from the Catholic Diocese of Monterey in 1973 and opened it as a lunch restaurant the following year. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. Tours run on Sundays through the summer.