One Day, One Place: Covering the waterfront, Monterey style
Published 11:05 am, Friday, June 2, 2017
Morning
Old Fisherman’s Wharf can now claim 103 years in existence
A short walk down the Coastal Recreation Trail skirts the same side of the harbor Water +Leaves overlooks, and delivers visitors to the best-kept
Midday
Illuminating State Park-guided tours of Old Monterey’s most interesting old buildings happen summer Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 a.m., 12:30 and 2 p.m., and can include a look at the last whalebone sidewalk west of Mississippi. The Pacific House is where the tours start, near the same spot Commodore John Drake Sloat raised the American flag in 1846 and the oldest government building in California, the Custom House, a.k.a. state
The Pacific House and its adobe walls invite wanders through the memorable museum that occupies part of the upstairs and the entire downstairs — with a grizzly bear that roars, American Indian artifacts, hide-and-tallow education, and a short movie on early Monterey history centering on the California Constitution (signed up the street at Colton Hall).
Afternoon
The former Osio Adobe now hosts the best indie film house in Monterey County, and its conjoined sister spot, snappy-fresh and progressive Cafe Lumiere, serves craft beer and coffee that can be toted in to movies. (
Next door at the Crown and Anchor Pub, the decor is vintage maritime and dripping with character via randy-sea-faring-quote wallpaper in the bathrooms and polished brass and wood everywhere else.
Another option brings on more history:
Evening
When the sun goes down and walking tours are less illuminating, it’s time to tap into the tavernesque spots that feel like they’ve been here forever. Melville Tavern is just 2 years old, but thanks to lots of brick, library-style books, old-world paintings and its never-met-a-stranger approach to service, it feels like the inside of an antique galleon. The green chile burger and $3 beer of the week remain great choices.
Across the street sits legendary dive bar Alfredo’s Cantina, which in turn sits next to the rarely open Robert Louis Stevenson House. Alfredo’s drinks are affordable and stiff, with dice cups and a jukebox on the side.
Alvarado Street Brewery now occupies one of the oldest buildings in downtown, a former movie theater and men’s lodge, transforming a rotting space into a gleaming shrine to Great American Beer Fest medal-winning craft creations. And Restaurant 1833 famously enjoys more history — and ghosts — than any nightlife option, in a sprawling and intoxicating converted home of the same year, with Josh Perry styling intuitive tonics in the apothecary-style bar over a glowing onyx surface.
If you go
Alvarado Street Brewery: 426 Alvarado St., Monterey, (831) 655-2337, www.alvaradostreetbrewery.com, 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday, until 11 p.m. Thursday-Saturday
Lower Presidio Park: Presidio of Monterey Museum, Corporal Ewing Road, Bldg. 113, Monterey, (831) 646-3456, 10 a.m-1 p.m. Monday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 1-4 p.m. Sunday. (831) 521-2313, www.oldmontereyfoundation.org
Melville Tavern: 484 Washington St., Monterey, (831) 643-9525, www.melvilletav.com, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.
Osio Cinema: 350 Alvarado St., Monterey, (831) 901-3119, www.osiocinemas.com
Pacific House: Located in Custom House Plaza, between Fisherman’s Wharf and Portola Hotel, (831) 649-7118
Peter B’s Brewpub: 2 Portola Plaza, Monterey, (831) 649-2699, www.portolahotel.com/peter-bs-brewpub. 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday, 4-11 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 4-midnight Friday, 11 a.m.-midnight Saturday.
Restaurant 1833: 500 Hartnell St., Monterey, (831) 643-1833, www.restaurant1833.com, bar hours: 5-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, until 1 a.m. Friday-Saturday, closed Monday
Water + Leaves: 95 Fisherman’s Wharf, No. 1, www.waterandleaves.com. 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday-Friday, until 9 p.m. Saturday.
The Wharf Marketplace: 290 Figueroa St., Monterey, (831) 649-1116, www.thewharfmarketplace.com, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday, until 6 p.m. Sunday.