Author: JD Conway
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 0738524239
The following interview was conducted by: NORM GOLDMAN: Editor of Bookpleasures.com
Today, Norm Goldman, Editor of Bookpleasures.com is honored to have as a guest with us, Jim (JD) Conway, author of Monterey: Presidio, Pueblo and Port (The Making of America Series). Jim is in addition to being a historian and genealogist, the museum coordinator for the city of Monterey.
Good day and thank JimYou for your willingness to participate in our interview.
Norm:
Jim You can find us something about your personal and professional background. What are you looking responsibilities as coordinator for the Museum of the City of Monterey?
Jim:
Standard Thank you for your interest in my book. Since the city of Monterey Museum is co-ordinator I am responsible for the city include museums with important cultural activities.
We have 4 museum facilities:
*** Colton Hall, which was launched in 1847and graduated in 1849. It was the site of the Convention in 1849, is where California became a state
*** Presidio of Monterey Museum. Located in the heart of the Lower Presidio Historic Park, located with some of the historic 26-hectare land in all of California. The museum traces the city military heritage through the Spanish, Mexican and American time.
*** The hotel is located on Cannery Row, we have 3 "workers cottages" to interpret life for theSeasonal workers who contributed to the Monterey sardine capital of the world.
*** On the other side of the road from the cabins on Pacific Biological Lab is that was the home, office and laboratory by Edward Flanders Ricketts, Steinbeck immortalized as the Doc. The city also has an extensive art collection, which I supervise.
I was born in Hope, Arkansas, grew up in southern New Mexico and attended the University of New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico, where I studied history andPolitical Science.
I like to say that after four years at college I spent another 4 years in the Marine Corps, where I was standing and education, including a tour in Viet Nam. After the Marines, I worked as a logistics and warehouse manager for many years. As stated in the deed to the business, which was brought me to Monterey County, where I worked for the Spreckels Sugar Company. That was about in a time warp. We lived in the city with businesses generations of employees whoCompanies had worked. It was quiet an experience, and when I went back to graduate school in 1997, was my dissertation on Spreckels and first fifty years in the Salinas Valley. While working for the Sugar Company, I became interested in family history, went back to school with classes in genealogy and rekindled my passion for history.
After receiving my MA in history form the San Jose State, I went to work for the City of Monterey as a museum guard and scientific staff. Innext 6 years my duties expanded to include all the museums and cultural art activities. But at heart, I am a historian. I am married and have two grown children and two great children.
Norm:
As you are interested in the history of Monterey and what you are forced to write to Monterey: Presidio, Pueblo and Port?
Jim:
When I first came to the city, my boss asked me to Monterey's history between 1849 research by the end of the Constitutional Convention and1880, the opening of the Hotel Del Monte. What I found was that this time had been much neglected by historians. And much of what information they may not have been, to a prevailing notion that Monterey had been during the gold rush came, and was "a Mexican village with no ambition," said one prominent California historian. The more I researched, the more I realized that an updated history of Monterey was needed. New findings, new research and interpretation have been redefinedMonterey, and needed to be told this story.
Norm:
What should be the major historical sites you visit or browse when you visit Monterey, and why are they important?
Jim:
Monterey has such a checkered past that the choice is personal preference attractions.
*** If those are the original inhabitants of interest or the Spanish and Mexican times, then the historic Old Town is the place to be.
*** The path of history offers visitors the opportunity to visit all the historicalBuildings and sits, which make up the historic district.
*** On the way there is the Cathedral of San Carlos, one of the oldest European building in California, and is still used today. I think that is a must.
*** I may be biased, but the lower Presidio Historic Park was the site of one home village 2000 years before the arrival of the Spaniards. It is also the place where Vizcaíno landed in 1602 and where Father Serra and Captain Portolá met in Monterey on the 3rd June 1770 found. Withinthe park is the only location in California, where a land and sea battle was fought, and the site of the first American fort in California, and preferably all on the west coast. And it takes only one to take the year 1846 with many more on the American. Did I mention that some of the best views are on the bay from the park?
*** If you do not want to miss is bound to promote the interest of the literary history of Steinbeck, it is Cannery Row. I like the challenge of visitors when they encounterCannery Row and try to distinguish between the literary stories and the actual events and places, from the canning and fish processing plant. Monterey has museums and art galleries that can keep the youngest, the oldest person of interest.
Norm:
When is the best time to visit Monterey, and why?
Jim:
Another difficult question. If there is good weather you are looking for, I would suggest the case. However, during the summer months (the problem is not cool hot) moreCelebrations and activities underway. But if you miss a lot of the masses December to April, the best of times.
Norm:
As the history of the Monterey differ from other neighboring areas such as Caramel, Pacific Grove, Salinas, etc?
Jim:
They all begin to come to Monterey and then branch off with their own identity. Salinas' story is with agriculture, which is a little different than the communities that surround the peninsula makes relatedMonterey. This is not the only story to tell in Salinas, is agriculture, but it is the cornerstone of their existence. Pacific Grove came earlier than Caramel. It began as a Methodist Church retreat in the 1870s and has maintained an identity as a seaside village with a very sober and hometown atmosphere. Carmel-By-The-Sea was an artist colony, was the prominent artist with California after the earthquake in San Francisco 1906th It developed into a bohemian flare that you spread,Coast to Big Sur. One of the best things about Monterey and the surrounding communities is the truth of the cultures and the unique role that they have developed to explore this area more than just a one-dimensional situation.
Norm:
As historians have noted and interpreted history of Monterey and believe that their perceptions are correct?
Jim:
I love this question. Without a complete history of Monterey, I would say that soonerInterpretations have been overly romanticized and were often investigated without being repeated. Where they are often one-dimensional, just look at one aspect of a topic, without any other elements that contributed to a complete balanced picture.
A good example is the period from 1850 to 1880, as most historians say, Monterey was in decline with no civic ambition or economic base. That is just was not quite right. Yes, there were cyclical fluctuations in Monterey, but suffered from any city in Californiathrough the same problems. If you are at what the Chinese were seen perform locally during that period, Monterey was better off than many communities.
Too often in the history of Monterey, we have ignored the contributions of different cultures. The study of history has changed in the last 30 to 40 years, today we look at more cultures, gender and class in our interpretations and that gives us a whole story. I suspect that in 30 or 40 years, another historian canCriticism of my work on the basis of new sources and techniques that have evolved.
Norm:
You mention in your book, the Monterey culturally connected with his native heritage, but this connection remains secondary to its Euro-American past. Why do you think this and how it is today as evidence?
Jim:
The Native People of Monterey, known as Rumsien does not have a written language, much of what we know of them as recorded by the missionaries and a few oralStories passed down through the generations. To survive, the Native People intermarried with the Spanish and Californios and they are the ones who have ignored the history is often written legacy of their own mother tongue. We know that the descendants of these first settlers still live in the area, and is the connection Monterey has to create its native heritage.
Norm:
What is the origin of the Seventeen Mile Drive and you could briefly describe this tourist attraction?
Jim:
In 1880,Charles Crocker opened the Hotel Del Monte. It was known as "the most elegant seaside resort facility in the world." Presidents, kings, were businessmen and celebrities from around the world to enjoy the hotel and all its amenities. One of the attractions was a drive or ride through the Del Monte Forest and along the picturesque coast of the peninsula. The original 25-mile loop started at the hotel and ran out to the hunting lodge at Pebble Beach. Today the hotel is the NavalPostgraduate School and the Lodge is the Lodge at Pebble Beach.
Norm:
I understand that the beginning of October in Monterey festival with a story. What is it anyway?
Jim:
The Monterey History and Art Association, California State Historic Park and City of Monterey, as part of their agreement to promote the history of Monterey's history festival sponsors. It is a means of promoting the multiple layers and various aspects of Monterey's past. There are exhibitions and programsenlighten and educate, that visitors and locals on the history of Monterey's. Other organizations, such as military bases, Historic Garden League and cultural groups, please visit us at this celebration.
Norm:
What is the historical significance of Cannery Row?
Jim:
After the turn of the century (20.-century) Monterey experienced growth in 3 areas. First, tourism was in connection with the Hotel Del Monte. Second, the return of the army on the Monterey Military Reservation,now know as the Presidio of Monterey and third, the expansion of the fishing and canning industry. After the First World War the demand for sardines to contribute an entire industry for ever the fish from the sea to the customer. Not only was there a canning factory, but the innards were in fertilizer, chicken feed, fish oil and turned all sorts of other needs.
Because the odor was associated with the rendering facilities so strong, the canning factories were moved away from the city and the Hotel DelMonte along the boardwalk at Ocean View Avenue.
It was from this industry, blue collar, neighborhood, found his inspiration for Steinbeck Tortilla Flats, Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday and East of Eden. So the importance of today is twofold. One, it was the location for the fourteen canneries that out of line. And secondly, it has joined a literary history with John Steinbeck.
Norm:
They show in your conclusion to your book, which is now at a crossroads in Montereybefore, as he look at the development, water restrictions, traffic congestion and the cost of living. Could you briefly a little closer?
Jim:
The points you mentioned, in all the communities on the Monterey Peninsula. How these issues are dealt with on the spot the next important chapter in the history of Monterey's. For the city of Monterey, each of these topics the potential to completely change, is considered as Monterey, or will be considered in the future. What kind ofDevelopment will be allowed, as we use our limited water supply, such as young families afford housing, where even the smallest cottage goes for $ 800,000, as we will help answer these questions our history to manage.
Norm:
Is there something you want to add that we are not covered, and what is for Jim Conway's next?
Jim:
I think we have covered a tremendous amount of ground. I hope that I have been able to afford a glimpse into the past, Monterey, and a certain interest in creatingin the future. It is an exciting place to be a historian, and I look forward to it with those who discover their heritage.
Next for Jim Conway is a book about the California Constitutional Convention to be held in Colton Hall. It is surprising that more was not done on this important event, especially if you put it in context with the events in the entire United States at this time. But do not expect in the near future, as I have it around my full-time workWorkload in the city. And the workload is exciting in its own right.
Thanks again, Jim
To read Norm's Review of the book click bookpleasures.com
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