Our Monterey logo carries California's grizzly bear and lone star above “California Republic — Est. 1850,” the shared retro emblem of our California places, drawn in worn black-and-white like an old crate label or cannery stamp. The 1850 marks the year Monterey was incorporated as a city — the same year California became a state. The bear is the through-line that links Monterey to every other California town we make; what makes this one Monterey is everything around it — the first capital, the adobes, the canneries, and the bay.
Monterey is the Adobe Capital of California, and the proof is still standing. The 1794 Royal Presidio Chapel is the oldest building in town and the first architect-designed building in California. A short walk away runs the Path of History, a trail of thick-walled adobes from the Spanish and Mexican decades — the Custom House, California's oldest government building, where the United States flag first rose over the territory; Colton Hall, where the constitution was written; the Larkin House and the Cooper-Molera adobe. The low, deep-eaved Monterey-Colonial style was born here, and it carries the town's name to this day.
Why People Visit Monterey
Monterey rewards visitors who want the original California — the first capital, a town of 18th-century adobes, and a deep, wild bay. People come for the Path of History and Cannery Row, for Point Lobos and the marine sanctuary, and for an easy, scenic stretch of Central Coast where Spanish-colonial heritage and a famous waterfront sit side by side.
