My friends told us that we have to visit the Old Fishermans Wharf in Monterey while on our California road trip. There are restaurants, gift shops, jewelry stores, art galleries, and candy shops. Whale watching tours and fishing trips leave from the wharf, and we saw sea lions hanging out next to the boats, on the pilings, buoys, and moored boats in the bay. This is way cool and noisy. They love to put on a show.
At the entrance to the wharf is Custom House Plaza, the historical center of Monterey. This is the first government building in California and the location where the United States took Monterey from Mexico in 1846.
Fisherman's Wharf was built by the Pacific Coast Steamship Company in 1870 for the loading and unloading of passengers and goods. The wharf was also used by other commercial operations, and the city of Monterey took ownership in 1913. The wharf was expanded through 1920.
In 1923, while an unusually large shipment of sardines was being loaded onto the S.S. San Antonio, bad weather caused the ship to lean on the wharf, and 132 feet of the wharf collapsed. When the wharf was reconstructed, it was extended by 750 feet.
Municipal Wharf II was constructed in 1926. After World War II, the sardine population in Monterey Bay collapsed. With the contraction of the fishing industry, Old Fisherman's Wharf reoriented its business focus toward tourism.
Last, but not least, the adorable area lions.
