The beginnings....

The year was 1956, my family just moved from Monterey to 150 Forest Avenue in Pacific Grove. This was the very first time that I had ever been to Pacific Grove. I would be starting 2nd Grade in the Fall at Robert H. Down Elementary School.

We lived across the street from Jewell Park and spent many hours playing there. At the north end of the park was an old two story Victorian house. Very dark looking like something that you would see in a Hardy Boys episode. An elderly woman lived there and when we played baseball in the park, as we often did, we sometimes would hit the roof or front of her house. This would cause an immediate reaction from the woman, causing us to leave many a baseball or in most cases a tennis ball behind.

Everything I would ever need in the next few years was in a five block radius of my house. There were three grocery stores within two blocks,which included; Top Hat Market, Friendly Market, and Grove Market.

The Grand-Daddy of all department stores, Holman’s, built in 1924, was three stories and had a restaurant on the roof. It was originally the El Carmelo Hotel.


The Grove Theater, one screen, located on Lighthouse Avenue and 17th Street. It showed matinee’s on Saturday with serial episodes of “Rocket Man”. I remember the song “Diana” by Paul Anka being played there prior to each show. The second row is where the boy 6th graders and their girl friends would sit on a Friday or Saturday night to make out. It was restricted to 6th graders.

There was a small candy shop next door to the theater that sold penny candy and of course the Barber Shop on the other side. If you couldn’t find what you wanted there you could always find it at Sprouts Ritz a half block down.

The old Catholic Church was on the corner of Lighthouse Avenue and 17th Street. It encompassed the entire block. The church was used as a backdrop for one scene in the movie “A Summer Place” starring Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee in 1959. It would later be torn down and used for the “Downtown Farm” and subsequently Pacific Grove Plaza.

On Fountain Avenue between Laurel and Lighthouse Avenues was the Pacific Grove bowling alley. On the corner of Lighthouse Avenue and Congress Avenue was the Golden West Pancake House.


Lover’s Point was only two blocks away. The was a salt water swimming pool, snack bar, beach area with a raft floating out in the cove. We had a pier and glass bottom boats. This was where the Feast of Lanterns took place every July. A railroad track ran along to the coast line. We could often be found placing bottles, rocks, and coins on the track to see what the trains did to them.


And of course, there were butterflies…….
These were the memories of my first few years in Pacific Grove. There was always something do. It did feel like a hometown to me at the tender age of 5-6 years old.