With the sardine canneries that used to line this waterfront long gone, Cannery Row is now firmly on the local tourist trail, which is anchored by the pricey, but prestigious, Monterey Bay Aquarium. Even so, this is a pleasant place to wander - many of the original buildings remain intact and now house boutiques and restaurants, and there are sweeping views across the bay. One focal point is the new bronze monument celebrating American writer John Steinbeck and other local heroes and entrepreneurs credited with reviving the locale following the collapse of the sardine industry. The street was renamed after Steinbeck's famous novel, Cannery Row, which is set in Monterey during the Great Depression in the thirties.
