Monterey Walking Tours & Tour Guide Services

11/17/2024

Just another beautiful day, out with Baxter Beagle

11/16/2024

Salinas, from the approach to MRY. Who else has seen this view?

11/09/2024

Sister City Park

09/06/2024

Sea lions on San Carlos Beach

05/13/2024

The busman's holiday… a self-guided walk through Georgetown.

10/04/2023

Pelicans on a rock

10/03/2023

Before there was a National Park Service, “buffalo soldiers” from the Presidios in Monterey and San Francisco patrolled Yosemite and Sequoia.

07/10/2023

Thinking of the late great Spenser, who was so instrumental in our earliest marketing efforts to get where we are today.

07/07/2023

The most forgotten significant event in American history.

A significant event in the history of Monterey and the United States. The Original Monterey Walking Tours presents the 175th Anniversary of "Sloat's Landing...

07/02/2023

My most recent tour

01/19/2023

The recent partial collapse of an adobe wall at 490 Alvarado St. rekindled my curiosity . Was this building really the home of Juan Bautista Alvarado, as proclaimed by the plaque attached to the wall? I visited the California Room at the Monterey Public Library to investigate.

In 1834-35 Alvarado purchased a parcel of land from his uncle, Jose Vallejo, and built a two-story adobe on the property. Variously described as "his rooms upstairs" and "his office" Alvarado owned the building until 1843, living or staying there for various lengths of time.

Married in 1839, Alvarado bought Rancho El Alisal in the Salinas Valley in 1841, and moved to his wife's family estate in San Pablo in 1848. The Alvarado building was sold to James McKinley, who named it the United States Hotel. Since then the building has gone through a number of owners, businesses and renovations. It is estimated that only about 30% of the original "historic fabric" remains today. Obviously the recent collapse affected that part; time will tell what happens to the remaining original bits.

The building on Dutra - Alvarado's "town house" - was where he kept his mistress, but was never his official residence.

So, what is the answer? I think it is fair to say "the site of the home of Juan Bautista Alvarado".

01/03/2023

When I launched The Original Monterey Walking Tours in late 2010 I was directly soliciting passers-by to take my tour.
These were my first TripAdvisor reviews, which led to the Certificate of Excellence 8 years in a row. Now in the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence Hall of Fame.

11/27/2022

Roberts Beach

11/20/2022

A wonderful morning on Cannery Row

11/03/2022

10/28/2022

A wonderful day on Cannery Row with a lively book club from Modesto.

01/31/2022

Monterey's moon tree is a 35 foot coast redwood.

A collection of tree seeds that went round and round the moon was scattered far and wide back home.

12/18/2021

This is very cool. Proud to be part of the WorldStrides family.

https://www.montereyherald.com/2021/12/18/violin-virtuosas-three-local-high-school-students-are-headed-to-carnegie-hall/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=fb-montereyherald&utm_campaign=socialflow&fbclid=IwAR30s2Bn_FatcnsPATmw_91HHcZYf4szdOMWhiEuCihDBtR3HZwjPGaQyyc

Hosted by WorldStrides, an organization dedicated to providing students international travel opportunities that instill knowledge, culture, and inspiration, the Honors Performance Series was create…