Steinbeck Museum

The museum was definitely not what I expected… It was more geared towards children than adults. There were several school groups visiting when I was there, and it was refreshing to see them learning about such a wonderful author and man.

Steinbeck himself, I think, would have been at the least disconcerted by the museum, at the most strongly disapproving. There’s a great passage in Travels With Charley where he speaks of going through Salinas again for the first time in a while and being nonplussed by the various attempts to cash in on his name—important to keep in mind given that he was strongly critical of the landed interests of the town and valley. I think it’s good to honor his name in this case, but even so, his work is a finer testament, while exploring the area on your own will, I think, make his work’s continuing relevance even clearer.

horrible. half the museum is more of a lettuce museum. the rest is cheesy cardboard cut-outs and very little information. don’t waste your ten dollars.