Luncheon at The John Steinbeck House: A Visitor’s Guide

The John Steinbeck House is a must-visit destination for any literary travel lover, and if you’ve been wanting to visit, here’s everything you need to know.

Born and raised in Salinas, California, John Steinbeck’s childhood home is still in existence today and remarkably well preserved. Luckily for those of us who love Steinbeck’s novels, you can not only visit the John Steinbeck House but also dine there! 

When I visited San Francisco on a long weekend, I made sure to leave time for a detour down to Monterey and Salinas, not in small part due to the many John Steinbeck sights you can visit there (he has written some of my favorite novels, after all). 

There are several John Steinbeck Salinas destinations for bookish travelers, and today we are going to focus on one that largely flies under the radar — a pilgrimage to the John Steinbeck house for a delicious meal and an insightful tour of the author’s home. 

In this post, I’ll tell you all about Steinbeck’s life at the house, how to visit, and what you can expect there. 

No time to read it all right now? Pin this post and come back to it later! 

Whenever possible, I recommend buying books at local bookshops or through Bookshop.org, because shopping there puts the profits right into the hands of indie bookstores all over the country.

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John Steinbeck’s Life in Salinas

John Steinbeck was born in his family home at 132 Central Ave in Salinas, California, on February 27, 1902. The house itself is charming. It was built in the Queen Anne style with a gingerbread trim, only 3 years before the Steinbecks moved in in 1900. 

Steinbeck was the third of four children. The Steinbecks were a part of Salinas’s middle class, with John’s father, John Ernst Steinbeck, working a variety of jobs to support the family. John lived in his family home on Central Ave from his birth until the age of 19, when he left to attend Stanford University (from which he would never graduate — one of the many John Steinbeck facts that might surprise you!). 

Later in life, Steinbeck and his first wife, Carol, moved back to his childhood home to care for his ailing parents. It was in this house that he wrote his first commercially successful novel — Tortilla Flat, as well as the novella The Red Pony. 

Steinbeck’s childhood was relatively stable and happy, and he had a close relationship with his sisters, Mary and Esther. Most of all, he loved being in the Salinas Valley, which served as inspiration for many of his books and stories. 

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Related: If you like visiting places where authors lived and wrote, don’t miss stopping by the house where Jack Kerouac wrote On the Road in nearby San Francisco.

Visiting the John Steinbeck House in Salinas

The Steinbeck House has had an interesting journey transitioning from the writer’s family home to the minor tourist destination it is today. The Steinbeck family sold their Central Avenue home in the 1930s after the death of John’s parents. Between the 1930s and the 1960s, the home went through periods in which it served as a private residence, a rental property, and then a boarding house for a school. 

In 1974, the Steinbeck House was purchased by a nonprofit organization called the Valley Guild — an organization started by eight local women who loved “gourmet cooking and wanted to showcase Salinas Valley produce.” 

While that’s not necessarily a group you’d imagine who’d be interested in restoring a writer’s house, that’s exactly what they did. The Valley Guild worked to restore the Steinbeck house to how it existed during the Steinbecks’ residence. In 1974, they opened up the Steinbeck House at 132 Central Avenue as a restaurant. 

Today, there are a few ways that you can visit the Steinbeck House in Salinas:

1. Eat lunch in the Steinbeck House restaurant
2. Attend a special event at the Steinbeck House
3. Join a group tour of the house

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Eat at the Steinbeck House Restaurant 

One of the best ways to enjoy a trip to the John Steinbeck House is by eating at the house’s restaurant. As already mentioned, it was a group of women who love gourmet food who were responsible for the house’s restoration and upkeep, so the restaurant itself serves top quality food. 

You can enjoy lunch in the restaurant, which is housed on the main floor of the Steinbeck house. You’ll get to eat in one of three rooms that the Steinbecks lived in, including the family room with a fireplace, where the family spent most of their time. You will be surrounded by Steinbeck family memorabilia, including early editions of Steinbeck’s books, items the family owned, and family photos hanging on the walls. 

The Steinbeck House restaurant serves lunch only, from Tuesday to Saturday as of March, 2024 (as always, verify on their official website before planning your trip!). The menu rotates each month, with menu items designed to feature in-season produce and foods from the Salinas Valley. 

There are options for vegetarians as well as meat lovers, and there’s even a cute kid’s menu called The Red Pony Club, which features dishes like The Tortilla Flat (a quesadilla) and Cup of Gold Sundaes. 

My expectations were pretty moderate when I ate at the Steinbeck House restaurant, as I was there more for the literary travel sight than for the food, but I was dazzled by the delicious lunch. Everything from my salad to my main course to the dessert was flavorful, fresh, and obviously thoughtfully prepared. 

Tips for visiting the restaurant:

• Book your lunch reservation in advance so you don’t risk the chance of missing out
• Come hungry! 
• Check the menu online so you know what’s available (changes monthly)
• Locals get 10% off their bill on Tuesdays

Related: Steinbeck is one of my favorite writers. I even included one of his books on my list of easy classics to read if you’re new to classic literature.

Special Events

The Steinbeck House in Salinas regularly hosts special events that give you the opportunity to visit the house in unique ways. One of the most regular (and most popular!) events is the monthly afternoon tea. 

Each month, the Steinbeck House hosts “Beth’s High Tea Party,” a special affair in which guests can enjoy a pot of their house tea blend and an assortment of traditional afternoon tea foods — tea sandwiches, fruit, scones, quiche, and seasonal desserts. 

The afternoon tea party is typically only offered once a month, with two seatings — one at 11:30 am and one at 1:30 pm. It’s not cheap, priced at $60 per person (comparably priced with afternoon teas in London), but tax and tip are included in the price. Children may also attend for half price.

I wasn’t lucky enough to attend the Steinbeck House on a day when the afternoon tea was being offered, but if your travel dates work out, book as early as you can, as spots fill up very quickly!  

Tour the Steinbeck House

Of course, if you are a John Steinbeck fan, you will want to take a guided tour of the Steinbeck House. The house tour offerings have changed a few times in recent years, but as of March, 2024, house tour details are as follows:

Tours are offered on select Saturdays (largely during the summer months) from 3-5 pm. You must call and book your spot on a tour in advance. 

On the tour, you’ll be able to visit all the rooms in the house, including the upstairs (this is new, as when I visited just a couple of years prior, guests weren’t permitted on the stairs due to a fire code that needed attending to. I’m glad to hear they’ve gotten that sorted out so current and future visitors can go upstairs, where Steinbeck’s bedroom is). 

The volunteer docents are obviously passionate about Steinbeck and their role in guiding you through the house. In each room, they share stories of Steinbeck and his family. You’ll get to visit a parlor that was once John’s parents room (and the room in which he was born — his parents’ bed frame is on display in the gift shop!). 

You’ll get to hear fun stories like how Steinbeck’s sister Esther got married on the staircase, and how John and his siblings were baptized in the parlor. 

Friends loved to come over to the Steinbeck house, because his mother, Olive, would always make them fun treats and was famed for her doughnuts. Friends have recalled having dinner with the Steinbecks, saying it was always lively, and Mr. and Mrs. Steinbeck were always regaling everyone with jokes. 

Upstairs, visitors can now see John Steinbeck’s childhood bedroom, where he first started writing stories in secret and stashing them away without showing them to anyone. Young John Steinbeck was mostly a loner, and he didn’t often invite friends to his bedroom. 

One friend who did get invited in said that it was “austere” and that he kept a real human skull on top of his dresser, though whether or not that’s true is up for debate (John had a habit of embellishment, though as an adult he did enjoy creeping out guests with his pet rat). 

As of March, 2024, tours of the Steinbeck house cost $10 for adults and $5 for seniors. Tours are free for active duty military and discounted for families and for Monterey County residents. 

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Related: John Steinbeck was a fascinating American writer. Read up on these interesting facts about John Steinbeck before visiting Salinas.

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Tips for Visiting

• Parking is generally easy near the Steinbeck House. It’s a quiet residential neighborhood with ample, free street parking. Please be mindful and courteous to those who live nearby.

• If you’re seeing more Steinbeck sights in Salinas, the Steinbeck House is a great place to start. You can park here and walk to the John Steinbeck grave, the National Steinbeck Center, and Downtown Salinas. 

• Make all your reservations in advance. The house is operated by a non-profit and is largely run by volunteers, so their capacity is understandably limited. The best way to find out availability is by checking the website and calling during open hours to chat with one of the house volunteers about your upcoming visit. 

• Make sure you check out the gift shop! The gift shop is located in the basement of the Steinbeck home, with a separate entrance on the side. It’s called the Best Cellar Gift Shop and is one of the best literary gift shops I’ve yet found. In addition to the large variety of John Steinbeck books and merchandise you can buy, there are other items on display down here, like the headboard of the bed in which John was born, a doll house model of the Steinbeck house, and a chair of John’s from his childhood. If you purchase a book here, don’t forget to request to have it stamped with the Steinbeck House logo on the title page! 

• You can also combine your visit to the Salinas Steinbeck sights with a quick visit to Cannery Row in Monterey to see the real-life locations that inspired one of his most famous books

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Getting to Salinas from San Francisco

Salinas makes an easy day or even afternoon trip from San Francisco and is best reached by car (flying in to San Francisco? Easy — book a rental car to make this trip). I went to San Francisco on a literary travel tour, checking out the Beat Generation literary sights as well as scouting out the best San Francisco bookstores, and rented a car to make Salinas and Monterey into a day trip. It was an easy and pleasant drive.

Salinas is about a 1.5 hour drive south from San Francisco, or a 2-hour drive if you want to take a more coastal route along the Monterey Bay. From Salinas, Monterey and the famous Cannery Row are only an additional 30 minutes further.

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Hopefully you are now equipped with everything you need to know to check out the John Steinbeck House in Salinas, California.

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