Monterey, CA Hotels, Vacations, Tourism

Named by the Spanish merchant and explorer Vizcaino in 1602, MONTEREY was not colonized until 1770, founded as the military and admini-strative center of a territory that extended east to the Rockies and north to Canada (with a non-native population of less than seven thousand). By the mid-nineteenth century era of the US takeover and the Gold Rush, Monterey had become a forgotten backwater, hardly affected by the fresh waves of California immigration. Impressive vernacular colonial buildings now stand unassumingly in the compact town center, within a few blocks of the tourist-thronged waterfront. A … more »