, built in 1855, is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the
West Coast of the United States. The first people to inhabit Pacific Grove were members of the Ohlone Rumsen tribe who lived between Big Sur and San Francisco since the 6th century CE. Grinding stones from this tribe still exist in Pacific Grove. The area later became part of the Mexican land grant
Rancho Punta de Pinos. The second group of people to come to Pacific Grove were Chinese immigrants as early as 1853. They established a successful fishing village at Point Alones, an area between Lover's Point and the western edge of Monterey. The Chinese were the first to recognize the potential for commercial fishing in the
Monterey Bay. Others quickly saw the benefit, however, and eventually pushed the Chinese from their daytime fishing grounds. Being resourceful, they began fishing for squid in the night, thus beginning California's squid fishery – now one of California's largest fisheries.’ By 1859 the property this village sat on belonged to
David Jacks (businessman) who owned almost the entire area of the Monterey Peninsula. Jacks sold the property to The
Pacific Improvement Company which attempted removal of the Chinese American community in 1905 due to several development interests including Stanford University on which Hopkin's Marine Station now sits. In 1906 there was a fire at the village and during the battle to save the village a firehose was suspiciously cut thereby causing it to completely burn down. The families, without a village to call their own, soon dispersed throughout the region.’. there were many positive interactions with the summer Methodist Camp, later to be the town of Pacific Grove. The Methodist women taught English at the village and no doubt fish would have been purchased. Also, a lighted boat parade originally put on by the Chinese fishermen at the closing of the Methodist summer camp was a tradition which continued until a few years ago. The city of Pacific Grove originated as a Methodist Christian seaside resort. In 1874, Reverend J.W. Ross, a Methodist minister and his wife, visited the area and decided it would be an ideal location for a proposed Methodist Retreat. The pine, oak and cypress trees, along with many varieties of wild plants and flowers, made Pacific Grove an attractive place for camping. On June 1, 1875, the Pacific Grove Retreat Association was formed in San Francisco to administer the Christian Seaside Resort in Pacific Grove. The Pacific Improvement Company (which later became Del Monte Properties) and David Jacks provided the land for the Retreat area. This Retreat Area, as surveyed at that time by St. John Cox, covers the area from the Bay up to Lighthouse Avenue and from First Street to Pacific Avenue. In November 1879, after the summer campers returned home,
Robert Louis Stevenson wandered into the deserted campgrounds: "I have never been in any place so dreamlike. Indeed, it was not so much like a deserted town as like a scene upon the stage by daylight, and with no one on the boards." The Pacific Grove post office opened in 1886, closed later that year, and was reopened in 1887.
Thomas Albert Work built several of the buildings in Pacific Grove, including the three-story Del Mar hotel in 1895, at the corner of Sixteenth, and in 1904 he built a commercial block along Lighthouse Avenue to house local businesses, including the two-story
Romanesque-style Bank of Pacific Grove. , built in 1887, was Pacific Grove's first hotel. Pacific Grove, like
Carmel-by-the-Sea and Monterey, became an artists' haven in the 1890s and subsequent period. Artists of the
En plein air school in both Europe and the United States were seeking an outdoor venue with natural beauty, and Pacific Grove became a magnet for this movement.
William Adam was an English painter who first moved to Monterey and then decided on Pacific Grove for his home in 1906. At about the same time,
Eugen Neuhaus, a German painter, arrived in Pacific Grove with his new bride. Charles B. Judson was an artist of aristocratic lineage who painted in Pacific Grove over a long time beginning in 1907; Judson's
murals decorate the halls of the
California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. The
Asilomar Conference Grounds are located at the western edge of Pacific Grove. Asilomar opened in 1913 as a YWCA summer retreat; it now belongs to the
California State Park System. Thirteen buildings on these grounds were designed by architect
Julia Morgan, who also designed
Hearst Castle. Taken together, the construction of Holman's Department Store, the Grove Theater, and the
Forest Hill Hotel embodied the vibrant optimism of the 1920s. During this era, Pacific Grove witnessed a growing accessibility to automobile tourists and a rising population of year-round residents. Additionally, two of these structures exemplify significant architectural trends of the period, as both the Grove Theater and Forest Hill Hotel feature elements influenced by
Spanish-style design. This stylistic shift was echoed in other commercial buildings as well, including the transformation of the Hotel Del Mar. Around the same period, it underwent remodeling to adopt the
Mediterranean Revival style, marked by stucco cladding and distinctive red tile embellishments. , 1917. For a number of years,
John Steinbeck lived in a cottage in Pacific Grove owned by his father, Ernest, who was Monterey County treasurer. The cottage still stands on a quiet side street at 147 11th Street, without any plaque or special sign, virtually overlooked by most Steinbeck fans. Another Steinbeck-related house is at 222 Central Avenue, which was his grandmother's house. A golden statue of Steinbeck in the front yard stood for years before it was removed. In Steinbeck's book
Sweet Thursday, a chapter is dedicated to describing a (probably fictional) rivalry that arose among the town's residents over the game of
roque. Local traditions include a Butterfly Parade held in early October to celebrate the return of the
monarch butterfly to its wintering habitat. Mid-April, a Good Old Days festival is held downtown, which includes rides, crafts booths, food, entertainment, and a parade. On the last Saturday of July there is a pet parade. Candy Cane Lane is a neighborhood of Morse Drive and Platt Park that is decorated for Christmas each December with an abundance of lights and decorations. Candy Cane Lane has been a local tradition for more than 60 years. style Forest Hill Hotel in 1923.
Hopkins Marine Station maintains a campus next to the
Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was founded in 1892, originally at the site of Lover's Point, making it the oldest marine laboratory on the US Pacific Coast, and the third-oldest in the US. Created after the
Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. It was originally named the Hopkins Seaside Laboratory, and was located on what is now Lovers Point. It was relocated to its current site at Point Alones. In the 1980s, Pacific Grove was the site of the pioneering microcomputer software company
Digital Research. Originally located in Gary Kildall's house on the corner of Lighthouse and Willow, it later moved to offices on Central Avenue. On October 12, 1997,
John Denver died when he crashed into the
Pacific Ocean off Pacific Grove in his personal plane. Pacific Grove was the last
dry town in California. Due to the city's religious and gated history, alcohol was not served to the public until July 4, 1969, at the grand opening of the Pacific Grove Art Center by ElMarie Dyke, its founder. This caused much controversy because the law was not to take effect until November of that year. Ironically, ElMarie was also a great proponent for keeping the town dry. To this day, Pacific Grove has very strict laws regarding the service of alcohol and has no stand-alone bars. At the November 6, 2018, general municipal election, Pacific Grove voters approved Measure M, which prohibits short-term vacation rentals in residential districts outside the Coastal Zone. ==Geography and ecology==