MONTEREY'S MAGIC; THE CANNING OF SARDINES HAS GIVEN WAY TO A THRIVING TOURIST ENTERPRISE.

Byline: Story and photos by Eric Noland Travel Editor

The pearl is still intact. John Steinbeck would be pleased.

That's how the famed American author characterized Monterey at dawn in his 1945 classic ``Cannery Row.'' ``Early morning is a time of magic,'' he wrote, ``when the Row seems to hang suspended out of time in a silvery light. The corrugated iron of the canneries glows with the pearly lucence of platinum or old pewter. . . . It is a time of great peace.''

You can still find the pearl today. Now, as then, however, you just have to get up real early.

The hubbub of Steinbeck's day, generated by a mammoth canning operation that nearly obliterated the sardine fishery along the central California coast, has been replaced by a tourism enterprise that is nearly as vast. Travelers can't seem to resist this charming coastal village 120-some miles south of San Francisco, and for good reason.

It combines a cool, gentle climate with the wonders of a protected bay that now teems with marine life. Along its shores, photo ops - worthy of postcards - abound, Monterey's trademark cypress trees and jumbles of offshore rocks accenting nearly every vista. The understated architecture of downtown, which features numerous adobe buildings dating to Mexican rule in the early 1800s, complements the entire scene.

As a direct result, shops sell everything from shell necklaces to fudge. Waterfront restaurants do brisk business. Rental outlets hawk kayaks, surreys, in-line skates and scuba tanks. Tours of both land and sea are kept busy. But somehow, none of this seems to undermine the attractiveness of Monterey as a destination.

It's in the early morning, before the hordes of visitors descend, that you can really gain a measure and an appreciation of the place - and understand why it proved to be so beguiling to Steinbeck.

Aside from the occasional delivery truck, the streets are deserted. The water laps at the ruins of canning operations abandoned 40 years ago. The air is filled with the screeching of sea gulls (it almost sounds like laughter sometimes), mixed with the barking of sea lions and the noisy cries of crows.

Look out on just about any cluster of rocks offshore, and you're sure to spy sea lions sprawled listlessly - they're clearly not morning types. Take a walk along the Coast Guard pier, and you might see, as I did, a gull wrestling with a starfish it had plucked from a submerged rock. Or an entire convention of pelicans using the rocks at the end of the pier as their private base of airborne operations. Or an otter suddenly appearing from the kelp beds and chomping on breakfast as it glided through the water on its back.

``A deserted time,'' Steinbeck wrote, ``a little era of rest.''

Monterey's appeal does not vanish with the sunrise, though.

Savor it by renting a bike and riding along an abandoned rail bed out toward the lighthouse on Point Pinos, or around the bend and down to Asilomar Beach. Rent a kayak for a paddle-power trip out onto the bay - which is mercifully tranquil in summer. Take a self-guided walking tour of the adobes downtown.

One of the best - and most obvious - places to begin an exploration of Monterey is at its aquarium, which is considered without peer on this coast.

It is housed on the grounds of the old Hovden Cannery. And therein lies a terrific irony: An operation that once treated the sea as a boundless supermarket, wresting as much commercial fish product from it as humanly possible, has given way to an institution that strives to protect the marine ecosystem and educate visitors as to its fragility. A significant stretch of these offshore waters, in fact, is a National Marine Sanctuary.

Best advice: After entering the main doors, pass by the gift shop and an information desk, turn slightly right and cross the hallway to the base of a stairway. Here, next to an enormous wall of glass, is a sign announcing the times of the day's sea otter feedings in this tank.

It's an attraction not to be missed. A biologist stands on a rocky ledge and tosses squid, clams and other morsels into the water. The otters plunge into the depths to retrieve them, then surface to spin onto their backs and chomp on them, cracking shells with their strong front teeth, if necessary.

The exercise usually occurs three times a day (but only once in the morning), and you'll want to plan your visit so as not to miss it. Often, the biologist will join the crowd of visitors afterward to answer questions.

It's one example of how visitor-friendly the aquarium is. In most cases, the water in the tanks is eye-level to a 7-year-old, so youngsters can simultaneously observe activity above and below the surface. Also, volunteers in red jackets are positioned throughout the facility, standing ready to field queries.

``That is a seven-gill shark,'' one said as one of the eerie beasts glided by in a tank devoted to Monterey Bay. ``He always has to swim to breathe. He can't lie on the bottom and pump water through his gills the way those leopard sharks down there are doing right now.''

The volunteers, many of them retirees, are put through intensive 11-week training courses. Once they're sent onto the floor, said one, ``We're told that if we don't know the answer, say so; don't make anything up.''

There are many wondrous sights here. One of the most popular can be found in the Outer Bay room, where luminescent jellyfish and sea nettles move languorously through the water, using a method of propulsion that can best be described as the opening and closing of an umbrella without stays. Most observers seem mesmerized by the scene.

Just opened this past spring is another exhibit area titled ``Mysteries of the Deep.'' It houses some truly bizarre creatures, like the predatory tunicate, an organism that appears to be little more than a gaping, translucent mouth. It lies still on the bottom, the marine version of Venus' flytrap, until an unsuspecting critter swims within range of its deadly maw.

Elsewhere in the aquarium, an interactive kiddie area gives little ones the opportunity to push a button and hear the underwater whistles and moans of a humpback whale, or jerk on a joystick to observe the feeding mechanism of a plastic sea urchin.

In an auditorium, regularly scheduled shows feature a live feed from the aquarium's submersible out in the bay. If the water's clear, you're able to look over the shoulders of the biologists as they work.

Understandably, the aquarium is an enormously popular stop for visitors to Monterey, and when they're finished examining the various creatures of the deep, they pour out onto Cannery Row. The Row stands ready for them.

It's been thoroughly restored since its days of dilapidation in the 1960s. During its commercial heyday, this was a hectic, noisy, frightfully smelly place. Sardines were unloaded from fishing boats, then beheaded, cleaned, stuffed into cans, doused with tomato sauce or oil and steam-cooked through the tin.

Covered walkways over the street linked the waterfront canning operations with upslope warehouses. A railway ran alongside the rear doors of the warehouses, and the canned sardines - some 250,000 tons a year during the peak operations in the '30s and '40s - were loaded into boxcars for shipment.

Today, the stink of rotting fish is long gone, and fresh paint covers buildings that were constructed in the style of the canneries of old. This might be the only place in America, though, where a massive restoration project created a demand for corrugated tin.

In some places, remnants of the former canning operations still stand. Next to the waterfront Spindrift Inn, for example, are crumbling concrete bins that were once used to store sardines fresh from the catch.

The establishments along the Row sell just about everything: chocolates, socks, pizza by the slice, kites, cinnamon rolls, sunglasses, seascape oil paintings, sweat shirts, Christmas ornaments, ice cream, magnets, Thai food, jewelry, sea otter penny souvenirs . . . everything, it seems, but canned fish.

Rumor has it that some local restaurants actually serve sardines - fresh ones, prepared as appetizers - but concerted attempts to find them were futile. At Stokes Adobe, one waiter said the fish, once so plentiful in California's waters, only occasionally show up in numbers sufficient to warrant their appearance in local restaurants.

Other seafood is in abundance in Monterey, however - and isn't it peculiar how you can work up such an appetite at an aquarium, observing albacore circling in tanks, or crabs, clams and mussels clinging to the bottom?

One oceanfront dining option on Cannery Row, Paradiso Trattoria, can be recommended. It's the kind of place where you can build an entire lunch from the soup, salad, appetizer and oyster-bar menus: steamed Castroville artichokes with parsley oil and garlic aioli, New England-style clam chowder, shrimp cakes with sweet and sour sauce, oysters on the half shell. And an extensive selection of draft beer.

As is often the case in such locales, many waterfront dining establishments, because they get steady streams of tourists and don't have to concern themselves with repeat business, are not exceptional.

Accordingly, three excellent fine-dining options in Monterey were encountered well inland. They were Montrio and Stokes Adobe in the downtown district (the former is justifiably proud of items from its rotisserie), and Tarpy's Roadhouse, a stately stone edifice with a delightful patio dining area, situated just outside town on the road to Salinas (Highway 68).

Monterey offers many delights for the explorer.

The Path of History self-guided walking tour follows a two-mile route downtown and takes in important historic sites and gardens. Free map/brochures can be picked up at several locations, including the visitors' bureau desk at the Maritime Museum, 5 Custom House Plaza. Phone: [phone].

In the days of Mexican rule, one-story structures were favored, but that all changed when American consul Thomas O. Larkin began building a home for himself in 1835. He threw up a second story, with a veranda all the way around, and Monterey Colonial architecture was born.

The house, at the corner of Calle Principal and Jefferson, is included on the walking tour. Its grounds also include a building that served as the quarters of William Tecumseh Sherman on a visit in the mid-19th century. It is devoid of exterior plaster, so every detail of the intricate adobe construction is visible. Its walls are two feet thick - essential for cooling in the days before air conditioning.

Also not to be missed are the gardens in the courtyard of the Cooper-Molera Adobe complex (corner of Alvarado and Pearl).

Lush gardens, in fact, are one of the unexpected highlights of the walk. They are found at most homes and many businesses along the route, and it's obvious great care goes into maintaining them. There are bursts of roses, hydrangea, Matilija poppies and agapanthus, as well as mature, gnarled olive and pepper trees that enhance the sense of stepping back in time.

Flowers that reside at the edge of the sea are another Monterey feature. Tide pools can be found at San Carlos Beach, between the Coast Guard Pier and Cannery Row, and, particularly if you have youngsters along, this educational opportunity should not be missed.

At low tide, you can wade out among the rocks just offshore and observe the life that thrives in the tide pools. There is an entire colony of anemones here, some of them as big as salad plates. Yes, they do look just like flowers, but many a tiny fish has made the mistake of attempting to rest for a moment amid those soft petals, only to sense their stickiness, too late, as the anemone folds inward on its meal.

Have your kids gently run a finger along the center of this creature to trigger the effect.

Another excellent way to explore Monterey and its neighboring coastal communities is to rent a bike. Most of the peninsula is flat, so you don't have to worry about any uphill surprises on the ride back.

The rail bed for the line that once served the canneries is now concreted over, creating a wide pathway for bicyclists, walkers, roller-skaters and people pushing strollers. It spans seven miles, including a one-mile stretch south of Cannery Row through Pacific Grove.

Pause to enjoy the park at Lovers Point, then continue south along Ocean View Boulevard and Sunset Drive (the latter has a striped bike path in each direction) for spectacular views of this serene stretch of coastline. At various points, wood benches have been constructed, many beneath Monterey's trademark cypress trees, for unhurried contemplation of the rocks, kelp beds and creatures of the bay.

On the ride back into town, it's natural to reflect on the colorful characters Steinbeck portrayed in ``Cannery Row'' and its sequel, ``Sweet Thursday'': Dora Flood, Doc, Lee Chong, Mack and the boys. They moved on when Steinbeck's imagination did, along with the immigrants and Depression-era drifters who once performed the cold, wet, smelly work of canning fish before the operations shut down for good.

In their place are tourists from points just as far-flung, speaking in many accents and languages as they peer at protected marine life at the aquarium, pick through souvenirs on the Row and leisurely enjoy the many charms of Monterey.

Maybe the visitors of today can't resist the pearl, either.

IF YOU GO

GETTING THERE: By car from Los Angeles, Monterey is a 350-mile drive via Highway 101, for which a traveler should allow seven hours. Several airlines fly into Monterey. With a Saturday stay-over, you can find a fare under $200; without it, the fare can be more than double that. Another option is to fly into San Jose (Southwest's fares from the L.A. area are routinely under $200), rent a car and make the 78-mile drive south to Monterey.

AQUARIUM: It lies at the south end of Cannery Row. During the summer (May 31 to Sept. 6) and on all holidays, it is open 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. The rest of the year, it is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; closed Christmas. Admission is $15.95 for adults, $12.95 for seniors (ages 65 and up) and students, $6.95 for children (ages 3-12) and the disabled. ``Splash Zone,'' a kids-oriented area featuring numerous hands-on exhibits, is scheduled to open April 8, 2000. Phone: [phone]. Web: www.mbayaq.org.

LODGING: Inns of Monterey operates four small, tasteful hotels in the area, with nightly rates generally ranging from $179 to $429 (continental breakfast included), with package stays available. The oceanfront Spindrift Inn, situated in the heart of Cannery Row, was found to be a delightful property, with fireplaces, featherbeds, window seats - and no extra charge for the ocean breezes that waft through the rooms. Street-side rooms can be a bit noisy, however, especially with dance clubs and nighttime construction projects directly across the street, but the hotel staff promptly provided a box fan to help muffle the intrusion. Information on all four hotels: [phone]. Web: www.innsofmonterey.com.

DINING: On the oceanfront at Cannery Row, Paradiso Trattoria (654 Cannery Row) was a pleasant lunchtime option, serving up an extensive array of seafood. A short distance away, in downtown Monterey, excellent dinners were found at both Montrio (414 Calle Principal) and Stokes Adobe (500 Hartnell St.). Tarpy's Roadhouse, on the outskirts of Monterey (2999 Monterey-Salinas Highway), combined some intrguing lunch choices with a comprehensive wine list.

INFORMATION: The Monterey County Visitors & Convention Bureau will mail out a 120-page brochure that includes information on attractions, lodging and dining. Phone: [phone]. Web: www.monterey.com.

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos, Box, 2 Maps

Photo:(1--Color) no caption (Monterey)

(2--Color) Along the waterfront at Monterey's Cannery Row, you can still find crumbling concrete bins that once stored fish for the canning process.

(3) One of the most popular exhibits at the Monterey Bay Aquarium is the Outer Bay room, where visitors tend to be transfixed by jellyfish and sea nettles.

(4) A diver swims through a tank featuring forests of kelp at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The exhibit attempts to mirror the ecosystem found in the nearby bay.

Eric Noland

Box: IF YOU GO (See text)

Map: (1--2) Monterey

Bradford Mar/Staff Artist