History hums along in Monterey, California, without really trying. It comes from the city’s legacy as the first capital of California, with distinctive architecture to call its own and many historic landmarks and California-centric “firsts.” Visitors looking for sights and sites beyond the world-famous aquarium can savor the relative antiquity of the state’s first Congress house, Colton Hall, where they “built a state from the ground up”; the state’s first theater; and the 1827-vintage Custom House, California Historical Landmark No. 1.
There is something almost pilgrimage-like about popping up to Monterey, a doable 4.5-hour drive from Santa Barbara. The history angle can be a special enticement for us, blessed and cursed as we are by relative youth, state-wise. Any time is the right time to go, but one ripe excuse is coming up: Monterey’s official History Fest weekend, October 13-14.
This real estate is also the historic home of the Monterey Jazz Festival, which celebrated its 61st edition all over the Monterey County Fairgrounds a few weeks back — making it the oldest continuously running jazz festival in the known world. Santa Barbara’s own jazz legend, saxist Charles Lloyd, made a Sunday-afternoon appearance with his party band, the Marvels, on the very stage where, in 1966, he recorded the ultimately million-selling album Forest Flower, which made him a star in both jazz and rock circles.