Chinese fishermen arrived along Monterey Bay during the 1850s. Yet it wasn’t until 1908 when the first commercial sardine cannery opened. Others quickly followed. These operations thrived during WWI. However, toward the end of WWII, they began to disappear as the fish did. Soon the waterfront was abandoned. In 1968, the Sardine Factory restaurant opened. Then more entrepreneurs converted old buildings like the 1918 Monterey Canning Company into magnets for tourists.
