McAbee Beach - Monterey's Chinese Fishermen

A stop on Monterey Cannery Row and Waterfront, a free self-guided tour.

This tiny pocket of sand between the buildings holds a big story. In the late 1800s, Portuguese whalers launched boats from here. Later, John B. McAbee bought the land and rented boats, tents and cottages to visitors.

Chinese fishermen were among the first to fish Monterey Bay commercially, harvesting abalone, fish and squid long before the canneries. Their largest village stood on Point Alones, near where the aquarium is today. After fire destroyed that village in 1906, part of the community moved to this beach, where a smaller Chinese settlement lasted into the 1920s, until the growing sardine industry took over the waterfront. Accounts differ on how willingly they came; some say they were pushed out of Point Alones by the land's owners.

Look for the mural and the interpretive markers that remember the Chinese fishing families, and peer down at the beach where their boats once pulled ashore.

Getting here: Walk northwest along Cannery Row for about five minutes; the small beach is tucked between buildings on the water side.

Did you know?: Squid drying lived on along this shore: in 1924 Won Yee, owner of Wing Chong Market up the street, started his own squid drying business.

Photo op: From the overlook, frame the little beach and the rocks with the open bay beyond.

More on Wikipedia: Chinese Americans · Monterey Bay

McAbee Beach - Monterey's Chinese Fishermen

Stops on this tour