We revisit the moments in Monterey County that grabbed our attention this year.

January

Jan. 6

Barbara Shipnuck, the first woman to serve on the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, dies at 79. She was first elected in 1978, then age 36, and was re-elected three times. She was a champion for health care, among other issues, and led the charge to get critical funding for Natividad, the county hospital. In July, the Board of Supervisors voted to rename Building 400 of Natividad in Salinas as the Barbara Shipnuck Professional Center.

Jan. 7

The Monterey County Historical Society announces it will be the recipient of a voluminous collection of photographs and ephemera from the late photographer and collector Pat Hathaway, who died in 2021. After a brief court battle over who would become the administrator of Hathaway’s estate – with local historian and longtime friend Kent Seavey prevailing – the collection of 80,000 images was delivered to the nonprofit Historical Society in Salinas.

The organization plans to digitize the collection and make it all available to the public, for free. Roughly 60 percent of the images are from Monterey County, and date back to the 1880s. “You rarely find a collection intact,” Seavey says. “In this instance, not only intact, but serialized.”

Jan. 16

Longtime Pebble Beach Company co-chair Richard Ferris dies at age 85. In 1999, Ferris, the former CEO of United Airlines, joined former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, golf legend Arnold Palmer and actor Clint Eastwood to acquire the Pebble Beach Company from Sumitomo Bank for $820 million. (Ferris would go on to serve as co-chair of the board for over 20 years.) The new partnership helped return Pebble to a more local team after a decade under ownership by foreign investors – often controversial due to their development interests – who lost more than $350 million on their investment. The World Golf Hall of Fame recognized Ferris and Ueberroth on March 9 with its first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jan. 18

Monterey County reaches a new record for Covid-19 infections as the highly contagious omicron variant takes over. The record case rate set on Jan. 9, 2021 was 107.8 cases per 100,000 residents. In mid-January of 2022, it is 108.6 cases per 100,000 people.

Omicron wasn’t done yet: The number of cases continued to soar with a record 1,264 new cases that day. On the same date the year before, the number of new cases recorded was 732. The 2022 winter surge came to an end by late February.

Jan. 19

Fran Lebowitz brings her acerbic humor and cutting wit to the Sunset Center. Lebowitz is a proclaimed New York institution, a public intellectual, a queen of snap judgment. These days you can see Lebowitz’s remarks on T-shirts and mugs. Her current renaissance is partially thanks to a seven-episode-long 2021 Netflix documentary directed by her friend, Martin Scorsese, and titled Pretend It’s a City – an exploration of New York City streets as seen by one of the city’s most iconic humorists, writers and conversationalists.

Her Carmel appearance symbolized the triumph of the return of in-person events. It’s fair to say that “New York City’s night mayor” helped local audience members laugh harder – and think faster – than they had in two years of pandemic times.

Jan. 21

A wildfire starts – in the middle of winter, an unusual circumstance – near the top of Palo Colorado Canyon. The Colorado Fire ultimately burned 700 acres. Cal Fire officials determined the cause of the fire was a burn pile on private property located behind the Mid Coast Fire Station, with hot embers that blew in high winds of up to 50mph. Evacuation orders were issued for the Palo Colorado community as the effort to contain the fire began. The fire spread quickly overnight on steep terrain, and was fully contained on Feb. 5.

Jan. 24

A long-awaited restaurant opens in the Cooper Molera Adobe in Monterey. Cella Restaurant & Bar, chef-owner Ben Spungin’s companion to the already popular Alta Bakery & Cafe, becomes an instant hit.

“We didn’t know what to expect,” Spungin says, “but we’ve received good feedback.” The cooking is on par with the finest in Monterey County. For example, pork chops charred on one side and dusted with fennel pollen for a touch of fall comfort. “The thing is good, quality ingredients,” Spungin points out. “The less you do, the better it will be.”

Jan. 27

The Weekly publishes an investigative report on a prime piece of waterfront real estate on Cannery Row that has remained vacant for decades. It has remained derelict since the San Xavier Cannery burned down in 1967; the city of Monterey demolished an old San Xavier warehouse in the mid-1990s for safety reasons. Ownership of the property remains disputed between Ruby Falls LLC and Aqualegacy LLC; a previous owner, Cannery Row Marketplace LLC, defaulted on a loan on the property in 2009. A project concept for the property, Ocean View Plaza, was approved by Monterey City Council in 2004, but the California Coastal Commission in 2019 denied extending the project’s coastal development permit.

This story is also the first time in the Weekly’s history that a drone photo runs on the cover.

February

Feb. 1

Monterey City Council adopts its first-ever map for district-based elections, which divides the city into four regions, ensuring that by 2024, each will have a representative on the council. The transition was sparked by a September 2021 letter from the Salinas-based chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, which said the organization believed Monterey’s at-large system violated state law, and threatened litigation if the city didn’t make the change, which LULAC believes will lead to more diverse representation. Seeking to avoid a lawsuit, the City Council agreed.

Based on community feedback, Monterey drew four districts and two of them – District 1 and District 2 – were up for election on Nov. 8. Both had just one candidate, running uncontested.

Feb. 16

A Joby Aviation aircraft crashes during a test flight at the company’s test site near Jolon in South Monterey County. The “experimental prototype aircraft” was being remotely piloted, and there were no injuries reported. Joby is a Santa Cruz-based startup developing “electric aerial ridesharing” – essentially, flying cars. Since 2018, the company has been running the bulk of its manufacturing out of a facility at the Marina Municipal Airport.

Feb. 18

After public outcry by residents and leaders of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community demanding the city of Pacific Grove no longer support the Feast of Lanterns, the nonprofit organization that organized the annual event votes to end it and disband. Opponents said the Feast, which included a faux-Chinese play with mostly white teens and adults portraying Chinese characters, was racist.

This is just one step in a reckoning for Pacific Grove. On April 25 the city’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force formally requests the City Council approve an official city apology to the Chinese community for the 1906 burning of the Chinese fishing village on Point Alones. The apology referenced the Feast, which got its start one year before the village was destroyed. On May 11, the council votes to approve the apology and on May 14 it is read aloud by Councilmember Chaps Poduri to an audience of over 300 at the 11th annual Walk of Remembrance, honoring the residents of the fishing village.

Feb. 22

A new venue, The Urban Lounge, opens in Monterey as live performance slowly comes back to life. The first show is on the five-year anniversary of a music collective called Tribe in the Sky, and features many of the same musicians. As the new team of veteran organizers – Rene Diaz, Brad Mallory and Jacqueline Kabat – take over the space that was formerly The Safari Club, they book a busy lineup. A range of bands, improv shows, burlesque and karaoke nights have kept the stage lively in the 10 months since.

Feb. 25

The law enforcement community is shaken when a Salinas police officer is shot and killed at a traffic stop. Jorge David Alvarado, who went by the first name JD, was on duty when he made a routine traffic stop around 11:40pm, and investigators say the driver exited his vehicle and shot Alvarado to death. He was 30 years old and had worked for the Salinas Police Department for five years. “The officer stayed in the fight all the way to the end. He gave his life for it,” Police Chief Roberto Filice said the next day. “Thanks to his actions, we were able to apprehend the suspect.” Specifically, those actions were shooting back at the suspect, Gustavo Morales, who was shot in the hand and was arrested when he sought treatment at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital for the gunshot wound.

More than 2,000 people gathered for a memorial service in Salinas on March 10 to pay their respects to Alvarado.

Morales is charged with first-degree murder. On Nov. 7, District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni announces her office would not seek the death penalty against Morales, a decision that is expected to move the case faster through court.

April

April 9

An unprecedented new exhibit, titled Into the Deep, opens at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The exhibit features organisms that live in the deep sea – defined as beginning at a depth of about 660 feet – which has largely remained a total mystery, despite accounting for 90 to 95 percent of the Earth’s habitable space. The exhibit creates delicate conditions – high pressure, low temperature, correct acidity and oxygen levels – that enable scientists to display organisms that researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing have been studying for years. The exhibit includes giant isopods and transparent jellies that glow.

“We’re not ever going to change the world completely, but we do our part.”

April 20

A high-profile murder case is moved to Monterey County Superior Court in Salinas. Kristin Smart, then a student at Cal Poly, disappeared in 1996. Paul Flores, a fellow student at the time – and the last person to see her alive – is charged with her murder 25 years later; his father, Ruben Flores, faces accessory charges for allegedly helping to dispose of Smart’s body. A San Luis Obispo County judge rules that it would be impossible for the Floreses to receive a fair and impartial trial in San Luis Obispo County, where the case has been extensively covered for decades.

Two separate juries in Salinas hear the evidence in both cases simultaneously. On Oct. 18, one jury convicts Paul Flores of murder; another jury acquits Ruben.

“Today’s guilty verdict provides some sense of justice for Kristin, the Smarts and for our community. Today, justice delayed is not justice denied,” SLO County District Attorney Dan Dow said in a press conference in Salinas that day. “After more than 26 years since her murder, our criminal and victim justice system has now finally delivered justice for Kristin.”

May

May 7

Monterey Bay F.C. plays its first home game at Cardinale Stadium in Seaside. It had been a long-awaited home opener. The club opened on the road on March 12 and remained there, suffering through a 1-win, 6-loss record as the finishing touches on the renovated stadium were completed.

On May 7, Before a near-sellout crowd of 5,038, Walmer Martinez – a CSU Monterey Bay graduate – scored in the 55th minute and the defense held on to record a 1-0 win over Las Vegas. Not only did it mark the historic first home match and home win, it was also the club’s first-ever shutout. Monterey Bay F.C. would complete its inaugural season in the USL Championship with a 12-4-17 record.

May 12

Sometimes a personal artistic urge can evolve into a fantastic initiative. That was the case with the wish of artist-thinker Enrique Martínez Celaya, who approached the Robinson Jeffers Tor House Foundation asking permission to spend a few days sitting and writing in the poet’s stone house and tower. He was granted his wish and, as a result, brought an exhibit to Monterey Museum of Art that opened on May 12, but also became the inaugural fellow at Tor House in 2020 when he began his work by spending days on the Carmel property. The foundation has since hosted seven fellows in various artistic fields – writers, print-makers, musicians – and has more applications in process.

May 15

When Justine Stock met Justin Gordon at the end of 2019, the two actors and theater enthusiasts bonded quickly – over a love of Shakespeare and a shared interest in creating something new. In the spring of 2022 they founded New Canon Theatre Co. – a nonprofit theater company with the mission to “stage daring re-imaginings of the classical and contemporary canons” as well as support the work of emerging playwrights. Something a little different, perhaps, for the Monterey Peninsula theater scene. “I think there’s a place for all kinds of theater on the Peninsula,” Gordon says.

In keeping with this kind of edgier, scrappier ethos, New Canon made its official debut not on a proper stage but in a bar – Pearl Hour in Monterey, to be exact – with an abbreviated rendition of Hamlet. “It’s an experiment for us,” Gordon told the Weekly before the performance. The production sold out easily. This put some wind under New Canon’s wings, and the company followed up with an energetic and spooky take on Macbeth, staged at Carmel High School’s Performing Arts Center, that opened July 27.

May 27

A family of refugees, who supported the U.S. mission in Afghanistan and fled when U.S. troops exited and the Taliban took over, arrive in Marina. They have been paired with a Sponsor Circle of 11 residents of The Dunes community, who took part in a new U.S. State Department initiative enabling regular people to host refugees from Afghanistan.

As the Russian war in Ukraine worsens, the State Department expands the program to serve displaced Ukrainian refugees. In August, Seaside residents Dmitry Kisselev and Marina Kisseleva become sponsors to nine Ukrainian refugees. Then in November, Carmel residents Victoria Beach and Vinz Koller become hosts to a family of four Ukrainian refugees – they decided to sponsor a family after reading about the program in the Weekly.

“We’re not ever going to change the world completely,” says Bob Brunson, who led the original sponsor group in Marina, “but we do our part.”

June

June 1

After a three-year search delayed by the pandemic, the Monterey Symphony hires its first new music director in more than 16 years. Jayce Ogren, who has conducted for the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, as well as the Boston, Dallas and San Francisco symphonies, has been called one of the most innovative and versatile conductors of his generation.

The hiring process included live auditions, with four finalists conducting the symphony in front of an audience for its 75th season in 2022. The nonprofit symphony received 175 applications for the position. Ogren succeeds Max Bragado-Darman, who retired in 2020.

June 7

Del Rey Oaks voters deliver a victory for alternative transportation infrastructure when Measure B is defeated at the polls. The measure would have prohibited a planned bicycle and pedestrian trail that is part of Fort Ord Regional Trail and Greenway (FORTAG), a 28-mile concept trail network through the region. The measure – which was placed on the ballot via citizen initiative – failed by a narrow margin of just 12 votes, 387 yes votes to 399 no votes. The 1.5-mile stretch through Del Rey Oaks is the first funded segment of FORTAG.

August

Aug. 10

The Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments board of directors – made up of elected representatives from cities and the counties of Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito – rejects appeals by Sand City and Greenfield to their Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) numbers, as required by the California Department of Housing and Community Development. The region as a whole is required to plan for 33,274 housing units, as part of a statewide effort to accommodate population growth and reduce the housing crisis. Sand City and Greenfield officials argued the required number of units they now must plan for – 260 and 730, respectively – were too much. (Had the appeals succeeded, the number of units subtracted from the two cities would have been redistributed among all the local governments.) In the case of Sand City, leaders suggested Sand City officials rezone its two shopping centers to allow for housing.

The RHNA numbers will guide planning for each jurisdiction in the region for the next eight years.

Aug. 18

The Bulldog reopens in Monterey. Once there had been a cozy British pub on Lighthouse Avenue, popular with locals and tourists alike. Late in 2019 they shut down for remodeling, with a goal of reopening on March 18, 2020. Bad timing – at least it appeared. Owners Christine Kerr and business partner Ash Shoukry used the downtime well, creating an expanded, modern and ADA-compliant space, turning the old British haunt into the Bulldog Sports Pub. First reactions were of the “I can’t believe it” sort. And guests, whether old regulars or newcomers, have been filling the place ever since.

“This a watershed moment for our commissioners, and could have very serious consequences.”

Aug. 19

Chuck Baxter, a founder of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and an influential marine biologist, dies at 94. Baxter taught at Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, and also worked part time at the Monterey Bay Research Institute in Moss Landing from 1988 to 1996, studying the organisms that live in the depths of Monterey Canyon. In the early 2000s he collaborated with one of his former students, Mark Shelley and the Sea Studios Foundation, on a documentary series about invertebrates, The Shape of Life. He subsequently consulted for National Geographic’s Strange Days on Planet Earth, a four-hour PBS documentary series, hosted by Edward Norton. In 2004, he joined a group in retracing the legendary John Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts expedition to the Sea of Cortez in 1940.

September

Sept. 1

The beloved Salinas tortillería and burrito spot El Charrito opens an outpost in downtown Monterey, called El Charrito Express. A sister sit-down restaurant, Alejandro’s, follows later in the month. While El Charrito Express doesn’t offer the full menu found at the original location (and many on the Peninsula still drive to Salinas for their favorite), it gives Monterey a unique downtown space with a one-two punch: Fast casual for lunch, and a higher-end, wood-fired grill experience come dinner.

Sept. 10

The Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority’s transfer station, located in the middle of the city of Salinas, closes permanently. The dump station opened in 2005, and since 2008, city and waste authority officials had been looking to relocate it. The move aligns with the city’s Alisal Vibrancy Plan, which seeks to develop and improve East Salinas, and improve interconnectivity between the commercial hubs of Alisal and Oldtown.

Sept. 29

The athletic field at El Sausal Middle School in Salinas is renamed the Joe Garcia Kapp Athletic Field to honor Kapp, an El Sausal alum who went on to become a famous quarterback who played professionally from 1959 to 1970. He played in the CFL (Canadian league) and the NFL, and brought the Minnesota Vikings to their first Super Bowl in 1970. He is also one of eight quarterbacks in NFL history to throw the most touchdown passes (seven) in a game.

The renaming came about a year after fans of Kapp’s sent a letter to Salinas Union High School District, hoping to see a Chicano success story celebrated: “I would have been inspired by his story,” says Ignacio Ornelas who, as a student at El Sausal, says he did not know the legendary Kapp had once walked the same halls.

October

Oct. 15-16

The inaugural Rebels and Renegades festival draws a 4,500-person crowd to the Monterey County Fair & Event Center for a mix of bluegrass, alt-country and Americana. Headliners include Orville Peck, Trampled by Turtles and Cody Jinks. The enthusiastic crowd wears their country finest, with lots of cowboy boots, fancy belt buckles and cowboy hats in the audience. Veteran organizers Amy and Dan Sheehan, who are responsible for the Cali Roots Festival (now 11 years strong) say it was a success, and they’re already started booking a second annual festival for 2023.

“We were super happy with it,” Dan Sheehan says. “Cody Jinx called it the best first-year festival he’s ever played, and the music industry was chattering about it.”

Oct. 18

Downtown Salinas is in the midst of a major revitalization, with new restaurants and apartments in formerly decrepit buildings. The Dick Bruhn Building, vacant since a 2016 fire, is now home to 19 apartments on the second and third floors; the old Rabobank Building now houses Alvarado On Main, a beautifully appointed, 5,000-square-foot Alvarado Street Brewery outpost, on the first floor and 50 studio apartments upstairs.

Against this backdrop, Salinas City Council considers whether to extend an exemption to its inclusionary housing ordinance for developers who are part of this revitalization effort. Council votes 6-1 on a compromise plan: To keep the exemption in place for existing buildings, which are generally more costly to develop, and to reinstate the requirement for new construction.

November

Nov. 5

Phil’s Fish Market reopens in a new location in Castroville, after the Monterey Bay Research Institute – Phil DiGirolamo’s longtime Moss Landing landlord – decides to expand its facilities. In a time beset by supply chain and construction delays, DiGirolamo shuts down for only two months, locating a building on Merritt Street that had been home to an Italian restaurant and needs little renovation. Phil’s opens quietly, at first. But his regulars quickly find and fill the dining room.

Nov. 8

Monterey County voters signal they are ready for change, with several historic election results. Sheriff-elect Tina Nieto wins a landslide 66-percent victory against Sheriff’s Capt. Joe Moses. The outgoing Marina police chief will become the first woman, first openly gay person and first person of color to serve as Monterey County sheriff.

In North Monterey County, Glenn Church wins a decisive victory against Regina Gage for the District 2 seat on the County Board of Supervisors to succeed John Phillips, who is retiring. Church and Gage went to a runoff after a six-way primary in June, reflecting a desire among voters for change in leadership, after the candidate Phillips (along with supervisors Chris Lopez and Luis Alejo) endorsed did not make the runoff. That candidate, Salinas Mayor Kimbley Craig, went on to seal victory for another term as mayor.

In the city of Monterey, Tyller Williamson wins an improbable victory against Dan Albert, who had been endorsed by the now-retired mayor Clyde Roberson. Williamson, who is Monterey’s first Black and first openly gay mayor, has been a champion of progressive causes and pledges to work to address the housing crisis and better represent the need of renters. On Dec. 12, Monterey City Council appoints Gino Garcia to the council seat vacated by Albert.

“The officer stayed in the fight all the way to the end. He gave his life for it.”

Nov. 10

A shakeup comes to Sacramento politics as Assemblymember Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, is elected unanimously by his Democratic colleagues to serve as California’s next Speaker of the Assembly. It’s a role that is widely viewed as the second-most powerful position in California, after the governor. “Only in California can a kid who grew up in farmworker housing be elected as Speaker of the Assembly,” Rivas says.

The show of support comes two days after Rivas, who represents the Salinas Valley, is elected to his third term in the Assembly. One thing that has set Rivas apart in his short time so far in the state Legislature is his ability to be a champion of farmworker rights while also advocating more broadly for rural issues, earning him support from agricultural employers.

He is set to assume the speakership from outgoing Speaker Anthony Rendon on June 30, 2023.

Nov. 17

The California Coastal Commission approves a coastal development permit – with a slew of onerous conditions – for California American Water’s proposed desalination project that includes a field of slant wells on the beach in Marina, a city whose residents and leaders vehemently oppose it. The approval comes on the recommendation of Coastal Commission staff, who previously recommended against the desalination project.

December

Dec. 1

Following a year of negotiation, the California Public Utilities Commission approves a water purchase agreement for Cal Am to sell recycled water from an expanded Pure Water Monterey project to customers on the Monterey Peninsula. This is the last step required to get financing for the expansion project, a partnership with Monterey One Water and the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. But within hours, Cal Am President Kevin Tilden indicates his company will not sign the agreement unless they are able to pass on more costs to ratepayers. Public Water Now Director Melodie Chrislock accuses the company of holding the region’s water supply hostage.

Dec. 5

A precedent-setting vote potentially sets the stage for growth of Monterey County’s cities in the years to come. The city of Soledad seeks approval from the Local Agency Formation Commission of Monterey County to annex 654 acres of land to develop the Miramonte project. Given impacts to agriculture and urban planning principles, LAFCO staff recommend commissioners approve an annexation 50 percent of the size proposed.

“This [decision] will serve as a guide and a precedent for even bigger proposals LAFCO will be seeing in the future,” LAFCO Executive Officer Kate McKenna tells commissioners. “As such, I believe this a watershed moment for our commissioners, and could have very serious consequences to our LAFCO in terms of upholding our laws, practices and procedures.”

Despite the recommendation, commissioners vote 6-1 to approve the annexation.