National Steinbeck Center’s former interim director strikes out to start a new nonprofit.

The nonprofit National Steinbeck Center has gone without an executive director position since the pandemic began in 2020. About nine months ago, the board brought on John Holland on an interim basis – first for 90 days, extended twice – only to realize maybe they had been too optimistic. “Financially we are not quite there yet,” says Steve Emerson, board president.

Holland’s last day was Sept. 30, and he is already diving into a new effort. He is planning to launch a nonprofit called The Steinbeck Experience centered on Cannery Row in Monterey, hoping to draw tourists in larger numbers than visit the Steinbeck Center in Salinas. “Everyone would say to me: The Steinbeck Center really needs to be in Monterey,” he says.

As a docent at Pacific Biological Laboratories (where Steinbeck hung out with Ed Ricketts, among others), Holland sees the volume of tourists who show up for a tour. Even during peak tourist season, a Saturday at the venue now named One Main Street in Salinas might draw just two dozen visitors.

He hopes to launch walking tours in Monterey as early as late October. He’s looking for a space to lease from Cannery Row Co. starting in 2026, with aspirations to grow and to include digital components, including virtual reality. He expects all offerings to be free.

The concept is a “hub-and-spoke” model, in which institutions like the Steinbeck Center in Salinas (also home to Steinbeck’s archives) and the Western Flyer Foundation, among others, would be engaged as “spokes,” focused on experiences instead of exhibits. “The ultimate vision is to be the un-museum,” Holland says.