Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey is where California effectively began.

In 1846, Commodore John Sloat landed here, raised the American flag without firing a shot, and claimed 600,000 square miles for the United States. The wharf itself predates that moment: Thomas Larkin built the original stone landing in 1845, and the Monterey Wharf Company extended it further into the bay in 1857 to reach the ships arriving daily.

By 1880, Monterey fishermen were hauling 900,000 pounds of fish a year from the bay to these docks. The wharf took its current name in 1913, by which point Chinese, Portuguese, Genovese, Japanese and Sicilian fishermen had each shaped its industry in turn.

VoiceMap's Fisherman's Wharf Walking Tour traces this layered history from Sloat's landing to the sardine boom, connecting the wharf to the Custom House, the State Historic Park, and the fishing grounds that made Monterey famous.