John Steinbeck’s former home is available for rent on Airbnb

Former LinkedIn vice president Kevin Delaney, a resident of San Jose, said that upon seeing the property’s announcement in 2012, he was intrigued by Steinbeck’s story. “I love history. I love literature. I wanted to know more,” said Delaney.[The property] It was weird and it was in terrible shape, but when I started digging into the story, that was what attracted me.

He was looking for an investment property and had spent a year repairing all three cottages and had originally planned to rent them out on a long-term lease. “But then I fell in love with the property, I fell in love with the history and I fell in love with Pacific Grove, and the idea of ​​renting it long term to different people and not not power I went down on my own after shedding my blood sweat and tears around the house, that’s when I thought my original plan was no longer good because I couldn’t use it, ”he said.

When at home, Delaney said he loved reading a book by Steinbeck and learning about the author’s past. Beyond the house itself, Steinbeck has a lot of history in the surrounding area. He was born in the nearby town of Salinas and raised in a small rural valley. Her father was the treasurer of Monterey County for a time and her mother was a teacher. Steinbeck then went to Stanford, although he did not graduate.

After a stint in New York, Steinbeck landed in Lake Tahoe, where he met his first wife Carol Henning. When the couple ran out of money after moving to Los Angeles during the Depression, they moved into the Steinbeck family’s cottage on 11th Street in Pacific Grove.

It was in Pacific Grove that Steinbeck met his marine biologist friend Ed Ricketts, who later became a model for several figures in later work. Although he eventually gained wide acclaim after recognition for “The Grapes of Wrath,” Steinbeck’s relationship with Henning suffered. Delaney said Steinbeck bought the Pacific Grove property as “sort of a decision about what to do with my life.”

He started seeing the woman who would later become his second wife, Gwyndolyn Conger, and Delaney said there had allegedly been a reunion of the two women and Steinbeck told them to choose who he would stay with. Although the legend does not tell us if he made his choice during this fateful meeting, Steinbeck ultimately divorced Henning and married Conger.

While living in the cabin, Steinbeck wrote both a non-fiction book and a screenplay, “Sea of ​​Cortez” and “The Forgotten Village”.

All three houses were built in 1913, although the property was slightly larger when Steinbeck lived there. It changed hands often, and in the 1980s a developer bought the land and planned to demolish and subdivide it for future construction, but the city stepped in and prevented the destruction due to its historical significance.

The land, however, remained subdivided, so that the Delaney owns all three houses and part of the original garden, while a neighbor owns the rest of the garden and another garage and building that belonged to Steinbeck.

The houses are unique and “The Steinbeck Cottage”, as the larger house is known, has a large living room with a cathedral ceiling tent. There is also a large fireplace, decorated with hand carvings of birds and flowers. There is an additional bedroom and sitting area, a kitchen and a dining area with a farmhouse table.

The “writer’s studio” can also be rented separately. It includes a bedroom with a queen bed and a living area, a full bathroom and a kitchen.

In 2018, Pacific Grove cracked down on short-term rentals and Delaney wasn’t sure the place would have the same appeal with minimum stays of 30 days. Turns out so, and now the place is often rented out for up to 90 days at a time, he said.

Now, he said the chalet receives all kinds of guests, from avid Steinbeck fans to marine biology researchers to writers who want to “soak up the Steinbeck vibe” and finish their manuscripts there. Delaney himself wrote a book and said he wrote a lot at home.

Rent the chalet and find out more on Airbnb.