Cooper-Molera Adobe

Great place to relax and have a picnic. I hate electronic toys for children, so I bought my niece and nephew antique-​inspired and crafty toys from the store for Xmas. They loved them; can’t find stuff like that in too many placed.

This is the perfect place to get in some prime Christmas shopping. Although at first there didn’t seem to be much to it at first, on closer inspection there is an abundance of precious nineteenth century California memorabilia. Maybe I’m just a sucker for nostalgia but I thoroughly enjoyed myself finding charming gifts while speaking with John, one of the volunteers, and Marisa, the store manager. I didn’t even have time to see the gardens, but will surely be back.
Not having to set foot in a mall, and knowing that much of the store’s inventory comes from local craftsmanship made holiday shopping a pleasure. Marisa had a lot of exciting ideas for the store layout which would improve the display immensely. It’s a great spot for locals and tourists alike.

I’ve been told that there were some wicked fruit trees and a plush garden behind the walls of where Safeway (now Trader Joe’s) used to be. The wall is located closer to Alvarado Street next to Peet’s Coffee & Tea to be exact. It’s kind of a mystery for most locals so I stopped in today when I was running an errand by foot. The lovely and sweet volunteer told me check out the gardens out in the back which are dubbed Cooper-​Molera Garden. I snapped some photos of the well and garden and noticed a few picnic benches. I could definately see myself bringing a lunch or book and kicking back to enjoy the colorful foilage. I asked about events. This place is freaking affordable and although enclosed the outside yard is quite spacious. Wedding receptions or any special event should take advantage of this $ 350 for 3 hour deal (plus a few other expenses). Capacity of Garden is 120 max and is avaiable year-​round. I can see myself throwing my Mom her 60^th Birthday here although it would be quite difficult since she just turned «27» for the 3^rd year in a row on March 29^th.

We were wandering around Monterey yesterday looking for the Monterey Art Museum, which had an exhibit of photos of humpback whales. We didn’t find the museum, which was closed anyway, but we found the Cooper Museum Store and its volunteer, who took us in the back room, showed us photos of the Cooper-​Molera families and told us stories about them. Rather than give you a description of the place and its history I’ll let you go to the website and read it if you’re interested. We were invited to peek in windows of the building, which wasn’t open although there were tours scheduled for a couple of hours later, and to walk around the gardens. The sun was out and the gardens were lovely. There was an old well w/​a grate inside to protect people from falling in. One wall was covered w/​Lady Banks roses in yellow and pink. A beautiful bird about the size of a jay perched on the well’s superstructure and looked at me calmly as I told him how beautiful he was w/​his pale blue feathers w/​their pale gold accents. It was a peaceful and magical place and we lingered there a while before moving on to Big Sur. It was a lovely place to discover, overlooked on our many previous trips to the area.