John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck

On February 27, 1902, John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California.

He was the third of four children and the only son of John Ernst II and Olive

Hamilton Steinbeck. He spent his childhood and adolescence in the Salina

Valley, later called "the salad bowl of the nation." He attended Salinas High

School. He attended classes at Stanford University leaving without a degree.

During these years Steinbeck dropped out for several months, and his job

experiences include: sales clerk, farm laborer, ranch hand, and factory

worker. In November of 1925, he traveled by freighter from Los Angeles to New

York City where he worked as a construction laborer and, briefly, for the New

York American. From 1926-1928 he lived in Lake Tahoe, California and worked

as a caretaker for a summer home.

In October of 1930, he met Edward F. Ricketts, a marine biologist,

philosopher and longtime friend. Then in 1935 after the first pop...