Steinbeck Revisited

We were delighted to see Steinbeck country and especially the new National Steinbeck Center in Salinas featured in The Times (“Steinbeck Country,” Aug. 30). We had the pleasure of driving through the area and spending several hours in the center before your article appeared. We would like to add a few bits of information.

If you would like a quick overview of California culture at the time of the Depression, visit the center’s small gallery of paintings done during that period by local artists.

We lunched very well in the First Awakenings Cafe, one block from the center along Main Street. It is an attractive and well-maintained 100-year-old building at 171 Main St.; telephone (408) 784-1125. Dinner is also served.

We found the staff of the Laurel Inn Motel as traveler-friendly as did your writer, our room exceptionally pleasant and comfortably furnished, and we were pleased that the motel has at least one room equipped for the handicapped visitor. Address: 801 W. Laurel Drive; tel. (408) 449-2474.

LUCILLE FORER

Westlake Village