US Travel Guide - Monterey

Monterey Entertainment

The Monterey Bay Area has long been a magnet for artists, writers, and actors, so its no surprise that its arts scene is as robust as is its nightlife.

Festivals are big in Monterey, for some reason - festivals of classical and popular music, festivals of cars, festivals of squid. More on that later.

MUSIC

The Monterey County Symphonys October - May series of concerts pulls in internationally renowned guest artists for a classically based program, seasoned with choice works from the modern repertoire. They perform at the Sunset Cultural Center in Carmel. Sharing the venue are the Chamber Music Society, which pulls in top small-group performers for its six-concert, winter-and-spring series; and the Carmel Music Society, which, for its 70-odd years of existence, has emphasized solo recitals.

Also in Carmel, the Camerata Singers, a world-famous vocal ensemble, make full use of the acoustics of the Carmel Mission Basilica. The self-descriptive Keyboard Artist Series also stages its winter-spring season at the Sunset Cultural Center.

FESTIVALS-MUSIC

The famed Carmel Bach Festival takes place over three late summer weeks at the Sunset Cultural Center, and is not in any way limited to the works of J.S. Bach or his contemporaries. Corollary events like a childrens concert make this an entirely satisfying series.

The Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, that hoary but vibrant, three-day celebration of jazz, is held every September at on multiple stages at the Monterey County Fairgrounds. The Monterey Blues Festival, in June, brings in heavyweights like B. B. King and Etta James at the same venue.

THEATER

Several fine repertory groups make Monterey's theater scene one of the better regional theaters in the country; keep your eye out, too, for independent local productions.

The Pacific Repertory Theatre puts on several plays each year from modern and classic playwrights each year at the Golden Bough Playhouse in Carmel. The Gold Coast Theater Company, meanwhile, focuses on 19th-century melodramas around the year. The Carl Cherry Center for the Arts in Carmel is a good places to catch a changing program of plays, dance performances, art workshops and so forth.

FESTIVALS - THEATER

The Carmel Shakespeare Festival takes place at Carmels Outdoor Forest Theater in September, and puts on two productions of, almost invariably, The Bard. (The theater is supposedly the oldest outdoor theater in the west.) Monterey Bay Theaterfest is a self-explaining but thoroughly entertaining theater festival put on at Montereys Waterfront in June.

OTHER FESTIVALS AND EVENTS

The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am isn't art, music, or theater, but it can easily draw a bigger crowd. (Its become an institution, really.) Montereys Living History Festival and The Whalefest are also in January; the Squid Festival takes place in May, and you shouldn't plan to miss it.

In June, its the Mission San Antonio Fiesta, and in August, the Concours d'Elegance 'the Concours d'Elegance' draws car lovers from all over the country and well beyond. September means that its time for the Artichoke Festival in nearby Castroville. (You'll want to see the newly-crowned Artichoke Queen.) And Pacific Groves signal Butterfly Parade begins in October.

NIGHTLIFE

A tip: don't go to Carmel to hear music in one of its nightclubs. Its not allowed. Music, in clubs, at night. (And neither, for that matter, is eating outdoors downtown. Do we see a pattern?) The liveliest nightlife is in Monterey. Docs Nightclub is a favorite for live rock n' roll and rhythm and blues; Planet Gemini on Cannery Row is big on dancing, whether it be to salsa, rock, or country. Theres also live comedy, always iffy. If your dancing demands a DJ, and one who knows his techno from his house from his freestyle, try McGarretts, on Alvarado St. In Pacific Grove, Whiteys Place also lets you rock out and boogie to live music Thursday-Saturday.