First Ever “Monterey Abalone Festival: All Things Abalone” to be held on July 26 and 27, 2025
First Ever “Monterey Abalone Festival: All Things Abalone”
to be held on July 26 and 27, 2025 at the Monterey JACL Hall
June 19, 2025 – Monterey, CA — Join us for this unforgettable celebration of tradition, culture, history, and conservation — and help honor all things abalone. Abalone has long held a significant place in Monterey’s cultural and culinary history. The community is invited to celebrate this rich legacy at the first-ever “Abalone Festival: All Things Abalone” on Saturday, July 26 and Sunday, July 27, 2025, at the Monterey Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Hall and additional nearby sites.
At a Glance
What: “The Monterey Abalone Festival: All Things Abalone”
When: Saturday, July 26 and Sunday, July 27, 2025
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. both days
Where: Monterey JACL Hall, 424 Adams St., Monterey, CA 93940
Contact & More Information:
Tim Thomas
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 831.521.3304
What: This unique two-day celebration will feature an outstanding lineup of expert speakers, documentary films, live performances, cultural demonstrations, a walking tour, abalone races, and more. The event will also debut the inaugural presentation of the Roy Hattori Memorial Award, recognizing outstanding contributions to abalone heritage and conservation.
One of the festival highlights will be a special “Abalone Dance” performed by the Monterey Rumsen Ohlone Community on Del Monte Beach, led there by the Monterey Lion Dance Troupe at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. The weekend will also include a Zoom conversation with historians and researchers from Tateyama, Japan, the ancestral home of many Japanese divers who came to Monterey.
Special Program: Saturday, July 26 | 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. – Evening Session on the White Abalone Project
Presenters will include:
· Sandy Lydon – Historian
- Steve Rebuck - Author/Former Abalone Fisherman
- Geoffery Dunn – Author & Filmmaker
- Tim Thomas – Cultural Historian
- Art Seavey – Monterey Abalone Farm
- Linda Yamane – Rumsen Ohlone Culture Bearer
- Leslie Leaney – Historic Diving League
- Steve Rebuck
- Additional guests from the White Abalone Project and international historians from Japan
About the White Abalone Project
· Although White Abalone are not native to Monterey Bay, their discovery has deep local ties. In 1939, Monterey Nisei diver Roy Hattori identified the species while diving near Point Conception. Now endangered, the White Abalone Project is working to raise and reintroduce the species to the wild. Director Alyssa Rita Fredric and her colleagues will host a panel discussion and premiere two new documentary films during the Saturday evening session.
Festival Schedule (subject to change):
Saturday, July 26, 2025
9:30 a.m. – Special Performance by the Monterey Taiko Drummers
10:00 a.m. –
Tim Thomas: All Things Abalone
Film: Eric Palmer – Monterey Abalone Story
Leslie Leaney – Historic Diving League
Art Seavey – Monterey Abalone Farm
12:00 p.m. – Lunch Break / Walking Tour
1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Film: Morro Bay: Once the Abalone Capital of the World
Sandy Lydon – Chinese and Abalone
Monterey Lion Dance leads audience to Del Monte Beach for the
Rumsen Ohlone Community – Abalone Dance
7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. –
White Abalone Evening Program
Panel Discussion + Two Film Premieres
Sunday, July 27, 2025
10:00 a.m.
Linda Yamane – The Rumsen Use of Abalone
Film: Alexandria Firenzi – Abalone
Geoffery Dunn – George Sterling and the Abalone Song, The Abalone League
12:00 p.m. – Lunch Break
1:00 p.m.- 5:00 p.m.
Film: Brian Tissot – The Black Abalone and Abalone Song
Steve Roebuck - Former Abalone Fisherman
Sandy Lydon – Wrap-Up
Roy Hattori Memorial Award Presentation
Zoom Conversation: Kaori Mizoguchi and Emiko – The Japanese-Monterey Connection
About Abalone and Monterey: A Deep Connection
Monterey’s abalone legacy stretches back centuries. The Rumsen Ohlone were the first to dive for abalone, using its iridescent shells in tools, trade, and ornamentation. The very word “abalone” comes from the Rumsen word “aulun.”
In the 1850s, Chinese families arrived during the “abalone rush,” followed by Japanese abalone divers in the 1890s who began commercial harvesting. By 1916, over 600,000 pounds of red abalone were offloaded at the Monterey Wharf. In 1929, 75% of California’s abalone revenue came from Monterey Bay, making it the Abalone Capital of the World.
Monterey’s culinary reputation also owes much to abalone. In 1908, “Pop” Ernest Doelter popularized the “abalone steak,” transforming it into a gourmet delicacy and later establishing his restaurant on Old Fisherman’s Wharf. Due to Pop Ernest's legacy, several restaurants still serve abalone dishes on Old Fisherman's Wharf, including Abalonetti's Bar and Grill, Rockfish Harbor Grill, Old Fisherman's Grotto and Domenico's on the Wharf.
About the Monterey JACL Hall
Founded on May 2, 1926, the building at 424 Adams Street began as the Japanese Association Hall and later became the home of the Monterey Japanese American Citizens League (JACL). In honor of the 100th anniversary of this historic site, the Abalone Festival launches a series of commemorative events celebrating Japanese American heritage and contributions to Monterey’s maritime legacy.
More information:
Monterey has a long history with abalone. In fact, Monterey and abalone go hand in hand. It was abalone that first brought the Japanese to Monterey, and it was monies made from abalone that built the JACL Hall and the Monterey Wharf. But this story goes started even before the Japanese arrived.
It was centuries ago when Monterey’s indigenous people, the Rumsen Ohlone, first began to dive the bay for this beautiful sea snail, not just for food, but more importantly for its beautiful iridescent shell that was used both locally to make tools like fishhooks, shovels and bowls, to decorate baskets and to make jewelry. More importantly, they traded it to other California Indian groups for things they couldn’t get in Monterey like obsidian, a volcanic rock that was used to make arrow and spear points. Even the word abalone originates from a Rumsen Ohlone word for the Red Abalone, “aulun”.
Sometime in the early 1850s, there was an “abalone rush” which brought Chinese families to the Monterey Bay. In modern times, it was Japanese abalone fishermen, arriving in Monterey in the mid-1890s, who began commercially harvesting abalone, primarily for markets in Japan. In the spring of 1908, German restaurateur “Pop” Ernest Doelter created the abalone steak in his Alvarado Street restaurant. This invention transformed something once described as “like eating a rubber boot” into an international epicurean delight, crowning Pop the “Abalone King.” He subsequently moved his restaurant to Old Fisherman’s Wharf in 1919.
In 1916, over 600, 000 pounds of red abalone were unloaded at Monterey Wharf. By 1920, there were nine separate Japanese abalone dive companies operating on the Wharf. In 1929, the California abalone industry was generating close to a million dollars in revenue, of which 75 percent came out of Monterey Bay from Japanese divers! Monterey had truly become the abalone capital of the world.
For more information, go to www.jaclmonterey.org.