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USA "A Year in Salinas, CA" Jay Dunn 44 images Created 1 Jan 2014

A brief glimpse into daily life in Salinas, a working-class California city of 150,000 in the heart of the fertile Salinas Valley. Incorporated in 1874 and best known as the home of literary great John Steinbeck, the town today is predominantly Latino - proud, conscientious, family-oriented and often conservative. Though solidly anchored by the valley's multimillion dollar agricultural industry, the recent economic downturn has hit Salinas hard, outlining a sharp divide between rich and poor, and forcing city administrators to streamline already sparse resources. Civic pride is strong, however - this is a city that loves a parade, and one which takes rightful pride in the number of volunteers that regularly turn out for the community good. More in our Multimedia Section at http://www.TheCalifornian.com/section/multimedia
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  • Field Mustard (Brassica Rapa) photographed near York Road off Highway 68 on March 9th.
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  • On Thursday, January 31st, Salinas city workers, health officials and police conducted an early morning sweep of the Chinatown homeless population, displacing many people who resided in the area.
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  • A shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe along Mohar Street in East Salinas. Despite the best efforts of city programs and community policing, the working-class area around Acosta Plaza continues to be troubled by gang violence.
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  • Workers, community leaders and and concerned citizens marched for four miles through East Salinas on Sunday, March 24 in a demonstration organized by the United Farm Workers in support of comprehensive immigration reform.
    130324 jd immigrationmarch04.jpg
  • A view into the hills near Mt. Toro from the Portola exit on Highway 68 on Thursday, March 14.
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  • For believers who could not fit in the church, Palm Sunday communion was given in the vestibule just outside. El Cristo Rey church in Salinas saw overflow crowds on this important holy day.
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  • In an airy, open sanctuary lit by street-level stained glass, a parishioner raises her hands high during an early morning Easter Sunday service at Cristo La Roca Church in East Salinas.
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  • After an evening's rain, buds open up on Easter Sunday along Constitution Avenue in North Salinas.
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  • Monterey County students packed Sherwood Hall in Salinas on Thursday, April 4th to enjoy a dance performance of “Beauty and the Beast,” interpreted by Santa Barbara-based State Street Ballet and presented by the National Steinbeck Center. Nine area schools participated, including Frank Paul, Natividad Elementary, Cesar Chavez, Lagunita Elementary, Los Padres, La Paz Middle School, Roosevelt, Monterey Park and local YMCA spring break camp students. This classic tale of love and loss was adapted from the 1947 film by Jean Cocteau and set to the music of Tchaikovsky by Emmy Award-winning choreographer Robert Sund.
    130404 jd beautyandbeast03.jpg
  • Indigenous hip-hop artist Mare from Oaxaca, Mexico performs at the "Hip Hop Beyond Borders" event on Saturday, April 20th at the Cesar Chavez Library in Salinas.
    130420 jd hip-hop library02.jpg
  • Tereso Zarate, 68, is a field worker from Oaxaca, Mexico who has lived in Salinas for ten years, seen here on April 9th. He cannot subsist solely on seasonal work as a lettuce-picker. A Monterey County Food Bank distribution program in the Hebbron neighborhood where he lives is crucial to making it through the winter.
    130423 jd alisal hunger11.jpg
  • Salvador Ruiz, a volunteer along with his family for the past 20 years, helps distribute food on April 9th to Hebbron residents at St. Clare’s Corner, established in Salinas by the Franciscan Workers of Junipero Serra in 1982.
    130423 jd alisal hunger01.jpg
  • A prayer circle on April 20th at the Vineyard Church, which runs a bi-monthly food distribution program in collaboration with the Food Bank of Monterey County.
    130423 jd alisal hunger35.jpg
  • A mass of feet and monitoring devices in the arms of Melissa Finlen, pictured here on Thursday, July 11, with her triplets at the Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital.
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  • Excited children watch Saturday's 2013 Colmo del Rodeo Parade pass down South Main Street in Salinas.
    130713 jd colmoparade03.jpg
  • Damian Herden, from Emerald, Queeensland, Australia gets spilled by the bull Duck Butter in the first round of Wednesday’s PBR Touring Pro Division event on Wednesday at the Salinas Sports Complex.
    130717 jd PBR01.jpg
  • The 2013 Colmo del Rodeo Parade is the traditional kickoff to Big Week of the California Rodeo Salinas. Saturday’s night-lighted extravaganza followed the Kiddy Kapers Parade by just one hour,  drawing cheers from thousands of residents for the fourth consecutive year since its revival in 2010 for the 100th anniversary of the Rodeo.
    130713 jd colmoparade08.jpg
  • Brooke Lindo, 12, make a record ten hula hoops dance at Sunday's final Day of Champions at the California Rodeo Salinas.
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  • Blue skies met the end of Sunday morning's cowboy church service on the last day of the 2013 California Rodeo Salinas.
    130721 jd rodeosunday10.jpg
  • A young dancer shows some of the specialized rhythm instruments used in the "bon odori" dances at the 63rd annual Obon Festival at the Buddhist Temple of Salinas, held Sunday, August 28th.
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  • Members of YOSAL, Youth Orchestra of Salinas, enjoyed a unique summer camp experience at Glen Deven Ranch, part of the Big Sur Land Trust. During a day hike down to a pristine creek, Canadian violinist Edwin Huizinga, seen here on July 30th, led a musical creativity workshop in the forest setting, helping kids compose new music with found objects as well as traditional instruments.
    130730 jd YOSALcamp01.jpg
  • Jianna Keen, 5, gets her place pointed out by Mrs. Hoffman on Wednesday, August 14, the first day of the fall semester at Spreckels Elementary School.
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  • A mother and child hold hands at a march on Tuesday, August 6th from East Market and Towt Streets to Closter Park in response to the recent gun violence in Salinas. Students, parents, clergy and local officials carried signs and made their voices and prayers heard. The event was part of National Night Out, developed by the National Association of Town Watch, a non-profit organization dedicated to the development and promotion of various crime prevention programs devoted to safer communities.
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  • An actress gets the finishing touches on her hair. The Western Stage’s production of “Zoot Suit,” by Luis Valdez, is opening Saturday, September 7, 2013 at Hartnell College and will run until September 28th.
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  • Josselyn Melanie Cuauhyolotzin, center, during her coming-of-age ceremony on February 9th. In a colorful indigenous ritual celebrated in Salinas, Aztec teachers, dancers, family and friends gathered together to perform an Aztec “xilonen” ritual for Cuauhyolotzin at the home of her parents. The elaborate ceremony marks the transition from childhood to maidenhood, and is the spiritual basis in Mexican tradition for the “quinceanera.”
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  • Asterion rocks the house at Pica Fresh Mex restaurant in Oldtown Salinas on Saturday, Sept. 7th as part of a five-band show.
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  • Nally Gomez, 21, receives her crown as queen from Carlos Ponce Martinez, consul general of Mexico in San Jose, at "El Grito,” or “The Cry of Independence" ceremony on Sunday, September 15 in Salinas.
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  • The Patriots Jet Aerobatic Team courses through perfect blue skies on Sunday, Sept. 22 at the 2013 California International Airshow Salinas.
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  • Robosaurus entertains the crowd under perfect blue skies on Sunday, Sept. 22 at the 2013 California International Airshow Salinas.
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  • As seen from the cliffs at Marina State Beach on Saturday, a humpback whale breaches in Monterey Bay on October 4th. A number of amateur whale observers in Marina were delighted by enthusiastic tail-slapping and lunge-feeding from whales enjoying an anchovy and sardine bounty.
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  • Young people enjoy themselves during the first annual Ciclovia, a popular non-vehicle event held along Alisal Street in Salinas on Sunday, October 6th.
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  • Brilliant fall color surrounds these late harvest Holman Ranch grapes seen on October 10th.
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  • A view of Monday’s prescribed burn in Ft. Ord, as seen from a point on Route 183 midway between Castroville and Salinas on October 14th.
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  • Ghouls, goblins, witches and zombies ruled the day at Roosevelt Elementary School after lunch on Thursday, as students, parents and staff enjoyed their annual Halloween Parade around the track. The public school on Capitol Street in Salinas serves nearly six hundred students in grades K-6.
    131031 jd halloweenparade01.jpg
  • Candidates Maricela Cruz, in front, Noemi Armenta, in blue, and Guadalupe Guzman, with gray jacket, celebrate their election results at Taquitos Restaurant on Tuesday night, November 5th in Salinas.
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  • Dr. Mike Ladra of the First Presbyterian Church talks with former major league baseball star Darryl Strawberry on Sunday, November 10 in Salinas. Strawberry spoke about his experiences as a professional athlete and his personal struggles off the field.
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  • Workers from Kreysler & Associates install part of Claes Oldenburg’s sculpture “Hat in Three Stages of Landing” in the park behind Sherwood Hall on Tuesday, November 19. The massive three-piece work returned to Salinas on Monday following restoration in Napa Valley.
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  • Dennis Miller makes some last-minute adjustments to his Salinas Host Lions entry before the 2013 Holiday Parade of Lights on Dec. 1st along Main Street in Salinas.
    131201 jd paradelights04.jpg
  • A purple wildflower droops with frost on Thursday, Dec. 5th in an empty field just northeast of the Constitution Soccer Complex in Salinas.
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  • A bicycle with a sidecar was elegant transportaion for this young girl and her Christmas tree during the 2013 Holiday Parade of Lights on Dec. 1st along Main Street in Salinas.
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  • Young Tatum Bakker, 3, who has spina bifida, waits patiently under the ceremonial red ribbon at the opening on Sunday, Dec. 8th of Tatum's Garden, which is named after her. The new disability-friendly playground is located behind Salinas Community Center at Sherwood Park in Salinas.
    131208 jd tatumgarden01jpg
  • Isaiah Cuevas, 7, helps hand out necessary foodstuffs to the needy at the Hebbron Family Center on Thursday, Dec. 12th. Isaiah and his friends take part daily in after-school programs offered at the center by the city of Salinas. The supplemental food effort is part of the Monterey County Food Bank's regular emergency food assistance program in east Salinas, which happens twice a month at the Hebbron Center.
    131212 jd hebbronfood01.jpg
  • In a pre-Christmas tradition which began in 1957, the Jimenez family of Castroville put on their annual "posada," with friends, family and guests celebrating the holiday season together on Dec. 15th. Posada” means “inn” in Spanish, and for this occasion, children dressed as Biblical figures reenacted Mary and Joseph's search for shelter during their Biblical journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Moving from house to house, the “peregrinos,” or pilgrims, trade touching verses in song with the “hosteleros,” the innkeepers, inside, until at last, shelter is found.
    131215 jd posadas01.jpg
  • In a pre-Christmas tradition which began in 1957, the Jimenez family of Castroville put on their annual "posada," with friends, family and guests celebrating the holiday season together on Dec. 15th. Posada” means “inn” in Spanish, and for this occasion, children dressed as Biblical figures reenacted Mary and Joseph's search for shelter during their Biblical journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Moving from house to house, the “peregrinos,” or pilgrims, trade touching verses in song with the “hosteleros,” the innkeepers, inside, until at last, shelter is found.
    131215 jd posadas02.jpg