The history of Abalone on the Monterey Peninsula is deeply entwined with Old Fisherman's Wharf.

Pop Ernest had his restaurant on site for many years and he developed serving abalone in a "schnitzel" style that people loved.

Today, several restaurants still offer delicious abalone dishes including Abalonetti's Bar and Grill, Cafe Fina, Domenico's on the Wharf, Old Fisherman's Grotto and Rockfish Harbor Grill.

Check out this great event just a few blocks away!

Schedule near the bottom too.

First Ever “Monterey Abalone Festival: All Things Abalone” to be held on July 26 and 27, 2025 at the Monterey JACL Hall

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

 www.jaclmonterey.org

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.

More information!

Special White Abalone Exclusive Sneak Peek Documentary Film Screening on Saturday Evening, July 26th during “Monterey Abalone Festival: All Things Abalone”
 

 Don’t miss an 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.

New Updates ! Special Exclusive Sneak Peek of the documentary film: “The Abalone Mother” with a panel discussion led by Dr. Alyssa Rita Fredrick, Director of the White Abalone Captive Breeding  Program,  Dr. Kristin Aquilino - White Abalone  Captive Breeding Program and Dr. Luke Gardner from Moss Landing Marine Labs.

About “The Abalone Mother”:  Dr. Kristin Aquilino, the founding director of the White Abalone Captive Breeding Program. moved to California for graduate school, where she fell in love with the ocean, a man, and a large sea snail, the abalone, which is native the coastal waters throughout the state. After school, Kristin dedicated her life to saving one species of this snail, the white abalone, which in 2011 became the first marine invertebrate to be listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. This film recounts the work of Kristin and others to bring white abalone back from the brink of extinction while also exploring the themes of grief and interconnectedness and asking viewers to consider what losses we're willing to live with.

About the White Abalone Captive Breeding Program

The White Abalone Captive Breeding Program (WACBP) leads the production of critically endangered captive-bred white abalone for the NOAA NMFS White Abalone Recovery Program and conducts related research. The program is headquartered at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory (BML). The species recovery plan emphasizes that captive propagation of white abalone and release of captive-bred animals are essential for saving the species. The WACBP leads the only captive white abalone federal permit; oversees all animal care and spawning activities in the program; runs the white abalone culture lab within BML, which houses all nine of the wild-origin white abalone in captivity; creates program-wide protocols; and coordinates collaboration among over a dozen facilities holding white abalone as well as many more research partners.

White abalone was listed as federally endangered in 2001 due to historic overfishing that decimated over 99% of wild stocks. That year, the first on-land white abalone spawn occurred in Southern California. Another occurred in 2003, and then no spawning was able to occur for nearly a decade, largely due to the disease withering syndrome, which killed the majority of animals in captivity. In 2008, the survivors were distributed to facilities throughout California, and in 2011, UC Davis BML became the permit holder. A year later, the first successful spawning attempt of white abalone in nearly a decade occurred. After the first few handfuls of one-year-olds produced that year, the program has steadily increased production, producing tens of thousands of animals annually. Outplanting, or releasing animals into native habitat, began in 2019, and since then over 17,000 animals created in the WACBP have been outplanted. Every year we produce millions of embryos and up to tens of thousands of one-year old animals. Coming out of the pandemic, production has steadily increased, and we expect further increases in production from the 2025 spawning season.