About Salinas
Salinas is county seat and largest municipality of Monterey County, California. The city is the main business, governmental and industrial center of the region. Also hometown of writer John Steinbeck, Salinas is the location of the National Steinbeck Center. The California Rodeo, one of the top 20 professional rodeos in the United States, is held every July. First staged in 1911, the rodeo is known locally as Big Week, kicked off by a barbecue and parade and many other events and activities, including a carnival.
Salinas, as a city, developed from an 1854 Post Office established from a group of American settlers who set up a community along a bend of the Alisal Slough. Streets were laid out in 1867 and the town incorporated in 1874.
Ancestors of the Ohlone people, who still live the region, occupied the Salinas Valley and surrounding areas before European contact.
Salinas’s population is 155,662 as of 2013.
The GPS coordinates for Salinas are 36.6777° N, 121.6555° W.