Main street of Castroville, CA. The cute little town calls itself The Artichoke Center of the World and hosts an annual Artichoke Festival, May 20-21st. In 1947 a young woman named Norma Jean was crowned Castroville's first artichoke queen. We remember her more as the legendary Marilyn Monroe. John Steinbeck used the town as the



setting for his short story, Johnnie Bear.

The artichoke fields seem to go on forever as you pass through the area, the plants look like big ferns.