Greenfield, CA

Greenfield is a farm town in the middle of the Salinas Valley, the next stop after Soledad on U.S. 101 heading south. The Gabilan Range lines the east side of the valley and the Santa Lucia Range the west, and nearly everything in between is lettuce and other row crops. The town traces back to Clark Colony, an early-1900s farm settlement that had to be renamed Greenfield because the postal service already knew too many Clarks. Its water company, organized in 1905, still delivers irrigation from the Arroyo Seco River. Culture is arriving in small pieces. The Cultural Arts Center is at 215 El Camino Real, and a long-planned northern campus for the Yanks Air Museum is slated for the north end of town. For a meal, one restaurant review site currently lists El Tamalaso first among the town's restaurants, and California Gourmet Pizza covers pizza night. Vineyards climb the western foothills, so a tasting afternoon fits easily between farm chores and errands. Pinnacles National Park is a drive up the valley by way of Soledad and State Route 146, and its talus caves and condor program bring visitors through the area. Daily life runs along the highway. King City is the next town south, Soledad the next north, and Salinas, a half-hour or more up the valley, is where the hospitals and department stores are. Most trips for work or medical care begin with a look at the traffic on 101, and the freeway runs right past town, so it is easy to find from either direction. Scale is the catch in Greenfield. Groceries, restaurants and a library are all here, and little else happens on a weeknight, so a concert or a specialist visit pulls you out of the valley. What the town returns is an address on its own calendar, where the October harvest sets the pace for everyone.