Pacific Biological Laboratories

Built in 1923. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. 13 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1913.

From the record

“Pacific Biological Laboratories, abbreviated PBL, was a biological supply house that sold preserved animals and prepared specimen microscope slides, many of which were of maritime aquatic species, to schools, museums, and research institutions. It was located in a building on what is now Monterey's Cannery Row on Monterey Bay in Monterey County, California.”
Wikipedia article Pacific Biological Laboratories, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 64 National Register listings published here for Monterey County · listed in 1994 · category: Building · built in 1923.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 3 structuress, 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. 800 Cannery Row, Monterey, 93940
When was it listed? December 1994
Category. building
Census division. Seaside-Monterey
When was it built? 1923
National Register reference number. 94001498 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1913 to 1997

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 84 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Pacific Biological Laboratories, surveyed 1997

Topographic sheet covering Pacific Biological Laboratories, surveyed 1913

Fires near this property

307 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 307 fires within 5 miles of Pacific Biological Laboratories between 1992 and 2020, burning about 496 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 18 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	155
Equipment and vehicle use	48
Smoking	33
Misuse of fire by a minor	22
Arson/incendiarism	18
Recreation and ceremony	14
Power generation/transmission/distribution	7
Debris and open burning	6
Natural	4

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
9 September 2017	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection	MORSE
9 September 2012	Misuse of fire by a minor	under an acre	San Benito-Monterey Unit	MAJELLA RD / SLOAT RD
8 September 1999	Natural	under an acre	Central California District	EQUESTRIAN
7 September 2007	Equipment and vehicle use	1.0 acres	Central California District	UNNAMED FIRE 1835
6 September 2013	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	San Benito-Monterey Unit	17 MILE DR / BIRD ROCK RD
5 September 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	San Benito-Monterey Unit	BIRD
5 September 2005	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Central California District	BEU003326
4 September 2007	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection	not named

Every fire recorded in Monterey County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 22 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 22 workings within 5 miles of Pacific Biological Laboratories: 9 producers, 9 past producers, 4 prospects. 9 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Silica. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Del Monte Prop. Co-Fan Shell Beach	Silica	Past Producer
Del Monte Prop. Co. - Fanshell Beah	Sand and Gravel, Construction, Feldspar	Past Producer
Sawmill Gulch	Clay	Past Producer
Del Monte Properties Co	Stone	Producer
Jefferson Street Quarry	Stone	Producer
Ruthyen Pit	Stone	Producer
Atkinson Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
David Avenue	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Del Monte Properties Co. Pit	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Del Monte Properties Co. Pit	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Monterey County

Maps showing this location

13 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1913 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:62500 - 8 printings
1941 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:62500
1947 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:24000 - 5 printings
1947 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:62500 - 4 printings
1948 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
1948 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1955 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
1957 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
1958 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1965 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
1974 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:250000
1983 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings
1997 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:24000

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Lou Ellen Parmelee House	0.5 miles	1998
Trimmer Hill	0.6 miles	1982
First Theater of California	1.0 miles	1970
Frank LaVerne Buck House	1.0 miles	1986
U.S. Customhouse	1.0 miles	1966
Centrella Hotel	1.0 miles	1982

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 94001498 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Monterey County	All 64 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.