At an August 18 meeting of Pacific Grove's Beautification and Natural Resources Commission, a city staff member walked through the annual plan for the Monarch Grove Sanctuary. They mentioned a scheduling fix. The public walkthrough had been on the agenda for September 7, then moved once someone noticed that was Labor Day. The new date was September 10 at 1 p.m.
It was a small detail, but it explains how the whole west side of town works. Tree work at the sanctuary is limited by what the birds and the monarchs are doing. The staff member said the city "usually" has "a flurry of work" between September and October, just before the butterflies arrive. The places that define the Asilomar, Grove Acre and Crocker side of Pacific Grove are tended spaces. Each depends on someone doing specific work in a specific window. This fall, three of them start a new season together: the grove on Ridge Road, the city clubhouse on Asilomar Boulevard, and the conference grounds by the dunes.
The Grove on Ridge Road Runs on a Work Calendar
The city's 2026 monarch habitat review is written by Stuart B. Weiss, Ph.D., of Creekside Science. It gives a practical, unsentimental account of what keeps the sanctuary working. In its list of ongoing recommendations, Weiss says it plainly:
"This is not a 'natural' forest."
The 2025–26 season shows what that means. After arriving in early October, the butterflies clustered on the sunny south and southwest edge of the grove and stayed there all season. Across the whole season, 94% of observations were on eucalyptus, 5% on pine and 2% on Monterey cypress. That same south edge is where the 2026 review puts its top task. In September, it says, the city should remove and redistribute downed bark, branches and leaves along the south edge to reduce fire hazard, especially where eucalyptus debris has piled up against the trunks. Some debris should stay on the ground, with fuel breaks several feet wide, so a monarch that falls can climb back up. Continuous fine fuel on the forest floor is too great a risk. The review cites the March 2023 fire as the example.
The tight timing comes from the record. The 2025 recommendation to rearrange forest-floor debris and clear hanging litter around the large eucalyptus "was not done." The review says stakes and straps were removed in 2025 and late spring 2026, but that work on forest-floor and ladder fuels "has not been executed in a timely manner." It recommends moving the work to spring in future years, at the start of the dry season, as an annual job. At the August meeting, staff called debris redistribution and removal a major maintenance effort for 2026. No public update since then has said whether the September cleanup was finished. Anyone walking the gravel path this month is walking through the result, whatever it turns out to be.
What the Grove Held Last Year
The numbers explain why the city treats one edge of a small grove with this much care. Monarchs at the sanctuary peaked at 226 on December 12, 2025. The official mid-season count was 188 on November 21. High winds caused two brief drops, on December 24 and January 9, and the colony recovered after each. The butterflies left by early February.
Statewide, the Xerces Society's January 2026 release counted 12,260 monarchs across 249 sites during the 2025 mid-season count, the third-lowest total in the count's history. By the late-season survey, which ended January 11, 2026, the total had fallen to 6,464 butterflies at 193 sites, 47% below the mid-season tally. Pacific Grove's own count held from Thanksgiving into mid-December, while the statewide total fell by almost half over the winter. Those 226 butterflies depend on a few eucalyptus trees whose surroundings someone has to keep clear.
When to Walk Over This Season
As of its September 19, 2026 update, the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History's monarch page said the monarchs had not yet arrived. They were still at their northern grounds in inland California and the Pacific Northwest. The museum expects a slow trickle starting in mid-October, with peak numbers around the end of November, and it posts weekly counts once the butterflies settle. The counting calendar for this season is set:
| Western Monarch Count window | Dates |
|---|---|
| Early season | October 17 to November 1, 2026 |
| Mid-season, including Thanksgiving | November 14 to December 6, 2026 |
| Late season | December 26, 2026 to January 10, 2027 |
The sanctuary at 250 Ridge Road is open sunrise to sunset every day. It closes only when high winds make a visit unsafe. Entry is free, no reservations are needed, and street parking is limited, including along Lighthouse Avenue. Pets are not allowed, for the butterflies' safety. Museum docents are generally there from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., October through February, weather permitting. This year's group gets its in-person orientation at the sanctuary on Saturday, October 10, after a virtual lecture on October 7. For a sit-down version, the museum at 165 Forest Avenue lists "Science Saturday: Monarch Magic!" for November 28, in the middle of the mid-season count window.
The City's Clubhouse Changed Hands Too
Up Asilomar Boulevard toward Point Pinos, a second city-owned property ran its own handover on a public schedule. Pacific Grove owns the golf course clubhouse at 79 Asilomar Boulevard, long known as Point Pinos Grill, and leases out the restaurant. The previous tenant left on November 23, 2025. CourseCo kept it running month to month starting December 1. The city issued a request for proposals on December 15, received two sealed bids on January 29, 2026, and chose Fortunate Fork, LLC. Ordinance 26-010, adopted May 5, 2026, approved the lease and allowed a new name, The Grove at Point Pinos.
The lease is built for the long term. The city staff report sets a five-year term with two tenant options for five more years each. Rent is 7% of monthly gross sales, capped at $13,500 a month, with the cap rising 3% a year.
Fortunate Fork is Jerry Regester and Gail Grammatico, the couple behind The Spotted Duck at 542 Lighthouse Avenue, which they opened in 2023. Regester is the chef. Edible Monterey Bay notes his earlier kitchen work at the Monterey Plaza Hotel and The Preserve. By Edible's September 8 visit, The Grove was serving. The restaurant's own site still called it a soft opening, with a full bar "soon."
The building already had what a new operator needs: stone walls, high ceilings, broad patios, a remade kitchen, and a refurbished Santa Maria grill. It seats 100 outside and 50 inside, with room for another 50 in the private event room. The first menu is deliberately small:
- Grab-and-go at the rebuilt service bar, with Acme coffee drinks from $4 to $7 and a daily sandwich or breakfast burrito at $13
- Gail's Chopped Salad, with pulled chicken, pea shoots and crispy lumpia skins
- A signature burger with smoked cheddar on a milk bun, and a ham-and-double-cheese panini on Ad Astra bread
- The Grove Nachos, with garlic-butter shrimp and a cheese sauce made from several cheeses
Edible lists hours as 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for grab-and-go, breakfast from 8 to 11 a.m., and lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The patio looks out over the course and the coast, and Regester told the magazine, "We're VERY dog-friendly." He is also considering smoked brisket dinners, prime rib nights and tri-tip cookouts timed to golf tournaments. The previous operator, Tamie Aceves, stayed in town and opened Crema Lovers Point on April 1, 2026, at 631 Ocean View Boulevard next to Lovers Point.
Asilomar Built Itself a Workshop
The third change is the least visible from the street, and it is the most direct example of upkeep done by hand. On July 15, 2026, California State Parks and Aramark Destinations held a ribbon-cutting for a new Historic Preservation Center at Asilomar State Beach and Conference Grounds. The Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce hosted, and Mayor Nick Smith spoke. The project cost about $150,000 and took roughly two months. It gives skilled preservation work a central home on the property, a National Historic Landmark. According to Asilomar, the center is managed by Shaun Quedou, and its work includes restoring hundreds of historic windows and doors along with original interiors.
The center gives that craftsmanship a centralized base on the grounds. The State Parks announcement says the facility will support restoration across the whole property and help ensure future projects keep the site's historic integrity. For a walk after the grove, Phoebe's Café on the grounds is listed as open daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
One Short Stretch, Three Caretakers
The three projects run on different clocks. The grove's work window closes when the first monarchs settle, which last year was early October and this year is expected to be mid-October. The clubhouse lease runs five years at a time and can extend to fifteen. Asilomar's workshop was built for long-term stewardship, with hundreds of historic windows and doors on its list. The early-season monarch count opens October 17. Docents should be back under the eucalyptus by then, and the grill at The Grove at Point Pinos is already going.
If you own one of the older homes near Asilomar or Grove Acre and want to understand how restoration and upkeep affect its value, Truszkowski Freedman & Associates can walk you through the comparable sales on these streets. Work With Us.
