Cypress Park

Guide to Monterey and Vicinity, c. 1890.

Located roughly 0.8 miles northwest of Hoffman Avenue inside the limits of Pacific Grove sat for a brief time the Cypress Park railroad stop, which catered to the adjacent Cypress Park residential community. The Southern Pacific Railroad erected this top along its new Pacific Grove Extension in late 1889, probably with the intent that it would attract businesses and residential subdivisions to the area. The stop was located along a small point midway between Point Alones (Point Cabrillo) and Point Aulon (Lovers' Point). For the first year of its existence, the stop offered a full schedule of passenger services, however by 1891 all scheduled stops were removed. The purpose of the stop appears to have been to attract prospective homebuyers to the area, but for whatever reason, the stop failed early on, perhaps due to its proximity to the much larger Pacific Grove depot. The station was completely gone from Southern Pacific records by 1899. Because of its short lifespan, it seems unlikely that the station offered any facilities or services other than, perhaps, a short passenger platform. In any case, nothing survives of the station today except a small grove of cypress trees along the right-of-way beside Berwick Park (city ordinance 218 renamed the park from Cypress Park).

A passenger train along the coast near Cypress Park, 1947. (Wilbur C. Whittaker)

Official Railroad Information:
Cypress Park first appeared on public timetables in late 1889 as a regular passenger stop with service offered on all local passenger trains. Whether it appeared in employee timetables or agency books at this time is not known to this historian. The station was listed in 1891 but no passenger services were listed. The stop disappeared from all company records before 1899.

Geo-Coordinates & Access Rights:
36.62˚N, 121.91˚W

The site of Cypress Park is located along the Monterey Bay Coastal Trail at the end of Monterey Avenue. Berwick Park, which sites beside the former right-of-way today, was previously Cypress Park, and the trees standing along the trail gave it that name in the late 1880s. No remnant of the actual station facilities survive, although none probably existed in the first place. The coastal trail and the park is open to the public.

Citations & Credits:

• Southern Pacific Railroad documents.