Plumbing in Spreckels

Spreckels at a glance

Spreckels is a small community of 692 people (2020), 3 miles south of Salinas, and one of the best-preserved company towns in the United States.

What that means for your plumbing

Many homes date from the town's early years and have had plumbing updated piece by piece. Old supply lines and drains are common repair jobs; see repiping. Houses built by the sugar company were laid out on a tidy grid with similar plumbing in each.

Historic homes

Careful work keeps the character of old houses intact. The Salinas River runs just to the east, and the valley floor holds moisture after storms.

The sugar town

Spreckels was built for workers at the Spreckels Sugar plant, which ran from 1899 to 1982 and was at one time the world's largest sugar beet factory, using about 13 million gallons of water a day. John Steinbeck worked here, and East of Eden was filmed in town in 1955. Century-old homes deserve a plumber who respects them; see fixtures and remodels. The old factory site has since been redeveloped, but the original worker homes remain.