The house was built in 1911 for Eva and Wilber George as a private summer residence — a Craftsman-style escape from the summer heat of the nearby Salinas Valley, built to catch the cool ocean air and quiet of Monterey Bay. Even in these earliest years, the property was conceived as a place to slow down and take in the natural beauty of the peninsula, a character it has never really lost.

By 1937, as the energy of nearby Cannery Row grew, the home transitioned into a place of quiet reflection under the care of the Victory Mission Sisters, hosting gatherings and classes for children in New Monterey. Its legacy as a sanctuary—set just moments from the coastline—continued through the decades.

In 1981, Barbara and Jim Allen bought the property and turned it into one of the first bed and breakfasts on the Monterey Peninsula, originally with five guest rooms, some sharing bathrooms. It was Jim who, drawing on Lewis Carroll's poem "Jabberwocky," gave the inn its whimsical name and its Wonderland-inspired room names — a spirit of playful imagination that still defines the property today. Over the next three decades, a succession of owners continued to shape the inn.

In 2026, we began the next chapter as 598 Laine Estate — the fourth generation of innkeeper to call 598 Laine Street home. Our vision is simple: a place where history meets modern comfort, where the craftsmanship of 1911 and the story of every owner since are honored, and where guests come to make new memories of their own.