The tiny town of Spreckels is about four miles south west of Salinas. Spreckels was named in honor of Claus Spreckels who built the tiny town for his employees complete with a school, a grocery store, tiny post office and a fire department. The facility was the largest beet sugar factory in the United States in 1899, built on the banks of the Salinas River. The Spreckels Sugar Company began selling their company houses in 1925. John Steinbeck and his father worked at the sugar factory. John Seinbeck used Spreckels as a setting in some portions of his book Tortilla Flat and is mentioned in his books "East of Eden" and "Sweet Thursday." The movie East of Eden was filmed in Spreckels. Spreckels maintains a wonderful park "Spreckels Memorial Park" on 2nd and 3rd streets.