Years later Bruce Ariss created artwork and served as editor for a local magazine What's Doing on the Monterey Peninsula.
18 Facts About Bruce Ariss
1.
2.
Bruce Ariss claimed that John Steinbeck referred to the house as a "Triumph over Architecture".
3.
At age 80, Bruce Ariss designed and rebuilt, with help from many friends, "Triumph over Architecture II," which is currently occupied by his daughter, Holly Shoats, and her spouse Al.
4.
Bruce Ariss was a friend and contemporary of John Steinbeck, the Nobel Prize-winning author, and Ed Ricketts.
5.
Bruce and Jean Ariss accompanied Ricketts and Steinbeck on an excursion to Mexico to collect marine specimens.
6.
Bruce Ariss was a renaissance man, but primarily an artist, producing hundreds of works of art during his long career.
7.
Bruce Ariss painted a number murals, many under the Works Progress Administration, a federal program set up to create public works to relieve unemployment.
8.
Bruce Ariss painted a number of storefronts, many for the 1949 centennial, including those for Monterey Hardware, Poppy Coffee Shop and Monterey Studio on Alvadaro Street in Monterey.
9.
Bruce Ariss's mural across from Doc Ricketts' lab on Cannery Row is a current tourist attraction.
10.
In 1989, Bruce Ariss designed a five-year mural project for a walkway in Cannery Row.
11.
Bruce Ariss acted in the Wharf Theater; for example, he played Lennie in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.
12.
Bruce Ariss did the cover and illustrations of Vincent DiGirolamo's 1990 book Whispers Under the Wharf: A Monterey Ghost Story.
13.
Bruce Ariss was a very avid reader, mostly of science fiction.
14.
Bruce Ariss wrote some science fiction short stories before publishing his science fiction novel, Full Circle in 1963.
15.
Bruce Ariss illustrated sci-fi works including Reginald Bretnor's Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot.
16.
In 1958, Bruce Ariss designed an economy sedan with innovative features such as a sliding door, front-wheel drive and modular components.
17.
Bruce Ariss worked for 12 years at the Defense Language Institute with Barney Inada in the art department.
18.
Bruce Ariss assisted the cartoonist Hank Ketcham with Dennis the Menace.