A news clipping showed Marilyn Monroe in her “Artichoke Queen” sash.

Few entertainers were ever more in demand than Marilyn Monroe.

However, when she was 22 years old, Monroe was not even the first choice to be the inaugural Artichoke Queen in Castroville, a farming community about 15 miles northeast of Monterey and a few miles off the coast.

What Monroe lacked in name recognition, however, she made up for in being available, and the honorary title was bestowed upon her this week in 1948.

In the years that followed, both Monroe and Castroville’s artichoke industry went on to achieve success in their respective fields: Monroe as an internationally renowned actress, singer, and sex symbol, and Castroville as the “Artichoke Center of the World,” in name if not in deed, and as the home of the Artichoke Festival.