EDITOR’S NOTE: Kalisa Moore, who died in 2009, had fallen upon hard times in 2008. That’s when she reached out and received help from the Salvation Army and Operation Christmas Cheer. Here’s the story as told by former Herald staffer Dennis Taylor, published in November, 2008.

MONTEREY >> The woman known as “The Queen of Cannery Row” will be 83 in January, but in her heart Kalisa Moore says she’s only 49. And she’s looking for a job.

For almost 50 years, she owned and operated Kalisa’s, serving up food, spirits, world-famous musical acts and belly dancing in the historic building that was previously La Ida Cafe, the bordello where Eddie the bartender poured all the leftover drinks into the same jug for Mack and the boys, the motley and slothful characters John Steinbeck made famous in “Cannery Row.”

Kalisa’s eclectic clientele included movie stars, writers, down-on-their-luck locals, tourists, random revelers and everybody in between. One night, in 1968, Steinbeck, himself came in.

“He was very subdued,” she told The Herald in 2007. “He just sat there and sucked in the atmosphere and some good red wine.”

Memories are what she has left of those days. Her landlord sold the building, which is right across the street from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. “The Queen” lost her lease, and Kalisa’s closed for good on Feb. 27, 2007 — Steinbeck’s birthday.

Known for her generosity when times were good, Moore has now turned to the Salvation Army for assistance. And she has been selected by Salvation Army officials as a beneficiary of Operation Christmas Cheer, the annual fundraiser sponsored by The Herald and First National Bank.

Moore’s road has been a bit bumpy since the day she was “put out on the street” with what she calls “moving expenses” that evaporated quickly. Without her restaurant, Moore was without income. She looked into opening another place in Monterey, Pacific Grove, Carmel, Seaside, Marina … anywhere on her beloved Peninsula might have worked.

“I tried to relocate, but we had a problem,” she said. “At that time, none of the cities on the Peninsula had water credits. What it meant was that, even if I found a wonderful building, I couldn’t use it because I wouldn’t be able to get the water turned on. How am I going to run a business without water? So I finally decided that since I was already 80-some, I might as well pack it in.”

That lifestyle change was hard on Moore, who had happily worked her fingers to the bone for five decades at Kalisa’s. Her meager savings ran out in a hurry. She says the military has never paid her a dime in pension money for the 30 years of service her late husband, William, gave to the U.S. Army before he died of cirrhosis of the liver (a disease she says he contracted in the service) in 1983.

With the help of her children, including a daughter who cashed in her 401(k) account, she found a new place to live in the former Fort Ord. But the rent there kept rising, so she moved again. Today “The Queen of Cannery Row” lives in an apartment in Carmel Valley — a nice place, she says, and she’s thankful for it.

Moore says she’d like to find another job to make the bill-paying easier. Meanwhile, she devotes most of her time to efforts to preserve the history and integrity of Cannery Row, which, she says, has all but disappeared in recent years.

Her former restaurant has been completely remodeled and modernized by its new owner, she says. Most of the other landmarks are also gone, or are mostly unrecognizable from The Row’s bustling heyday.

So she’s focused on numerous personal projects and quests to restore some of that glory. Every cannery once had a loud, distinctive whistle that summoned workers a couple of times a day, and Kalisa would like to find some of those and put them back where they were.

It disappoints her that she’s no longer in a position to give things to needy people, something she did for five decades as the owner of Kalisa’s.

“I’m from Europe. I went through World War II,” she said. “I believe that if people are in need, you give. You don’t wait until Christmas to give somebody a new pair of shoes if they need them right now.”

“I still want to work,” Moore says. “I still have a lot of things I’d like to give to this area. And, by the way, I’m still ‘The Queen of Cannery Row.’”

Operation Christmas Cheer, a fundraising project sponsored by 1st Capital Bank, The Herald and the Salvation Army. It aims to help local individuals and families who find themselves in need this time of year. Since 1985, it has raised more than $2.6 million, which has been distributed in various forms to needy Monterey County families and individuals during the holidays.

To donate and have the opportunity to have your message printed in the Herald see the Operation Christmas Cheer coupon.