It was for only a short time, but during that period he entertained friends such as Charlie Chaplin, completed Of Mice and Men and wrote The Grapes of Wrath. He lived in a small, mountain cottage on the 16-acre property at 16250 Greenwood Lane, which has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1989.

Back in the 1930s when Steinbeck lived there, Monte Sereno was nothing grand, said Mayor Pro Tempore Curtis Wright.

"It was the slums," Wright said. "Writers had no money. This was the cheapest place [Steinbeck] could go."

It took more than three hours of discussion on July 20 before Monte Sereno council members approved, in a 4-1 vote, an application to allow the current homeowner to make renovations to the property where the Steinbeck residence is located. Wright voted against the motion.

The motion includes three different permits, according to City Manager Brian Loventhal. First, the homeowner has been granted a use permit to alter the historic property. But historic fanatics can rest assured that the main part of the house, where Steinbeck did his writing, will remain untouched during the modernization process, as will the original fence surrounding the property. In addition, the homeowner has been granted a use permit to have more than one accessory structure and another permit to redesign the structure.

The home, located amid a forest of oak and bay trees tucked off the street, is owned by the John E. Little family. But what has confused some Monte Sereno citizens is that Little's last name isn't the name on the application. The property owner listed is LaSalle Bank/Lims, a term used by the architects on the project referring to the trust company holding the home.

Little is the chief executive officer, director and founder of Portal Software Inc. of Cupertino, one of the first Internet startups. The detailed motion will allow Little to remodel the interior of one of the existing residences on the property and add 1,295 square feet to the lower level. It also includes demolishing the existing garage and constructing a new, detached garage of approximately 1,000 square feet. In addition, there will be a new secondary dwelling unit added—to be used as a writing studio—along with a detached arbor, pool and spa.

"You may be aware my wife is a writer," said Little during the July 20 meeting. "She just finished her third novel. She really likes writing in the house where Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath."

The motion also includes the removal of 31 trees, many of which have been poorly pruned and managed over the years or are diseased and rotting. But an enormous effort was made on Little's part to preserve as many trees as possible and replace any oaks that will be removed on a 1-1 ratio. Little also plans to use indigenous plants in the landscaping phase.

The home has already gone through a controversial remodeling process under its previous owner, Joel Gambord, a former Monte Sereno councilman. As a result, many of the historic aspects of the home no longer exist.

"We blew it 20 to 30 years ago," said Monte Sereno resident Phil Levine during a June 1 council meeting when the Steinbeck house was also discussed. "The city should have bought [the property]."

When he purchased the property a few years ago, Little retained historical consultants, only to learn his home wasn't as historic as he believed. However, this hasn't stopped Little from planning to enhance and preserve the home's historical charm during the remodeling process. He hired one of the area's top arborists, Barry Coates, along with Peter Van Dine and Stephen Sutro from the San Francisco­based Architecture & Light design firm and a landscape architect from Suzman & Cole Design Associates.

Wright voted against the motion because he believed there were more appropriate sites on the property on which to situate the writing studio, which will be located in view of the Smouts' property next door. Neighbor Penny Smout voiced her disappointment with the minimal changes to the project at the July 20 meeting, along with concerns of impacted privacy and noise during the construction process.

But other sites for the secondary unit were rejected, Van Dine said, because of potential setback violations, grade, denseness and distance of travel to the main house. Van Dine added they are planning to replace a red-brick footpath on the property with a less obtrusive gray and brown pathway, which will blend in with the historic setting. They will also replace a chain-link fence on the property with a grape stake fence to match that built by Steinbeck.

Little assured council members he'll do what it takes to shield the secondary unit as much as possible from the view of his neighbors with foliage.

"This house is part of the historical legacy of Monte Sereno," he said, adding, "It's an impossible process to make an invisible house."