^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Pacific Grove, California (U.S.)

Monterey County

image by Masao Okazaki, 31 March 2025
based on photo located by Valentin Poposki, 10 March 2012

Description of the flag
The seal

See also:

Monterey County
Municipal flags of California (index page)
California
United States of America

The flag

The flag of the City of Pacific Grove, California, is greyish-blue with city seal on it.
Valentin Poposki, 10 March 2012

I lived in Pacific Grove from 1987-2003, and designed the city flag around 2000 or so - not sure the exact date.

The flag is on a light blue background, signifying seafoam and foggy skies. The golden yellow represents sunny skies, with a nod to the California gold rush.

The monarch butterfly in the middle represents Pacific Grove's designation as "Butterfly Town, USA."

The five cypress trees represent a grove, and a reference to the oldest Chinese fishing village in California at Point Alones. Five is a lucky number in Chinese culture, and they're laid out to form a line when reflected in a cylindrical mirror.

Last I checked the flag flies over City Hall as well as the Natural History Museum in Pacific Grove.
Jeff Woodbury, 31 March 2025

The seal

image located by Paul Bassinson, 18 May 2019

Source: https://www.cityofpacificgrove.org

A clear image of this seal can be found at www.pacificgrove.com . The seal consists of a circular format with an outer ring and central image both in dark olive green, the central image having a background color of white. The outer circle contains the words 'CITY OF PACIFIC GROVE CALIFORNIA' in white block lettering. There are two white hyphens at the 5 and 7 o'clock positions respectively. At the bottom of the outer ring are the word and date 'INC. 1889' similarly written. The central image shows a tree of unknown variety and a forester silhouetted against a white sky. As Pacific Grove is known as 'The Butterfly City' this web site is speckled with moving images of Monarch butterflies, one of which obscures the actual seal.
Ron Lahav, 20 March 2005

The image is very small on the first page, and the butterfly is strategically placed to obscure key details on the second page, but to me the "forester" looks more like two other trees in the background. And if their name includes "Grove" shouldn't we expect more than one tree on their emblems? The name of the image at the www.pacificgrove.com/ page is "City Flag & Butterfly". Does this hint the city flag is a white seal on a bedsheet?
Ned Smith, 21 March 2005