Doc Wenzel’s Old Time Portraits

The gentleman that helped our family was wonderful. He says he has been there for over 4 years.
Extremely family friendly (adults, kids, babies). They had 4 «scene» type options with tons to costumes (all sizes) and props. I believe they were civil war, roaring 20’s, wild west, formal wild west.
I suggest, as others did, to let them select the clothes for you. We found him very helpful. It was a great experience. We did not feel rushed. He had great suggestions. We watched him help a large group in front of us (also of all ages) with ease.
Cost was $ 10/​pp.
The printed pictures ranged from $ 15 -$ 17.
Additional ad on are:
Matt picture holder is an extra (under $ 10).
The large wood picture frame was (around $ 20).
There are several options other options…
Such as buying a cd with the image (s).
I would strongly recommend this place.

Great time! On a whim, my wife and I decided to get our photo taken in an old western saloon. Place was not that busy, so we had so much fun working with the photographer. He was extremely helpful and made much of the experience. He took maybe a dozen photos and they all were great. We decided to get them all on a CD. Tons of fun!

Had a great time taking photos here with my girlfriend! The costumes are great and the pictures we go were amazing. In addition I left my keys behind and Natasha was super helpful in getting them back to me.
The one thing that would be nice would be to receive a digital copy of the photos upon purchase of some prints.

Hubby and I walked past in holiday mode and couldn’t resist. We had a similar photo experience in Solvang however it was a very serious affair, whereas this was FUN! We had a good hour laughing, playing dress up and having fun, no one else was in the shop waiting, but we had plenty of passers by stop and watch and laugh along with us.
The young lady who helped us was fantastic (sorry I cant remember your name!). She picked out our clothes (let her do it, she knows the best clothing for the best shots) and sorted our props out too. We had an idea of what we wanted and she went along with it and made some tweaks to perfect it. The bathtub shot was hilarious: P We went for the wild west, and it was wild! She took quite a few photos and made sure we looked good, eyes open, no weird faces, both looking directly into the camera. Quite a feat since I am extremely un-​photogenic. We bought the main photo in sepia, with the old time mat the frame too — it was cheaper than buying a mat/​frame of equal quality in Michael’s and I didn’t have to shop around for it. It was done, ready to hang on the wall and it was well priced too.
If we are in Monterey in the future we will definitely go back. It was great to do such a fun photo shoot instead of a serious one: P

This is one of those things «I always wanted to do!» (Can you hear yourself saying that lol) so for my moms 60^th she demanded it so we obliged and i am so glad we did! The man who helped up was hilarious and he made sure we looked good (no closed eyes or foochie faces!) If you are in the area you must stop here

Super friendly staff. They have great props and are affordable. They make you feel very comfortable.

I was in Monterey for a long weekend with my mom and two older sisters. Because my sisters are married with many young children, this was an important girls-​only vacation which may not happen again for a long time. We were walking Cannery Row one day back in April and walked past Doc Wenzel’s studio. Mom is big into playing dress-​up and capturing moments in photography, so she insisted we get a unique memento of our girls-​only trip.
There was no wait when we walked in, and the gentleman working that studio that day (the owner, I assume), was super friendly and patient with us – not that we were high maintenance, but we were a bit energetic. We picked the Wild West theme, and he picked us out very nice costumes to wear, and staged a few fun scenes. We really had a blast, and were very pleased with the photos! He took several shots, and let us view all of them on the computer so we could pick which ones we wanted to purchase. I don’t remember the prices, but they were very reasonable, especially for the memories we took home with us :)
The next time I’m in Monterey, I’m dragging my boyfriend here with me. There were some very entertaining scenarios on the wall display to give some ideas.

Found Doc Wenzels by doing some Internet searching, called to confirm their hours and location. Spoke with nice gentlemen who said no appointment necessary come on down until 6pm located inside the red cannery row building near Starbucks. My fiancé and I drove down from Gilroy walked in and greeted Martin. He instructed us to choose from one of their 4 themes, we decided Wild West theme. He chose great period costumes for us both. Throughout the session he was friendly and helpful to get the best shots. Also knew his history ensuring things were authentic to the time and shared many fun historic facts. Highly recommend them and will be sending our friends and family down. They are also the only one around, the Santa Cruz boardwalk no longer has old time photos. Reasonable prices and great inexpensive rustic looking frames to show off your pictures.

I don’t know the name of the girl that helped us, but she made the experience so much fun for me and my girlfriends. If you’re looking to do something fun in Monterey then be sure to do this. You may have to wait a while, but its definitely worth it.

This place is so fun and reasonable prices. The quality of the pictures are amazing but the best thing is how friendly and patient Jaymie was. She was really helpful and super easy to talk to as well. I took my out of town friends Erin and her boyfriend Chaz here and they had so much fun taking couple pictures. The costumes were also great quality and they were really happy with the results!

At first when you see the prices you’re like, ehhh, really? But trust me, it’s worth it. The girl working was about to close shop but took us in at the last minute out of the goodness of her heart. We did the «formal» photo. It came out hilariously well. Our photographer was really good about choosing the right costumes, props, etc. She definitely knows what she’s doing. We love our photo, and every time we look at it we crack up.

Amazing!
Took our family to get family portraits as a Christmas gift for my parents. 4 sisters, with all of our children in tow. 11 cousins in all. Jaymie, was an angel, she accomodated us after hours and spend forever getting us ready. The kids even got to pick and change guns a million times. Even with all the loudness and crazyness, she never lost her cool. Had the funniest bestest ideas for us. Such a fun family night. could not recommended more. Even ended up taking sister pictures. And super affordable to boot.

Fun, affordable, all ages and a great thing to do during the off season. The only reason for less than 5 stars is because of the theme selection (you have a choice of only 4 themes). You can order more of your prints on their website. They have high quality costumes, as opposed to the kind us normal folks can get. The photographer was fun, interactive, personable, professional and made our experience even better.
My boyfriend wasn’t loving the idea of me dragging him away from the Aquarium to go play dress up and take pix, but once we got started and the prints came out, he was over-​the-​moon excited about our experience here.
One thing to remember, it is DIRECTLY on the street front, so people stop and watch you sometimes. Also, there are security cameras that are monitored during biz hours… don’t get over zealous and run around half naked like I did!

This place was like a hidden jewel that my LM and I could not pass. Simply a fun place to play dress up at any age. The prices I feel are reasonable. It was $ 40 for two 8×10 photos of my son fully dressed up. Any photo we chose afterwards were reasonable. I got an additional 5×7 for $ 7.50 and a 4×6 for $ 5. For you cheap peeps that consider this expensive, well… I am a single mom and all I can say is photos are timeless moments! You can’t take your money w/​u when you die so live it up! :D

We all have those crazy friends that will talk you into doing anything. May it be dancing on the tables or staying out all night. My friends talked me into dressing up as hooker and taking pictures. Ok maybe not a hooker but a woman of loose morals. The boys dressed up in ten gallon hats and chaps. While the girls were laced up in corsets and wore feather boas around our necks. The pictures turned out great and will help me forever remember the good times spent with wonderful friends.