Los Angeles & Southern California - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [271]
The surrounding area is home to the University of California San Diego (UCSD), several renowned research institutes and a new-money residential area called the Golden Triangle, bounded by I-5, I-805 and Hwy 52.
Bus 30 takes you from Downtown and La Jolla and stops at many sights en route.
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INFORMATION
Bookstores
These bookstores have good selections and host readings and author events.
DG Wills (Map; 858-456-1800; 7461 Girard Ave)
Warwick’s (Map; 858-454-0347; 7812 Girard Ave)
Money
Travelex (Map; 858-457-2412; University Towne Centre; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat, 11am-4pm Sun) Foreign-currency exchange at inland shopping mall.
Tourist Information
La Jolla Visitor Center (Map; 619-236-1212; www.sandiego.org; 7966 Herschell; 9am-5pm Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm Sun) This outpost of the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau also promotes La Jolla.
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SIGHTS
Downtown La Jolla
La Jolla Village sits atop cliffs with the ocean on three sides. The main crossroads, Girard Ave and Prospect St are the x and y axes of some of San Diego’s best restaurants and certainly its best boutique shopping. For a bit of old La Jolla, head southwest from Girard Ave along Prospect St. Number 780 Prospect St was originally Ellen Browning Scripps guest cottage.
Around the corner from the cottage, La Jolla Historical Society (Map; 858-459-5335; 7846 Eads Ave; noon-4:30pm Tue & Thu) has vintage photos and beach memorabilia (think old bathing costumes and lifeguard buoys). Further southwest on Prospect St there’s St James Episcopal Church, the La Jolla Recreation Center and the Bishop’s School, all built in the early 20th century.
La Jolla’s branch of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (Map; 858-454-3541; www.mcasd.org; 700 Prospect St; adult/senior/25 & under $10/5/free; 11am-7pm Thu, 11am-5pm Fri-Tue) gets changing, world-class exhibitions. Originally designed by Irving Gill in 1916 as the home of Ellen Browning Scripps, the building was renovated by Philadelphia’s postmodern architect Robert Venturi and has an Andy Goldsworthy sculpture out the front; tickets are good for one week at all three of the museum’s locations Click here.
Read daily newspapers from around the globe at the quiet and civilized Athenaeum Music & Arts Library (Map; 858-454-5872; 1008 Wall St, cnr Girard Ave; 10am-5:30pm Tue-Sat, 10am-8:30pm Wed), which also displays small art exhibits. Lovely.
The Coast
A wonderful walking path skirts the shoreline for half a mile. At the west it begins at the Children’s Pool, where a jetty protects the beach from big waves.
Originally intended to give La Jolla’s youth a safe place to frolic, the beach is now given over to sea lions, which you can view up close as they lounge on the shore.
Atop Point La Jolla, at the path’s eastern end, Ellen Browning Scripps Park is a tidy expanse of green lawns and palm trees, with La Jolla Cove to the north. The cove’s gem of a beach provides access to some of the best snorkeling around; it’s also popular with rough-water swimmers.
Look for the white buoys offshore from Point La Jolla to Scripps Pier (visible to the north) that mark the San Diego–La Jolla Underwater Park Ecological Reserve, a protected zone with a variety of marine life, kelp forests, reefs and canyons (see Diving & Surfing, Click here). Waves have carved a series of caves into the sandstone cliffs east of the cove. The largest is called Sunny Jim Cave, which you can access via the Cave Store (Map; 858-459-0746; 1325 Cave St; adult/child $4/3; 10am-5pm); taller visitors, watch your head as you descend the 145 steps.
Click here for info about surfing this area.
La Jolla Shores
Called simply ‘the Shores,’ the area northeast of La Jolla Cove is where La Jolla’s cliffs meet the wide, sandy beaches north to Del Mar. Primarily residential,