San Diego Attractions: Fur seals on La Jolla Beach. Where to go in the vicinity of Los Angeles: La Jolla - the warmest beach in California, photo, review Let's walk along the yellow brick road and explore the most interesting places in La Joll
Traveling to the USA and where are the best places to swim in the area Los Angeles, attractions near Los Angeles and San Diego, photo of the warmest beach on the California coast, the most beautiful beach on California coast where to go in the area Los Angeles And San Diego, what to see, the best beaches, how to get there.
Where to swim near Los Angeles
Los Angeles and him beaches quite cold and even the most best city beaches
Not everyone likes it, not least because of the waves and cool water, it does not exceed +19-20 even in August. 
La Jolla Beach, suburb of San Diego
- this is the beach in the town La Jolla- suburb San Diego. A place where it is warm, expensive and beautiful. Expensive if you dine in a restaurant overlooking the ocean and stay in a hotel on the shore. The cost of even budget housing in La Jolla starts at 100-150 dollars per night, and this is not in high season. A night in a good hotel will be the same as a week-long tour to the Turkish “all inclusive” on the Antalya coast. 
This is what average budget housing on the coast looks like. 
Walking on the beach and swimming are free. At the end of the beach there are a couple of places for a picnic; you can take food and beer with you.
The first feature of the coast La Jolla– it smells quite strongly, but this is only at first. I mean at the entrance to the embankment. The Americans are so “strange” that they allowed local fur seals and pelicans to breed their everyday life at an expensive resort. The smell is incredible, sensitive girls hide their noses in handkerchiefs and park away from the right sector of the beach (at the entrance) - there is something like the headquarters of these odorous birds. 
Photos and review of La Jolla Beach
A postcard beautiful coastline, especially at sunset. The embankment is one of those that appeals to children, idealists and people who don’t give a damn; in general, everyone will like it. A wide green lawn, a walking path along the ocean, tall palm trees and a very beautiful rocky Pacific coastline with small pocket beaches. Something vaguely reminiscent of Portuguese Algarve coast .
Everything is open not only to hotel guests. If you just traveling around the USA by car
and you don’t intend to live or dine there, just prepare some money for parking. You can enjoy the ocean, embankment, rocks and watch whales, seals, dolphins and wildlife for free. 
On La Jolla waterfront traditional for America there are few benches, this is not Europe - here pensioners and couples like to walk or run. A couple of benches near the rescue tower even look a little lonely.
You can and should swim in La Jolla the warmest water on the coast and almost no waves. You should be prepared to dive next to a fur seal or meet a pelican. I don’t know about sharks, the locals say they haven’t seen them. But there is whales – season: August-September. 
La Jolla became the reason why San Diego We arrived after sunset and had time to admire the night skyline and the party of kerosene lamps on the street. 
How to get to La Jolla beaches from Los Angeles
La Jolla– suburb San Diego, is located 190 km. from Los Angeles. From the City of Angels it takes one and a half to two hours by car, depending on traffic along the coast along Freeway No. 5 (San Diego fwy). On the way you can make an hour-long stop at the reserve Dana Point 
And yes, La Jolla has the most beautiful sunset on the California coast. Plan your time correctly!
More articles about California and more read on the Russian-language project Californiatrip.com
How to Find Budget Accommodation in La Jolla (LA JOLLA)
Cheap accommodation or hotels in La Jolla can be found through the booking system Hotels Combined, a service I use myself. The advantage of the service is that it compares prices from dozens of booking systems - you just have to choose the best offer. In each article or report, I provide links to hotels where I stayed and which I liked.How to buy cheap airfare to Los Angeles
Air travel from Kyiv can be purchased directly on the airline’s website, but it is most profitable to take advantage of flight offers for direction Kyiv-Los Angeles from the aggregator aviasales, an aggregator that I use myself. The service offers the most advantageous offers - you just have to choose the best by price, departure time or airline.
To be honest, we never took the time to think about it. There was simply nothing to think about. What would you choose: spend half a day and night at the airport in Dallas, Texas (we had to have a layover there) or two full days in San Diego? In addition, American Airlines changed tickets for free on the occasion of the hurricane, and we scraped together bonus points for just two nights at the Marriott in the Old Town. At work, they also reacted with understanding to my desire to extend my vacation by a couple of days, so nothing at all could prevent us from continuing our journey. Therefore, throwing our beach clothes into the car, we set off... We set off... We set off... Oh, okay. In all previous posts I hinted, hinted, and even got tired of hinting myself. We went to La Jolla.
In general, a person who has studied English all his life in one way or another needs to drink a lot to read La Jolla as La Jolla. For a Spanish-speaking citizen, on the contrary, this will not be difficult. Because that's how it's read in Spanish. But I have already said enough about the close ties between the two fraternal peoples, so I will not repeat myself. Every guide to San Diego mentions La Jolla beaches. But for some reason no one writes that they are the best in California, and maybe even in all of America. And since Sorg also said: “If you want it to be good, do it yourself,” then I alone will have to take the rap for all the authors of all the guidebooks, as well as for the endless number of people on the Internet who speak but do not finish speaking. Why does La Jolla receive the prize in the form of a golden seal head (more on this below)? And in the final there is no one else! There were dull sandy beaches on the east coast, but they dropped out of the race at the very beginning. The monumental beauties of Oregon lasted a little longer, but they are like being in a museum: look as much as you like, but if you want to swim, you will need a concert padded jacket and concert felt boots. Right there... Rocky shores, in which the water has washed away small coves. Soft fine sand interspersed with large boulders, already processed by the ocean and therefore not sharp. Palm trees and green lawns just beyond the coastline. And the ocean is a stunning blue-green color! True, the water doesn’t whisper even here, but at least you can get into it!
The funny thing is that immediately upon arrival we again headed in the wrong direction. That is, approximately the same, but not quite. After all, we’ve read a lot of guidebooks, damn them. And every guidebook first of all mentions Children's Pool. But God forbid you take this name too literally. Firstly, this is not a swimming pool, but just another cove washed out by the ocean in the rocks, and secondly, it is not suitable for children Well, except that it will be very interesting for children to look at its inhabitants, but on the other hand, it will be no less interesting for adults, because these inhabitants are seals - it is not reported anywhere, but for many years. a large colony of these marine mammals lives there quietly. They live and swim side by side with people, while both sides manage not to interfere with each other. I saw a lot of photos from the beach where people come almost close to the seals, take pictures, and take pictures. .. Yes, for example. But on the day of our visit, for some reason no one was allowed to go to the seal beach. But this is not a big problem, because the bay is framed by a narrow and high reinforced concrete pier, from which everything is also perfectly visible. Well, how wonderful - normal. And also, when you swim in the ocean, no, no, and a curious seal’s head will flash nearby.
Wow, they are there, my dears, lying on the pebbles
Closer...
Even closer...
Yes, we swam! They didn’t wash their boots, didn’t go knee-deep, but swam like human beings. In this beautiful green-blue water. And they lay on the soft soft sand. And looked into the blue sky...
It all ended quickly and suddenly, although expectedly. We returned to our normal mode of existence, “galloping across Europe.” Therefore, with an effort of will (a very great effort) we got up from the sand, got ready and went home for lunch, and then moved to Balboa Park.
One of the entrances to Balboa Park
Balboa Park is what it will become if you take away all the pathos from it, but don’t touch anything else. The same place of universal leisure for the whole family, at least for a day, and at most for a week. True, we checked there for about three hours in total, but we can do it, we’re galloping. So, there are 17 museums alone in the park. 9 concert and stage venues. Mini railway. Zoo (as many say - the best in the USA). It is clear that absolutely no one will visit absolutely all museums, unless there is a person who is simultaneously interested in painting and sculpture, cars and airplanes, human entrails and toy railways, as well as flora and fauna. True, it turned out to be a setup with museums. We didn't hit any, even at a gallop. I don't know who came up with the idea that museums should close at 4 pm. Some people are just starting to walk at this time. Moreover, this chaos is not only in San Diego, but in all states (I don’t remember how in other countries). So I had to walk outside. Again, it is unrealistic to visit all 19 thematic kindergartens in three hours, but some of them are quite feasible. They are all small, but very beautiful and/or exotic.
We really liked the Japanese garden with fish and bonsai
The cactus garden looks incredibly exotic. Several hundred species of cacti grow in a small area
But Yanochkin’s favorite garden is the rose garden
Much of the architecture in the park is Mexican. Although from a distance it is persistently associated with Indian! I have never been to those parts, but for some reason it seems to me that this is exactly what Indian palaces should look like.
Before we had time to leave the parking lot and turn towards the house, our children fell asleep without a word (although they may have agreed - who knows). Driving home in such conditions seemed absolutely ridiculous: the children didn’t care where to sleep, but we didn’t care what to watch. So we went on a driving tour of Coronado, fortunately the drive there from Balboa Park was only about ten minutes. Coronado is an island located in San Diego Bay and separating the downtown embankments from the ocean. The island is small, but absolutely wonderful. Firstly, there is a long and high bridge leading there, which has become one of the calling cards of San Diego. Secondly, one of the largest bases of the American Pacific Fleet is located there. Third, twice famous hotel
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Clarification.
….. and then drive a little east along the La Jolla ParkWay, then, like the yellow brick road, you will certainly end up in the “Emerald Jewel City” - La Jolla.
So, La Jolla... Exactly “La Jolla”, not “La Jolla” as the Garmin navigator says!
Based only on what tourists who have been there write and “show” on the Internet, La Jolla is a “beach tourist mecca” and a locality with the most expensive real estate in the San Diego area.
Yes... All this is true, but... La Jolla is not only about expensive houses and beaches, it is a place with more than a century of history, people and events that made the area what it is today.
The view from above is better... Eh?
Let's be historians?
The funny nickname “Jewel City” may not have been given to La Jolla through legal means. The fact is that city historians have never come to a consensus on how the area received such a “completely un-English” name – La Jolla. There are 2 versions on this matter...
Version number one. Previously, this territory was inhabited by Native Americans (Kumeyaay Indians). The Indians nicknamed these lands with a strange and difficult to pronounce phrase, the meaning of which can be conveyed as “land of pits” or “holes in the mountains.” It seems that the area received this name because of the large number of rocks and caves on the coast. As they say, it simply and tastefully reflects reality. Starting from the 16th century, Spanish-speaking sailors and settlers began to “look” here... They wrote down the “Indian” name in Spanish as they heard it. And it turned out - “La Jolla”.
Version number two is much shorter. The name “La Jolla” is a modification of the Spanish word “La Joya” (‘joya’ means ‘jewel’ in Spanish). “Jolla” and “Joya” sound exactly the same in Spanish. There is no answer to the question of why the Spanish-speaking settlers chose this name.
Thinking out loud.
Version number 2 seems a little far-fetched, but there is one thing... In documents dating back to 1870, the word “La Joya” is used for the name of the land, but since 1928 the name “La Jolla” has been used.
Scientists are more inclined to the first version, but the more popularized one is the second. This is understandable, who will like the dissonant name “land of holes”.
The La Jolla lands became part of San Diego in 1850, but the first permanent residents of the area, brothers Daniel and Samuel Sizer, did not appear until 1869. They purchased an 80-acre parcel of land from the city for $1.25 per acre. In 2000, this site, located between Fay Street and La Jolla Boulevard, was worth no less than $2 million per acre. Not a bad increase in price over 150 years, even taking into account inflation.
Real estate businessmen have been around at all times, and they did not pass by the “tidbit” in the person of La Jolla. Some people “made” good money from this, but others “got broke” because they couldn’t wait for the “good” time to sell their lands.
The year 1894 became one of the “signature” years for the history of the area... This year, rails were laid from San Diego to La Jolla, which served as a signal of “activation” for developers and other businessmen. We can say that they took on La Jolla with renewed vigor….
Oh, what did these guys come up with... Having advertised La Jolla as a resort with excellent beaches and other entertainment, the “businessmen”, in addition to “resort accommodations,” urgently built bathhouses and dance floors (a strange combination of entertainment). It is not clear what had a greater effect, but people went... And they went so en masse that those who did not have enough places in beach cottages (or finances for these same cottage houses) on the shores of La Jolla Bay - La Jolla Cove, settled in tents towns nearby.
Tent city on the site of current Scripps Park (1899)
By the way, these beach cottages are considered a “reference point” in the architectural history of La Jolla. Some of these cottages are still “alive” in one form or another, for example:
- 8 of the 12 Green Dragon Colony houses are used for gallery shops and the Crab Catcher restaurant (address: 1258-1274 Prospect St.);
View from Prospect Street
These are the same houses, but from the opposite side - the view from Coast Blvd.
Another view from Coast Blvd.
- “Red Roost” and “Red Rest” are representatives of the late Victorian style (address: 1187 and 1179 Coast Blvd.), but it’s just impossible to see them: they are rotting and living out their days, covered with a tarpaulin since 1980... they cannot be demolished, because that are of historical value.
- “Wisteria Cottage” (address: 780 Prospect St.) has become a kind of museum; Before that, the building was both a school (even two) and a bookstore (also two).
This is what “Wisteria Cottage” looks like now
And in 1893, the first hotel in La Jolla even opened - the La Jolla Park Hotel (not a very original name).
La Jolla attracted not only tourists and those doing business in the tourism sector, but also those who like to “live in a good place.” And if by 1900 the district consisted of only 350 houses and 1,000 citizens, then by 1920 the population of the district had reached 4,000 people. During this time, the number of
- as tourist sites: shops, beaches, yacht clubs, various entertainment venues and, of course, new hotels (down with tent cities!), including the Cabrillo Hotel, which in 1956 became part of the La Valencia Hotel, built in 1926.
Hotel Cabrillo in 1909
The original La Valencia Hotel
Hotel La Valencia. She is also called the Pink Lady or simply Rosie.
Still the same La Valencia. View from Coast Blvd.
- as well as private houses and other urban infrastructure: a fire station, a police station, medical institutions, schools and even a library in the amount of one piece. La Jolla “emerged” from the boundaries of La Jolla Cove... and began to “grow” further to the east, north and south (although the south was the most difficult - because of the border with Pacific Beach).
Speaking about the formation and development of La Jolla, one cannot fail to mention Ellen Scripps. She was a fairly well-known journalist of that time... having worked all that was required, having retired, so to speak, Helen moved to California (a hundred years have passed, but the fashion of “retiring and moving to California” has not changed). In 1896 she settled in La Jolla and lived there for 36 years. This woman did a lot to improve the place in which she lived. In addition to donating to various organizations, Helen Scripps herself funded and helped found many notable and important projects in La Jolla:
- 2 medical institutions (Scripps Memorial Hospital, Scripps Metabolic Clinic);
- research institutions (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Scripps Research Institute);
- social project - “home” for the La Jolla Woman’s Club. The building, designed by Irwin Gill, looks very interesting. The simple geometric shapes of the building are “decorated” with arches and columns – a kind of “stripped-down” and modernized Spanish style.
La Jolla Woman's Club. The white building surrounded by greenery looks very elegant
Clarification.
Irving Gill was a fairly well-known architect in San Diego. He was an innovator and one of the pioneers of the modern movement in American architecture. It cannot be said that he worked in any particular style. Gill favored experimentation and often “mixed” architectural styles to achieve the result he wanted.
- one of the first schools in La Jolla is The Bishop's School (opened in 1909). Initially, it was a girls-only school. Now the school has 12 buildings, almost all of them have “seen” a lot. One of the buildings has been preserved since 1898. Part of the school was built by Irwin Gill. Some were then added to or rebuilt, such as the tower, by Carleton Winslow.
At the main entrance to Bishop's School
School tower
Entrance to Gilman Hall
- several more social projects, this time related to nature: the aquarium (Birch Aquarium at Scripps), Torrey Pines State Reserve and…. known to every tourist who has visited La Jolla - The Children's Pool - a small beach with fur seals and 'kittens'. This wonderful beach is photographed more than others!
Fur seal rookery!
Near this beach there is a sign that says “Just because a seal looks at you, it doesn’t mean it wants you to pet it.”
In general, everything that contains the word Scripps in the name is all in her honor. Even the house in which Helen and her sisters lived became, to some extent, the property and pride of La Jolla. since 1941 - exhibits of the Museum of Modern Art have been located there.
Modern Art Museum
The same guy, but bigger, is standing outside the museum of the same name in Seattle. Looks better against the background of palm trees
So, what happened next... and then in 1929 the stock market crash and the Great Depression ‘happened’... This affected everyone, and the resort towns “felt” the consequences, perhaps even more than others. As a result, by the beginning of World War II, the population of the area amounted to 7,700 people. A little…
Then events began to develop a little faster and a little more fun - the war ended and “things began to improve.” La Jolla began to grow again, so much so that it became in some sense a “threat” to the Marine Corps based in La Jolla since 1917. The reason is simple: you cannot set up landfills where many people live. In addition, the University of California has coveted the “land” of the base for its new campus. One way or another, the Marine Corps base was closed in 1964, and in 1965, the first college, University of California San Diego, opened its doors on the same site. The university gave a new impetus to the growth of the region’s population and the emergence of a “technological zone”. But it also became the reason for the division of La Jolla into the La Jolla area itself and the University area, or University Town Center (UTC). By the way, these two areas still have disputed “territories”.
A fly in the ointment?
There is nothing ideal, even in such a seemingly ideal place... Now it is difficult to believe that not only nationalism, but also anti-Semitism flourished here before. In some parts of La Jolla, namely La Jolla Shores and La Jolla Hermosa, there were “racial” restrictions: people who were not Caucasian in appearance were not allowed to purchase real estate, and Jews were somehow not included in the category of “white” people.
Clarification.
By the way, this was allowed by law and was a problem not only in La Jolla, but throughout the United States. There were even fairly well-known court cases, after which the US Congress declared such restrictions to be unenforceable.
To be honest, in La Jolla (and perhaps not only) they “didn’t give a damn” about the opinion of Congress.
As a result, only the intervention of Revell, the first director of the university, helped improve the situation. He forced people to “turn on their brains” by giving them a choice: either a university with Jewish professors, or the desires of property owners and realtors for a “white-Caucasian” La Jolla. Common sense has won...
Let's walk along the yellow brick road and explore the most interesting places in La Jolla?
The answer is definitely YES!There are many interesting places in La Jolla... What is worth or not worth seeing is purely a personal preference... If someone asked me about this, my answer is below...
1) Go to the old part of the area, also known as downtown La Jolla (you can choose Prospect St. as your starting point). Don’t look for anything special there - just walk along the streets you like and breathe in the salty air of history.. See how the “old” has become the foundation for everything new. Modern banks and shops look a little awkward and cute in “hundred-year-old” buildings.
Wells Fargo Bank building on Girard Ave.
Catholic Church “Mary, Star of the Sea”
Local “art house”
Another old hotel is The Grand Colonial (built in 1913). Intersection of Girard Ave. and Prospect St.
Scripps Park and Pacific Ocean
“Barker” in an art store-gallery
There are old street signs here and there.
Church “St James By-the-Sea”. Located opposite the Women's Club and the Museum of Modern Art
2) Look at the seals at Children’s Pool Beach and how the waves crash against the rocks.
Spray! Just splashes of waves... You can watch endlessly
And this is how the color of the water changes...
The color changes amazingly depending on the time of day and weather.
From Children’s Pool Beach, walk along Coast Boulevard and turn onto Scripps Park all the way. Upor is a rookery for sea lions and heaps of seagulls. It’s impossible to make a mistake - the smell there is absolutely killing (if anyone is interested... there are a lot of seagulls there, because they feed on the remains of fish that lions regurgitate... well, the smell there is generally for the same reason...) and the lions scream, like cut. But it all looks pretty funny.
From September to June, sea lions usually hang out here. Photo taken in August... Lots of tourists
And tourists - they are such people... That even lions are afraid
Well, the birds turned out to be more psychologically stable
By the way, on the way you definitely have to go down onto the stones and rocks...
Climbing on such stones is a real pleasure!
and meet RED squirrels! Well, there are no red squirrels in California.
La Jolla squirrel. 1 piece
The seagulls are terribly impudent... They are absolutely not shy to fly up to vacationers and steal something. It's simply impossible to hide from them
3) Go to Mount Soledad Cross and look at the surroundings from a height of 251 meters.. The view is very worthy
La Jolla. Coast from above. It's absolutely breathtaking.
La Jolla and University City
4) Drive onto Torrey Pines Road and turn onto La Jolla Shores Drive…. and after every turn on this winding street enjoy breathtaking views of the coast and ocean...
View from above from La Jolla Shores Drive to the beach and La Jolla Cove
Scripps Pier... also a view from above
Stop at La Jolla Shores beach and watch the sunset... look at the old pier and La Jolla Cove.. The high-rise building on the shore of La Jolla Cove from La Jolla Shores beach looks like a fortress tower...
View of Scripps Pier from the beach
Beach in winter
And now it's sunset time. It's always early in California. Especially in winter
Sunset rays “play” on the waves and on the sand
You can also go to any of the Torrey Pines beaches and enjoy the view of the ocean from “height”.
Beach view from Torrey Pines Glide Port on Torrey Pines Scenic Dr. This is a nudist beach by the way.
Torrey Pines. Sunset time. Looks good from the cliffs too
5) well, if you still want to look at least with one eye at the “terribly expensive” houses, then it makes sense to take a walk in the area of the same La Jolla Shores beach or go along La Jolla Boulevard to La Jolla Hermosa..
One of those nice houses
Yes, by the way, if you want to buy a luxury or exotic car, then La Jolla will provide such an opportunity. Car dealerships “Maseratti”, “Lamborghini”, “Ferrari”, “Bentley” and “Rolls-Royce” are at your service.
For example, on La Jolla Blvd.
Thrill-seekers will definitely enjoy kayaking and paddle boarding (a board with one oar, and you row while standing on this very board), banal surfing and swimming with mask fins.
Colorful kayaks!
