La Jolla, San Diego, CA

La Jolla wraps about seven miles of San Diego coastline around the base of Mount Soledad, and few places in the city fit so much variety under one name. The Village holds most of the shops and restaurants, Bird Rock runs its own small main street along La Jolla Boulevard, the Shores sit flat and sandy beside Scripps Pier, and the Muirlands and La Jolla Heights climb the hillsides with no businesses at all. The housing tells a long story. Beach cottages and bungalows were the first local style, and the Red Roost, built in 1894, still stands on its original site. Spanish Revival homes followed in the 1920s, along with Irving Gill's spare civic buildings for Ellen Browning Scripps. After the war, architects such as Russell Forester and Henry Hester added midcentury modern houses that mix ranch plans with International Style lines. Condos cluster near the Village, and the slopes of Mount Soledad hold larger homes with wide ocean views. The shoreline changes every few hundred yards. Snorkelers and swimmers crowd the Cove, seals and sea lions rest on the rocks at Children's Pool, and the lawn of Ellen Browning Scripps Park runs along the bluff above both. The Shores have a long, gentle beach and Kellogg Park for picnics, and the beach at Windansea lies farther south toward Bird Rock. The summit of Mount Soledad, home to the veterans memorial, looks over the whole coast. Harry's Coffee Shop on Girard Avenue has served diner breakfasts since 1960 and still takes no reservations. In Bird Rock, Wayfarer Bread bakes croissants and loaves daily and turns out pizza on Friday and Saturday nights. Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, roasting since 2006 and holder of several national awards, keeps a cafe on La Jolla Boulevard. Vons on Girard Avenue handles Village grocery runs, and Whole Foods and Trader Joe's sit on Villa La Jolla Drive near the freeway. The Riford Library is on Draper Avenue. Interstate 5 marks the eastern edge, and the Blue Line trolley has served the UC San Diego side since 2021. Visitors come with living in La Jolla. The Cove is the area's biggest tourist draw, and summer weekends fill the Village with day-trippers. Residents learn the early hours, when the seals have the beach to themselves and the coffee line is short.