“Oh! Say have you been to La Jolla…..?” “Oh! There shall your soul rise in rapture, to behold the great ponderous waves and to think of the shells you might capture, in the crystaled marvelous caves……” From the poem “La Jolla” by Desomond, 1874 La Jolla Shores, affectionately know to La Jollans as just the Shores, is a neighborhood with village appeal that boasts restaurants, shops, a few hotels and one of La Jolla’s most popular beach parks. Neighborhood development was first envisioned in 1913 when Easterner Mary Elizabeth Clarke Rose Lowry purchased 500 acres of Shores property for $225,000. Today, the average price for a Shores home would be in excess of $2 million, and the oceanfront properties go for well over $10 million. Before the early Shores development began, the beach, known in those days as Long Beach, and a portion of the surrounding area was home to a dairy farm. During these early days of La Jolla’s history, only the dairy cows languished on the sandy beach and young boys hunted for Indian artifacts and arrowheads on the sandy shore. In 1907, years before the planned development of the Shores began, successful businessman Wheeler J. Bailey commissioned architects Irving Gill and Frank Mead to design a weekend retreat for him high above the ocean, just up from where the Marine Room sits today. Truly a La Jolla Shores pioneer, Mr. Bailey made the home his permanent residence around 1913. Historically designated as the Wheeler J. Bailey House, Historic Site No. 782, this home on Princess Street remains in Mr. Bailey’s family to this day. Two other homes nearby were built by Mr. Bailey for his sisters in 1914, and all three are considered to be the first built on the south side of the Shores. By the mid-1920s, the Evans-Lee Corporation from Los Angeles (noted for developing the Wilshire District) began the “La Jolla Shores Development” project and advertised it as having the “best beach in California.” The project opened in 1926 and attracted thousands of visitors to the area for its grand opening. A 1926 newspaper article in the San Diego Union described La Jolla Shores, not unlike what we see today driving down La Jolla Shores Drive (the old Biological Grade Road): “As you approach the Biological Grade, just north of La Jolla on the coast highway between Los Angeles and San Diego, suddenly a superb panorama spreads before you embracing a natural amphitheater with a water frontage of more than a mile … you see the paved highway forming an arc at a distance from the ocean ranging from 600 ft. opposite the cliffs at either end (and) one of the finest bathing beaches on the California coast … the beach itself is particularly level and refreshingly clean as the receding tide exposes a strip of pale sand hundreds of feet wide and over a mile in extent.” (Excerpt from the La Jolla Historical Society’s archives, compliments of Carol Olten) Only a few homes were built between the 1920s and ’30s, and the development’s original CC&R’s stipulated that homes were to be built in the Spanish style and cost no less than $6,000 to build — a princely sum in the 1920s. The first homes built in the Shores “flats” have been referred to as the Seven Sisters residences. Many of the stories about the Seven Sisters are urban legend and no recorded history supports the story that the homes were built for seven sisters. One of the stories I enjoy describes the view of the homes from the old Biological Grade Road as you drove down it at night. It is said that the lights from this cluster of original homes twinkled in the distance like stars in the sky and their positions resembled the star cluster of the Pleiades near the constellation of Taurus. The Pleiades are the seven sisters in Greek mythology who were turned into doves by Zeus and placed in the sky as stars to escape the capture of Orion the Hunter. Some say that the original Shores homes only numbered six and, interestingly enough, only six of the Pleiades stars are visible to the naked eye. The stock market crash of 1929 and the great Depression that followed halted the development that was planned for La Jolla Shores. It was not until after World War II that development slowly began once again. By the 1950s and ’60s, La Jolla Shores was experiencing a boom in the construction of new homes. Today, several of the Shores’ original 1920s homes remain. One of the original Seven Sisters homes has been recently restored and historically designated as Historic Site No. 759, The Uriah and Clara Barkey House, after the home’s first owners. Proudly standing on Paseo del Ocaso (Spanish for “passage of the sunset”), the owners won the coveted People in Preservation award in 2007. The home will receive an award from the City of San Diego Historic Resources Board for Residential Preservation this year. I am proud to say that as a Realtor who specializes in historic properties, I helped to find the home’s wonderful, caring new owners. Opening its doors in 1927 as the La Jolla Beach and Yacht Club, the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club is another part of the Shores’ rich history. The club’s original Spanish/Mediterranean buildings were designed by Los Angeles architect Robert Stacey-Judd. Mr. & Mrs. F. W. Kellogg purchased the club in 1934, and the name was changed to the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club. Master architect Tom Shepard was hired to design additions to Stacey-Judd’s original design. Although the Beach & Tennis Club is a private club, visitors can enjoy the ocean vistas from the Marine Room and the La Jolla Shores Restaurant (formerly the Sea Lodge) that are open to the public. In the 1950s, Mrs. Florence Scripps Kellogg donated land for Kellogg Park in the name of her late husband, F. W. Kellogg. Kellogg Park sits between Camino del Oro and the ocean and is a popular summer picnic destination. La Jolla Shores’ famous sandy beach is approximately 1 mile long and is perfect for swimming and long walks at sunset. Scuba diving is also popular since there is a natural underwater canyon off the beach that is filled with sea life. Part of the La Jolla Ecological Reserve, the sea life is protected throughout this area and flourishes. Just a short drive up La Jolla Shores Drive to the north is Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In the early 1900s, the original 170-acre site was purchased for only $1,000. The institution’s “Old Scripps Building” was designed by Irving Gill and completed in 1910. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is the oldest oceanography laboratory building in the western hemisphere. The original Scripps Pier was dedicated in 1916. The current 1,000-foot pier replaced the old pier in 1988. The pier is not open to the public, but only a half mile up the road you can visit the Stephen Birch Aquarium. La Jolla Shores is a perfect summer destination, whether you live here or are just visiting. Every summer, I look forward to evenings spent walking along the beach at sunset and ending up at one of the many wonderful Shores restaurants. If you should be in the Shores on a starlit night this summer, look up in the sky for the Pleiades and remember one of the first legends of La Jolla Shores. — With a passion for La Jolla’s history and gardens, Linda combines work and pleasure as a local Realtor specializing in historic and architectural homes with Coldwell Banker, La Jolla. In her spare time, you can find her working in her historic La Jolla garden.www.LindaMarrone.com 858/456-3224