The ghost of Christmases past in La Jolla lingers with us today, most poignantly through the diaries of early pioneer La Jollan Anson Peaselee Mills. A transplant from Maine, where he was the grandson of the 18th governor, Mills recorded daily happenings in the village from the time of his arrival here in the 1890s until his death in 1933. Copies form an integral part of the La Jolla Historical Society’s archives and provide rare insights into how the small community functioned when there was a population of only about 200 people mostly living in small cottages scattered along the cliffs and beaches.
What we learn from Mills is that Christmases were celebrated with a joyful sense of people intermingling through social occasions at one another’s homes with dances, games and the inevitably large Christmas feast. For the Mills family ” consisting of Anson, his wife Nellie, daughter Ellen and sister-in-law Olivia “Livy” Mudgett ” Christmas was repeatedly an important date. On Dec. 25, 1897, Mills recorded gathering at Livy’s Villa Waldo (the house she owned that now is located on Drury Lane): “Livy gave us a fine dinner and we had a most enjoyable time. The dessert (a big dish of ice cream) was a surprise to most of the party.”
Three years later, a photo in the Society’s archival files shows the Mills gathering for Christmas once again at Livy’s. They are photographed in an arbor setting outside the villa festively attired in long satin skirts and blouses for the ladies and the suits and bow ties for the gentlemen.
As Christmas celebrations progressed into the early 20th century, Mills made more notes in his diaries about small stores and shops in La Jolla with festive decorations for the holidays, community parties at the recreation center and other holiday celebrations at restaurants and inns.
He enjoyed taking his small open car ” one of the few existing at that time in La Jolla ” for Christmas Day “spins” with Nellie and Ellen, sometimes driving as far south as San Diego.
On Dec. 25, 1920, Mills wrote: “We have had a quiet happy Christmas day “¦ Nellie gave us a splendid dinner “¦ oysters, raw ” roast duck, roast chicken, all sorts of vegetables, rolls, brown bread, assorted cakes, jelly, fruit pudding, nuts, candy and coffee. Some dinner “¦ This evening we all went down to the Community House. They had a tree and presents for the children, a real Santa Claus, community singing, solos, vocal and instrumental and some elaborate and beautiful tableaux of scenes from the life of Christ.”
The diaries’ greatest value is that they present a rare view of everyday La Jolla history. He noted new houses as they were being built, changes in commercial storefronts, what fish he was catching in local waters, how the roads (i.e., streets) were being maintained and, almost daily, recorded the weather. Most Christmases were noted as either “nice” or “pleasant” warm days in the diaries; others, overcast and “rather cool” while a few were even cold and stormy.
As Christmas Day approached in 1925, Mills wrote in one of his last December diaries: “Clear and pleasant. No signs of rain “¦ Our business streets look very gay. Decorated Christmas trees in front of every store. Fine displays in the windows, and colored lights everywhere. The display of fruit would astonish an Easterner.”
” “Reflections” is a monthly column written for the La Jolla Village News by the La Jolla Historical Society’s historian Carol Olten. The Society, dedicated to the preservation of La Jolla heritage, is located at 7846 Eads Ave. and is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.