When it comes to post office battles, La Jollans never back down. As early as 1927, a survey of post office efficiency recommended that all of the separate and distinct post offices in San Diego be incorporated into the city postal system. La Jolla’s reply: “About one and a half centuries ago, the good people of Boston held a tea party. It was not exactly a social event . . .” After months of back-and-forth arguments, the Postmaster General in Washington, D.C., conceded that La Jolla would not be consolidated. Today’s battle — hinged on the announced sale of the La Jolla Post office building at 1140 Wall St. and the relocation of the existing operation in another location — is rapidly building steam as Save the Post Office rallies and petitions are organized. The La Jolla Historical Society is seeking historic designation of the 1935 building at state and national levels, as well as organizing community awareness of the post office proposal, which could result in the loss of one of La Jolla’s most significant historic structures. Anyone wishing to help may visit www.lajollahistory.org or www.SaveLaJollaPostOffice.org. The public is also invited to take part in a post office rally on Saturday, Feb. 4 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at Wisteria Cottage, 780 Prospect St. While the outcome of today’s post office dilemma is uncertain, the history of post office issues in La Jolla through the years has faithfully pricked the community to attention. The post office — the building, the postal mark, the ZIP code — is and has been an important link to community identity in spite of — and, perhaps, because of — La Jolla’s lack of its own city hall. From 1927 through 1935 (when the new post office was built) and until early 1951, La Jollans peaceably mailed their letters and packages with (assumedly) happy faces. The bubble burst early in 1951, when the federal government announced La Jolla postal service would be consolidated within a San Diego substation. An article in The San Diego Union newspaper reported, “The peaceful village of La Jolla, where a carelessly dropped pin may elicit reproving shushes, erupted with a roar yesterday over a report the town is about to lose its valued postmark.” The local La Jolla Journal of Feb. 1, 1951, challenged its readers with the headline, “Do You Want La Jolla to Disappear???” This episode led to 10,000 signatures and 100 telegrams sent to Washington, D.C. By May of 1952, it was conceded that it was “not feasible at this time to combine the San Diego and La Jolla post offices.” The La Jolla Journal concurred: “La Jolla citizens who have been engaged in one of the bitterest inter-urban scraps in the city’s history — that to retain their own post office — apparently are winners of the battle.” Ten years later in 1962, a similar battle emerged and was thwarted by community rallies and petitions. At that time, La Jolla Town Council manager H. Bailey Gallinson contended: “The swallowing up of the La Jolla Post Office into the maw of the San Diego main office destroys the image and individuality of the community which we are trying so hard to maintain and further.” Today there is a different set of contentions. But remember, La Jolla, when it comes to do with the post office, you haven’t lost yet! — Carol Olten is the historian of the La Jolla Historical Society