Strolling through La Jolla’s Village

La Jolla Village has an array of interesting architecture and historical buildings as well as restaurants, shops, boutiques and art galleries. The story is that the name La Jolla comes from the Spanish word, la joya, meaning "the jewel." It is officially a part of San Diego yet retains a small village atmosphere and it really is a jewel.

The stroll we took one full afternoon was a very casual walk beginning near the entrance of the Athenaeum which is a private music and arts library that is open to the public.

Next we proceeded to the La Jolla Historical Society Cottage where we walked along Prospect Street through the commercial area of La Jolla, known locally as "The Village.” This cottage was built in 1905 for Virginia Scripps, sister of Ellen Scripps. The Scripps name is everywhere here as they were well known benefactors and made many generous contributions the arts and sciences in and around this village.

Passing by the various upscale shops and many restaurants we encountered a beautiful Presbyterian Church that provided a photographic opportunity. Further down the road we come across the scenic campus of The Bishop's School which is now a private school for grades 7-12.

Not far from the Bishop’s School we saw an artful arrangement of kayaks and canoes all tangled up high atop a building that turned out to be the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. This museum houses permanent collections and special exhibitions of post-1950 art in addition to the artistic statement upon the building itself. The building was originally a home of Ellen Scripps who had the home designed by architect Irving Gill in the early 1900’s. Other buildings in La Jolla designed by him are the La Jolla Recreation Center and the La Jolla Woman's Club.

Before long we had walked all through the village with the total distance of about 2 to 2.5 miles for the complete loop. The loop also followed along the shoreline but I think that will be a future blog in itself! We discovered we both really like this village of La Jolla and decided to do a bit of research to find out what it would take to live here. A recent finding of the Top 10

Most Expensive Cities for Home Buyers has La Jolla, California at an average of $1.21 million per home. It is the 5^th most expensive place to live in within the United States! YIKES!!! As much as we like it we probably won’t be settling here anytime in the near future. However, we do have another 30 days here to enjoy and savor our experiences in this gorgeous, fun filled location.