La Jolla Timeline

  • 1850 - Lands of La Jolla incorporated as part of the City of San Diego
  • 1887 - Auction of lots in first La Jolla Park subdivision; considered as founding year of La Jolla
  • 1893 - Opening of La Jolla Park Hotel
  • 1894 - Railroad extended to La Jolla from San Diego; La Jolla Post Office established; Reading Room opened; Anna Held arrived in La Jolla and created Green Dragon Colony
  • 1895 - First La Jolla Village Improvement Society organized
  • 1896 - Ellen Browning Scripps buys two lots on the ocean side of Prospect Street and builds her first home
  • 1897 - Library Association of La Jolla formed
  • 1899 - Barber Tract development begins (first known as Neptunia); first telephone lines installed
  • 1904 - Wisteria Cottage built
  • 1905 - Marine Biological Association organized, later Scripps Institution of Oceanography
  • 1906 - Ground broken for new bathhouse at the Cove; first La Jolla newspaper is published
  • 1910 - The Bishop's School is built
  • 1911 - Electricity introduced into La Jolla
  • 1913 - Opening of Colonial Inn (Grande Colonial La Jolla)
  • 1914 - La Jolla Woman's Club erected
  • 1915 - Arsonist sets fire to several La Jolla buildings, including Ellen Browning Scripps' house; work begins on new home designed by architect Irving Gill
  • 1918 - Scripps Memorial Hospital opens (first known as the Sanitarium); paving of La Jolla streets begins
  • 1924 - Electric railroad starts running; Casa de Manana opens as resort hotel; street lights introduced; summer "Jollification" celebration held
  • 1926 - La Valencia opens; Balmer School started (today La Jolla Country Day); La Jolla Country Club takes shape; The Muirlands begin development
  • 1927 - La Jolla Beach and Yacht Club formed (now La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club)
  • 1931 - Childrens' Pool breakwater built
  • 1932 - Ellen Browning Scripps dies (August 3)
  • 1940 - Art Center organized in former home of Ellen Browning Scripps
  • 1941 - Camp Callan established at Torrey Pines Gliderport with start of World War II
  • 1944 - First stop signs erected at Girard and Torrey Pines Road
  • 1948 - La Jolla Playhouse movie theater opens, shortly changing name to The Cove
  • 1956 - White Sands begins operations as a retirement home
  • 1960 - Location of University of California San Diego campus determined in La Jolla
  • 1963 - La Jolla Historical Society founded
  • 1964 - Salk Institute built along with high-rise at 939 Coast Blvd. and Seville apartments at 1001 Genter Street
  • 1967 - La Jolla Community Plan adopted by San Diego City Council
  • 1970 - Underwater Park created between the Cove and northern city limit
  • 1974 - La Jolla commercial areas impacted by opening of University Towne Center shopping mall
  • 1983 - BLOB ("Ban Large Office Buildings") organized to oppose large structures being built through the 1980s by banks and other developers
  • 1987 - La Jolla celebrates its centennial