If you've lived in San Diego longer than oh, about a week, you've probably come to discover that San Diegans share a love for a few specific things: dogs, surfing, organic food, Taco Tuesdays and, for many, Sunset Cliffs Natural Park. But if you've taken a stroll along Sunset Cliffs Boulevard in...
For an outstanding way to become acquainted with people and places that make La Jolla such a great place to live, join the La Jolla Newcomers Club, which welcomes residents who have moved to the 92037 ZIP code within the last three years. Members engage in a variety of activities, including morning...
ReWild Mission Bay (a project of San Diego Audubon and its partners to enhance and restore wetlands in the northeast corner of Mission Bay) released its final conceptual plans for how the wetlands can be restored to protect wildlife and local communities. The three plans include expanded public...
A maverick few dozen La Jollans — those with larger houses and income streams — pour dozens of hours of hard and dirty work and hundreds of dollars a month into food they’re proud to grow themselves.
A veteran metal detectorist teaches 'La Jolla Light' reporter Corey Levitan how to get rich quick by combing La Jolla's beaches.
The same three surf clubs have dominated La Jolla beaches since forming in the ‘60s. But WindanSea Surf Club, Pacific Beach Surf Club and the La Jolla Shores Surfing Association all face an uncertain future.
Lee Pearce, owner of Learn to Sail San Diego, is fishing for garbage, not dinner. His school is one of six in San Diego that have answered the American Sailing Association’s call to clean up the ocean as part of its Operation Plastic Pollution Purge summer initiative.
It’s rare to see a married couple taking a yoga class together; one teaching one together is nearly unheard of. But Martyn and Astrid Castens teach together at Sol Yoga in La Jolla and Mission Beach Yoga, and host free Sunday-morning yoga Meetups in Scripps Park.
A mission to a long-abandoned slab of California's original road, El Camino Real, leads to a journey of discovery about life.
A look at fun summer activities across La Jolla, including art exhibits, concerts, film screenings, community parties, educational events, theatrical productions and more.
Chuck Davey was shooting photos of his son surfing when he noticed something weird. The board’s fiberglass tip was jutting out of the back of his head. Later that day, Mick Davey underwent life-saving brain surgery to remove the shard of fiberglass that punctured the vein it now held together.
Between birds soaring overhead, critters living in tidepools and pinnipeds lounging on the beach, a day at La Jolla’s coastline provides expansive glimpses of nature. Not to mention the landscapes and treescapes that vegetate town and La Jolla’s biodiverse hillsides. That’s why the City of San...
NATURAL LA JOLLA: Last week, I spotted a little furry creature poking out of its burrow in the middle of a manicured lawn — it was a pocket gopher! Botta's pocket gophers (Thomomys bottae) are native to California and are mainly nocturnal rodents related to beavers, squirrels, chipmunks and rats....
NATURAL LA JOLLA: Birding could not be better than at La Jolla Cove right now. If you peek over the edge of the fence on the north side of the lifeguard tower, you'll be able to see a Brandt's cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus) nesting rookery in mid-season. Over the past couple of months,...
Bird Rock resident Tara Butcher has conquered a life-threatening injury — two at once, actually — to become an inspirational challenged athlete.
NATURAL LA JOLLA: It was an exceptionally warm fall here in La Jolla, with record high temperatures being observed day after day. Temperatures on Thanksgiving Day tied the previous high record for that late in November (87 degrees F). Now that we are into winter, many of the flowering shrubs and...
Although La Jolla Country Day School student Navid Massarat is researching all options for an off-leash dog beach, the possibility of the area north of Scripps Pier has been effectively nixed. And, according to Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) lab researchers, it is for the best. “We are...
I wade slowly out into the Pacific from La Jolla Shores, my eyes on La Jolla Cove to the south. I have come to swim the mile there and back today, returning triumphant — like many of the real men around me at the 2018 Polar Bear Plunge. The first hint I may be in over my head came earlier this...
In 2001, Carlsbad resident Volker Hoehne says he was approached by “an old guy in a wheelchair” who asked him to place a tombstone underwater for himself. Hoehne had no idea what Wally Potts was talking about, but he was the adventurous type, so he agreed. After all, they were both attending a...
At age 5, La Jolla resident and Bird Rock Elementary School kindergartener Fletcher Flynn may be the youngest person to have summited Mount Whitney — the highest summit in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada, with an elevation of 14,505 feet. He and his father, Justin, completed...
NATURAL LA JOLLA: Summer is slowly drawing to an end as many kids are already heading back to school. It will still be a while before our temperatures dip down and we return to the cool breezy days of the fall, so there are plenty of things to see and do in La Jolla before summer fades away. Snorkeling...
NATURAL LA JOLLA: The Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) is a species that is fairly commonly seen off La Jolla, and they are widely distributed throughout the world's oceans. However, they are inconsistent in their distribution or reliability of being spotted. Risso's like deep water, where they...
Leading up to the installation last week of a prominent new sign at La Jolla Cove that provides facts and issues warnings about seals and sea lions, new signs were also posted at South Casa Beach (next to Children’s Pool) to advise visitors about appropriate ways for humans to interact with marine...
La Jolla Cove got yet another pinniped-related informational sign, March 24, when the City of San Diego hung a large poster sporting facts and pictures about seals and sea lions on the fence that surrounds the scenic overlook. In addition to ways to tell these sea mammals apart, the new sign encourages...
Legendary WindanSea Beach surfer Jack “Woody” Ekstrom said he bought his first 79-pound 11-foot balsa redwood board in 1944. “That was the first surfboard I owned, and I paid $7.50. It was a good deal,” he explained during a guest lecture for University of San Diego (USD) students at the local...
Know Your Lifeguards: La Jolla Light series spotlights La Jolla's lifeguards
Free event encourages SCUBA certification
• NATURAL LA JOLLA: Many visitors comment and ask about the beautiful succulent plants that are abundant here in town. We have literally hundreds of varieties and species of these drought-tolerant, easy to grow plants. There are so many hybrids that it can be difficult to correctly identify them....
Celebrating its own “Sweet 16,” anniversary, the Menehune Surf Contest for children and teens returns to La Jolla Shores 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday May 7. But over the years, the contest has evolved to become more inclusive and do more to give back. The event now includes divisions for parents...
• NATURAL LA JOLLA: It was very hot this February. It seems that the flowering trees are blooming a bit earlier than usual, maybe because of the rain we’ve had. We are sure to have a spectacular spring bloom. Evergreen pear trees (Pyrus kawakamii) graced our streets in early February with daydream-like...
• NATURAL LA JOLLA: A favorite of ocean enthusiasts everywhere is the dolphin. We tend to think of them as happy creatures, because they appear to wear a permanent smile. Dolphins do have strong social structure in which they are very playful, care for their sick, and attend to family members. ...
As part of the monthly “Big Science for Little People” presentations at La Jolla’s Riford Library, Living Coast Discovery center brought some visitors from tidepools, Sept. 18. The young explorers got to see and touch sea stars, sea snails and hermit crabs, as well as shells and coral, and learn...
Just in time to wrap up an eventful summer and continue celebrating her 10th birthday, Bird Rock Elementary School fifth-grader Jenna Jaffe successfully scaled Mount Whitney in late August. Mount Whitney, located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, is the highest summit in the continental United...
Now that summer is in high gear, lifeguards along La Jolla’s beaches and shoreline parks want to warn locals and visitors alike that the practice of “slacklining” is prohibited. Having gained in popularity in San Diego over the last four or five years, slacklining involves the use of a rope (typically...
The horizon ascends to meet your eye and the ocean, expanding, kisses the sky. The rooftops shrink smaller as the summit draws near while the coastline widens from Bird Rock to the pier. Though the cliffs are initially all you can see, the hilltop draws back and reveals the buildings are rust and...
When Adriana Issakov opened La Jolla Swim and Sport at 1008 Torrey Pines Road in March 2014, she completed the décor by hanging a sign out front. It read: Free Guided Cove Swims. “It’s remarkable what has happened since I hung that silly sign,” she said. “The response has been amazing and has...
La Jolla’s Barber Tract residents kicked off the morning of Fourth of July by filling the streets with red, white and blue, when residents came out en masse to partake in the annual parade. Residents walked up and down the Barber Tract streets in their Independence Day finest, greeting neighbors...
Twenty-seven supporters of Limited Off-Leash Access at the Beach (LOLA), ages 3-78, assembled to clean South Casa, Cuvier and other La Jolla beaches as part of the California Coastal Commission’s Adopt-A-Beach program Saturday, June 20. The program permits people to adopt a beach by committing...
In an effort to attract and provide a breeding place for the fiery-colored monarch butterfly, La Jollan Mary Ellen Morgan has dedicated a part of her garden to planting milkweed. Considered a “host plant” for the monarchs, milkweed provides a place for monarch caterpillars to grow and thrive before...
• NATURAL LA JOLLA It was a busy May for me, but I still made time as much as I could to walk and enjoy the weather and sunny days — many mornings though we had a lot of gray and chill in the early hours. I found a couple beautiful sago palms (Cycas revoluta) along Coast Boulevard. Sago palms are...