Party celebrates Torrey Pines Lodge's 100 years among the trees

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Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve docents Medi Denker, Thomas Holland, Selma Torres and Nancy Walters stand in Torrey Pines Lodge, where Torres and Walters are shop managers. (Vincent Andrunas)

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Torrey Pines Docent Society President Matthew Xavier, San Diego City Councilman Joe LaCava and Torrey Pines Conservancy President Rick Gulley turn out for Torrey Pines Lodge’s 100th-anniversary celebration April 8. (Vincent Andrunas)

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Torrey Pines Lodge, dedicated April 7, 1923, was commissioned by La Jolla philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps and is now the ranger station and visitor center for the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. (Rick Gulley)

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The view from Torrey Pines Lodge, among an estimated 5,000 Torrey pine trees in the 1,750-acre Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve (Vincent Andrunas)

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Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve docents Barbara Wallach and Jean Kelleher, Matt Rubel of state Sen. Catherine Blakespear’s office, state Assemblywoman Tasha Boerner Horvath, state park sector superintendent Alexis Pettigrew McHenry and Spencer Katz of San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer’s office attend a centennial celebration for Torrey Pines Lodge on April 8. (Vincent Andrunas)

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Visitors listen to a presentation about the historic adobe-style Torrey Pines Lodge. (Vincent Andrunas)

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Torrey Pines docents Carol Hunt and Marie Johnson greet Kimberly Taylor. (Vincent Andrunas)

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Torrey Pines Conservancy Executive Director Susanne Florin; Doug Dawson, Ellen Browning Scripps Foundation 50-year executive director; Torrey Pines docent Gabriele Wienhausen, dressed as Ellen Browning Scripps; and San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria celebrate Torrey Pines Lodge’s centennial. (Vincent Andrunas)

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Visitors explore the Torrey Pines Lodge museum and shop. (Vincent Andrunas)

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Torrey Pines Lodge got a birthday cake for its 100th anniversary. (Vincent Andrunas)

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Jennifer Vodrazka and Deborah and Kent Whitney (Vincent Andrunas)

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Miles Lundquist, Allyn Kaye, David Van Cleve and Mike Wells (Vincent Andrunas)

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Chris Platis, Ed Vodrazka, Allyn Kaye, Jim Serpa and Bob Wohl (Vincent Andrunas)

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April 10, 2023 5:48 PM PT

Torrey Pines Lodge in La Jolla got a birthday party April 8 to celebrate its 100th anniversary.

The Torrey Pines Docent Society and Torrey Pines Conservancy present the free public festivities, which featured presentations and proclamations by elected officials, tours of the historic adobe-style lodge, historical photographs and exhibits, docents in period costumes, ranger talks and guided nature walks, activities for children, cake and more.

The lodge — which stands among an estimated 5,000 Torrey pine trees in the 1,750-acre Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve — was dedicated April 7, 1923, as a restaurant, welcoming travelers between Los Angeles and San Diego who wished to stop among the protected trees, which are so rare they grow only in San Diego County and on Santa Rosa Island off Santa Barbara.

The lodge — designed by architect Richard Requa and structural engineer Herbert Jackson with funding from La Jolla philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps — is now the ranger station and visitor center for the reserve. It features a museum and shop run by the Torrey Pines Docent Society.

The reserve is open from 7:15 a.m. to sunset daily. The lodge’s museum and shop currently are open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at 12500 N. Torrey Pines Road. For more information, visit torreypines.org. ◆

Party celebrates Torrey Pines Lodge’s 100 years among the trees

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