La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Board approves no-parking zones and street closures for Christmas Parade

The La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Board gave unanimous approval Feb. 15 to no-parking zones and street closures requested for the 67th annual La Jolla Christmas Parade and accompanying festival, scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 3.

Parade president Ann Kerr Bache said the route is unchanged from previous years, starting from Girard Avenue near Torrey Pines Road, turning left on Prospect Street and finishing outside the La Jolla Recreation Center at Prospect and Draper Avenue.

Kerr Bache said the event will include the usual Holiday Festival, now called “Santa’s Village,” from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wall Street between Girard and Herschel avenues. The parade will begin at 1:30 p.m. The parade theme will be announced shortly, she said.

Event volunteer Brooke Baginski said the Kiwanis Club of La Jolla partners with the parade committee to sponsor the festival, which includes children’s activities, crafts and visits with Santa Claus.

To accommodate parade floats and setup, the organizers requested that the following streets be blocked:

• Ivanhoe Avenue between Ivanhoe East and Torrey Pines Road
• Girard Avenue between Torrey Pines and Prospect Street
• Kline Street between Ivanhoe and Fay avenues
• Herschel Avenue between Torrey Pines and Silverado Street
• Torrey Pines between Herschel and Virginia Way
• Prospect between Girard and La Jolla Boulevard
• Draper Avenue between Silverado and Kline

Event volunteer Rick Dagon said cars parked in those areas will be towed at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. the day of the event.

Kerr Bache added that no cars were towed during the 2022 parade because of sufficient signs warning of the closures.

Other T&T news

The La Jolla traffic board approved a no-parking zone for the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library’s annual benefit on Friday, April 14.

(Screenshot by Elisabeth Frausto)

No-parking zone for Athenaeum event: T&T also approved a no-parking zone in front of the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library on Wall Street for the institution’s annual benefit on Friday, April 14.

Athenaeum Executive Director Christie Mitchell said the benefit, which will begin with a VIP reception at 5:30 p.m., will have a 1920s theme and a nearly 100-year-old Duesenberg car parked on Wall Street “to help with our ambience.”

Athenaeum staff will set up a photo staging area at the car, she said.

The Duesenberg is about 30 feet long, Mitchell said, so parking spots in front of the building, excluding the disabled and 30-minute spaces, will be blocked off for the Duesenberg, with four stanchions placed around the car.

The parking spots are to be blocked from 5 p.m. to about 10:30, and security staff will be present, Mitchell said.

She said no-parking signs will be placed ahead of the closures.

T&T Chairman Brian Earley said the Athenaeum should consider placing additional stanchions around all the spaces to protect people walking around the car.

Board member Bill Podway agreed, saying, “It’s a safety issue because … in previous years when we’ve had a vehicle that has been on the street, there have been so many people walking around it, plus you’re going to have people going into your event.”

The board unanimously approved the proposal with an amendment to put extra stanchions around the parking spaces.

Next meeting: The La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Board next meets at 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 15, at a location to be determined. Email bearley1@san.rr.com. ◆