A collection of vignettes and essays about historic La Jolla with emphasis on extraordinary people who helped built and shape this special place.
La Jolla, A Celebration of Its Past is a rich and varied collection of vignettes and essays about historic La Jolla. Since this author believes that "history is someone else’s point of view", the emphasis is on the extraordinary people who helped build and shape this special place.
La Jolla is more than a town, more than just a pretty seaside place in the sun. There is a spirit about this place. The essence of La Jolla comes not only from the sea, the surf, the sun, the cliffs, and the caves, but also from its unique and bountiful history which includes very special citizens.
Excerpt
“One hundred and sixty-five dollars. And it’s a bargain! Fifty feet along the street, some 200 feet deep, and it widens like a fan so that it is 150 feet along the seashore. It’s a bargain, I tell you!” said the doctor. Anna Held made the deal giving the doctor a $50 deposit on the land, sight unseen. Three days later, Mr. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. drove their nanny to see her “estate” by the sea. “The air was soft and balmy, a gentle breeze from the ocean caressed the blue expanse of False Bay (now Mission Bay), - the hills wore the velvet of a springtime green.” From San Diego, they drove two hours before reaching La Jolla. “The three left the carriage, and Anna led the way to her ‘estate’. The view was breathtaking! From the level on which they stood the land fell sharply to the edge of the ocean. Across the narrow inlet bay, near by, rose a kindred height, with rough, rocky point jutting out into the sea. Then began a magnificent sweep of yellow shore, - a rim of golden cliffs, curving far to the westward clasped the ocean’s cobalt blue like a jewel. The sight was wonderful . . .” Anna stayed for several minutes transfixed, staring out to sea, smelling the salt air, listening to the pounding surf as it attacked the cliffs and swelled in and out of the cave below. This was to be the first home of her very own. In her mind’s eye, she saw a huge fireplace made of gray rocks. A month later, the fireplace became a reality. However, for a while, the fireplace stood alone.
In San Diego, Anna had met a young lad named Irving Gill “whose love for house designing was coupled with ability.” His first commission was to make plans for a house to be built around Anna’s “beloved fireplace”. For this, he received $15, five percent of the total cost.
“Inch thick boards, ten inches wide, battoned with two inch strips formed the bungalow. Eight steps led to the front porch. A Dutch door ‘broken in two in the middle’ led into a room 16 x 16 feet, out of which extended a tiny kitchen, 4 x 6 feet, and the corner diagonally across the room was the staircase that led to the bedroom above. Leaded windows . . . lent a hint of age to the room.” However, the main attraction was the fireplace, the “altar” of hospitality. This was but the first house of what would be known as the Green Dragon Colony and “for years the best known place in La Jolla.”
When Thanksgiving of 1894 arrived, the entire Grant family, in four carriages filled to capacity, drove out to La Jolla. Over a roaring fire in the famed fireplace, the turkey was roasted, the gravy was warmed, the potatoes were baked, and the mince pie was warmed over. Thus the first Thanksgiving ever celebrated in La Jolla came about attended by the wife of a former United States President, her children and grandchildren and, of course, Miss Anna Held.
Professional Reviews
Leigh Sherman
There are other charming books written about the jewel-by-the-sea, La Jolla, but this one adds a special touch that enhances our beautiful resort with fascinating facts from the past. Famous names such as Irving J. Gill, the architect, Ellen Browning Scripps, Charles and Anne Lindbergh, Gregory Peck, and Cliff Robertson, to name a few. The world renowned Scripps Institute of Oceanography with its pioneers, such as Roger Revelle, is one of the many outstanding features and facts of a well written record of our paradise-on-earth village. Though not a native of La Jolla, I have visited it since 1938. I moved my residence here in 1985. I have sent this book to family and friends out of town who have also become intrigued with this Town with the Funny Name by Max Miller. Indeed, anyone, anywhere, interested in history and the arts will open a book filled with them.
Cliff Robertson, actor
"We were lucky in La Jolla. God had been generous with its proud sentinel hills overlooking the sleepy little town, its white beaches _ some folk in less idyllic environs might have viewed us as smug _ But La Jolla was our jewel.
St. Julien R. Marshal
"What a delight! The post on Tuesday brought La Jolla, A Celebration of Its Past, and I was immediately transported half a century back to a a magic time in a magic place. There are so many wonderful pictures that you can get distractedfrom seriously reading the text, but the stories are great also.
"Getting oriented was the first task. I found Coast Boulevard, St James by the Sea where I was confirmed, La Valencia which anchored the downtown in my memories, and other spots which had faded from my recollections. Then i read the story of the Barber Tract and [a] developer's ambitious efforts to move out on the rocks. A setting just like the rocks behind our house.
"Thank you so much for this chance to look back at La Jolla, I am enjoying it immensely.
Yes, I am the author. I would like anyone wishing to purchase this book to do so from me. We bought out the publisher and have copies to sell. Go to www.literarylady.com You will also receive a discount.
This is a Hypertext Book Release of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic This Side of Paradise on Black April 23, 2016 which is William Shakespeare,s 400th birthday.
