Walking Tours
Guided Walking Tours
Join us for historic walking tours of La Jolla and experience its unique history, architecture, landscape and more with LJHS Historian, Carol Olten.
Walking tours are NOT held weekly - check out our schedule below for upcoming dates!
Comfortable shoes, sunscreen, hats and sunglasses are encouraged.
$20 per person | $10 for LJHS members
Upcoming Guided Tours
Village Landmarks
Thursday, June 19
2 PM
780 Prospect Street
Our village landmarks tour features buildings from the early 20th century designed by master architect Irving Gill such as the La Jolla Woman’s Club and La Jolla Recreation Center as well as historic hotels such as La Valencia and The Grande Colonial. Tour group will visit the Athenaeum Art and Music Library designed by William Templeton Johnson in 1928 and be entertained with stories about La Jolla’s legendary electric trolley and village characters such as the irascible Eliza Virginia Scripps and a scrappy donkey named Rags.
Raymond Chandler
Thursday, July 24
2 PM
780 Prospect Street
Author Raymond Chandler – creator of the popular Phillip Marlowe detective character in many books including The Big Sleep and Farewell My Lovely – died on March 26 at the old Scripps Hospital on Prospect Street after living, working and drinking his favorite gimlets in La Jolla for many years. He also set his last novel, Playback, in La Jolla disguising it as quiet Southern California beach town named Esmerelda. This tour visits some of Chandler’s hang-outs and Playback settings along the way as Olten reads favorite passages from the book written in Chandler’s inimitable style.
Historic Churches
Thursday, August 21
2 PM
780 Prospect Street
Churches of many denominations with varying architecture were built in La Jolla starting in the late 19th century and continuing into the early 20th. Today they continue to occupy a large portion of major sections of the village. This tour visits present-day sites such as St. James By-the-Sea Episcopal, Mary Star of the Sea, Union Congregational and La Jolla Presbyterian while Olten describes their architecture and history. It also will include visits into select interiors and a demonstration of the recently installed new organ at St. James.
Mid-Century Modern Apartment Tour
La Jolla Village
Sunday, July 13
2 PM
780 Prospect Street
Join us for a captivating tour of the village of La Jolla, where we'll explore apartments from the 1950s and 60s, designed by renowned architects including Lloyd Ruocco, Homer Delawie, and William Lumpkins. This tour offers a unique opportunity to step inside these mid-century gems and appreciate the architectural brillance that defines this iconic style. Don't miss your chance to experience these timeless designs!
Self-Guided Tours
Want to explore the charm of La Jolla at your own pace? Choose from our themed self-guided tours. Learn about the unique history, architecture and landscape of our beautiful coastal region. Put on your walking shoes and let the adventure begin!
La Valencia Hotel
A Walking Tour of La Jolla Village
This hour-long tour of La Jolla focuses on significant landmarks and is designed to provide insight into the past century of community growth and development. Included are examples of early beach cottages, European architectural styles that developed starting in the 1920s, as well as modern buildings.
Historic Beach Cottages of La Jolla
Before paved streets, running water, and grand hotels, La Jolla was a village of small cottages that clung to the cliffs and nestled in the canyons along the rising topography of the coastline. Craftsman-style beach cottages were the vernacular architecture of the late-19th century and early-20th century. Of basic design and simple wood construction, the cottages on this driving tour remain a window into early La Jolla.
WT MacDonald House, Architect Richard Requa 1933, photomontage by Nick Agelidis
Jazz Age La Jolla: Architecture of the 1920s
In 1920s La Jolla, the automobile and electric streetcar encouraged residential developments such as the Barber Tract, Hermosa, Muirlands, and the Shores. Beach cottages gave way to the work of architects who adapted historic styles to modern sensibilities. These early subdivisions built on the outskirts of the Village continue to define neighborhoods, street patterns, and historic architecture.
Mid-Century Modern Architecture
The 1950s and 1960s were decades of a remarkably rich creative culture in La Jolla, and a group of modernist architects emerged to spearhead new, influential, and enduring ideas in building design. This driving tour highlights residential, commercial, and academic buildings designed in the modern style and reflecting influences ranging from the Bauhaus to Frank Lloyd Wright.
Wheeler Bailey Apartment, La Jolla, 1932, Architect Irving J Gill, Collection of the San Diego History Center
Irving Gill’s San Diego
The Arts and Crafts movement was becoming popular when Irving Gill (1870-1936) arrived in San Diego in 1893, and his early designs reflect this aesthetic. By 1908, his mature style characteristic of early modernism was beginning, and he became known for the design of clean facades devoid of ornamentation. Gill is now regarded as a pioneer in the early modern movement in architecture. This extensive tour of Gill’s designs cover three decades of his work, and ranges from Coronado to Oceanside, La Jolla to Hillcrest and Bankers Hill.
The tour maps above are the intellectual property of the La Jolla Historical Society and are provided for personal use only. All rights reserved, including but not limited to reproduction, distribution or sale, display or performance, and/or the creation of derivative works.
Behind the Scenes Member Series
Visit behind-the-scenes places in La Jolla and experience readings and programs on some of the community’s unusual artists and writers who have lived and visited here in a new members-only series coordinated by historian Carol Olten.
Anna’s Company
Thursday, February 27th
3 PM
Meet in front of Eddy V’s, 1270 Prospect Street
Green Dragon Colony founder Anna Held was known for gathering a collective of artists, writers and actors around her rustic clutch of cottages at the corner of Cave and Prospect streets in the 1890s. Tour participants will revisit the site learn about its dubious guests, like Madame Modjeska, Lord Huberon, and a pair of antique Parisian dolls named Olive Haps and Mishaps.