Etymology Local Native Americans, the
Kumeyaay, called this location (), ( = ). The topographic feature that gave rise to the name "holes" is uncertain; it probably refers to sea-level caves located on the north-facing bluffs, which are visible from
La Jolla Shores. It is suggested that the Kumeyaay name for the area was transcribed by the Spanish settlers as . Another suggestion for the origin of the name is that it is an alternative spelling of the Spanish phrase , which means . Despite being disputed by scholars, this derivation of the name has been widely cited in popular culture. This supposed origin gave rise to the nickname "The Jewel". The name may also come from the Spanish , meaning a geographic hollow. Different spelling conventions over the years would permit this to be written as La Jolla.
Early history . In recent years the cottages have been covered in
tarpaulins. During the Mexican period of San Diego's history, La Jolla was mapped as
pueblo land and contained about 60 lots. When California became a state in 1850, the La Jolla area was incorporated as part of the chartered City of San Diego. The La Jolla Park Hotel opened in 1893. The Hotel Cabrillo was built in 1908 by "Squire" James A. Wilson and was later incorporated into the La Valencia Hotel. By 1900, La Jolla comprised 100 buildings and 350 residents. The first reading room (library) was built in 1898. La Jolla Elementary School began educating local children in 1896.
The Bishop's School opened in 1909.
La Jolla High School was established in 1922. Between 1951 and 1963, other elementary schools (Bird Rock, Decatur, Scripps, and Torrey Pines) were established in the area to ease overcrowding. Scripps College is located in
Claremont in Los Angeles County (not to be confused with
Clairemont, a neighborhood of
San Diego).
Scripps Institution of Oceanography Scripps Institution of Oceanography, one of the nation's oldest oceanographic institutes, was founded in 1903 by
William Emerson Ritter, chair of the zoology department at the
University of California, Berkeley, with financial support from
Ellen Browning Scripps and her brother
E. W. Scripps. At first the institution operated out of a boathouse in
Coronado. In 1905, they purchased a site in La Jolla, where the Institution still stands today. The first laboratory buildings there opened in 1907. The institution became part of the
University of California in 1912. Ultimately, it became the nucleus for the establishment of the
University of California, San Diego.
Camp Matthews From 1917 through 1964, the
United States Marine Corps maintained a military base in La Jolla. The base was used for marksmanship training and was known as
Camp Calvin B. Matthews. During and after
World War II, the population of La Jolla grew, causing residential development to draw close to the base, so that it became less and less suitable as a firing range because of risk to the adjacent civilian population. Meanwhile, the site was being eyed as a location for a proposed new campus of the University of California. In 1962, Camp Matthews was declared surplus by the Marine Corps. The base formally closed in 1964, and that same year, the first class of undergraduates enrolled in the University of California San Diego.
University of California, San Diego Local civic leaders had long toyed with the idea of a
San Diego campus of the
University of California, and the quest became more definite following World War II. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, under its director
Roger Revelle, had become an important defense contractor, and local aerospace companies like
Convair were pressing for local training for their scientists and engineers. The state legislature proposed the idea in 1955, and the Regents of the university formally approved it in 1960. During the planning stage of the university's establishment, it was briefly known as the "University of California, La Jolla", but the name was changed to "University of California, San Diego" before its founding in 1960. The founding chancellor was
Herbert York, named in 1961, and the second chancellor was
John Semple Galbraith, named in 1964. The university was designed to have a "college" system; there are now eight colleges. The first college was established in 1965 and was named
Revelle College after
Roger Revelle, who is regarded as the "father" of the university.
Antisemitism The Camp Matthews site for the university was selected with some hesitation; one of the concerns was "whether La Jollans in particular would lay aside old prejudices in order to welcome a culturally, ethnically, and religiously diverse professoriate into their midst". However, realtors and property owners in La Jolla continued to use more subtle ways of preventing or discouraging Jews from owning property there. Revelle stated the issue bluntly: "You can't have a university without having Jewish professors. The Real Estate Broker's Association and their supporters in La Jolla had to make up their minds whether they wanted a university or an anti-Semitic covenant. You couldn't have both." The issue was overcome; La Jolla now boasts a thriving Jewish population, and there are four synagogues in La Jolla.
Mount Soledad cross on
Mount Soledad.
Mount Soledad is an hill on the eastern edge of La Jolla and one of the highest points in San Diego. A large
Christian cross was placed at the top in 1913 as a prominent landmark. It has been replaced twice, most recently in 1954 with a cross ( tall including the base). Originally known as the "Mount Soledad Easter Cross", its presence on publicly owned land was challenged in the 1980s as a violation of the
separation of church and state. Since then the cross has had a war memorial built around it and was renamed "Mount Soledad Veterans War Memorial". The issue has been in almost continual litigation ever since, with the city attempting to sell or give away the land under the cross. By an act of Congress, the federal government took possession of it under
eminent domain in 2006. The
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declared the cross unconstitutional in 2011, and the
Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear an appeal. In December 2013, U.S. District Judge Larry Burns ordered that the cross be removed within 90 days, but stayed the order pending a forthcoming appeal by the government. On July 20, 2015, a group called the Mt. Soledad Memorial Association reported that it had bought the land under the cross from the
Department of Defense for $1.4 million. On September 7, 2016, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a one-page ruling, ordering dismissal of the case and an end to all current appeals, stating that the case was now moot because the cross was no longer on government land. Both sides agreed that this decision puts a final end to the case.
Arts La Jolla became an
art colony in 1894 when Anna Held (also known as Anna Held Heinrich) established the Green Dragon Colony. This was a cluster of twelve rustic cottages that included The Green Dragon, Wahnfried, and The Ark, a boat-shaped structure with port holes and swinging bunks. The
La Jolla Playhouse was founded in 1947 by
Gregory Peck,
Dorothy McGuire, and
Mel Ferrer. It became inactive in 1959, but was revived in 1983 on the University of California campus under the leadership of
Des McAnuff. It now incorporates three theaters: the
Mandell Weiss Theatre (1983), the Mandell Weiss Forum (1991) and the Potiker Theater (2005). The
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego was founded in 1941 in La Jolla, in the former home of Ellen Browning Scripps (designed by Irving J. Gill). The museum has undergone several renovations and expansions, and is working on plans to triple its size. The
La Jolla Music Society was founded in 1941 as the Musical Arts Society of La Jolla by
Nikolai Sokoloff, former conductor of the
Cleveland Orchestra. It presented the premieres of commissioned works in the auditorium of La Jolla High School before presenting their concerts in the Sherwood Auditorium of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Since April 2019, the
Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center is the permanent home of La Jolla Music Society and hosts world-class performances presented by LJMS as well as other San Diego arts presenters. Additionally, The Conrad will see a wide range of conferences, corporate meetings, and private events. ==Geography==