{"id":350613,"date":"2026-06-07T14:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T14:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/350613\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T14:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T14:57:11","slug":"dining-out-series-part-2-how-la-jolla-restaurants-changed-from-the-1920s-to-1960s-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/350613\/","title":{"rendered":"Dining Out \u2014 series Part 2: How La Jolla restaurants changed from the 1920s to 1960s \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the second installment in a series of stories on the history of dining out in La Jolla, how it\u2019s changed and how it continues to evolve.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As La Jolla\u2019s reputation as a tourist destination and newly formed residential community started to solidify in the 1920s, so did its restaurant scene.<\/p>\n

In this installment of the month-long series \u201cDining Out,\u201d the La Jolla Light looks at how new hotels in La Jolla led to new hotel restaurants, with other eating establishments opening to compete. But later, World War II would have an impact on La Jollans and San Diegans in general and on where and how they ate. From there, cultural shifts further changed what La Jolla diners were seeking.<\/p>\n

Dining Out \u2014 series Part 1: A look at the evolution of La Jolla\u2019s restaurant scene<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the 1920s, there were all these subdivisions around La Jolla \u2014 the Hermosas, The Shores, the Muirlands \u2014 that opened up, so there was a great growth period,\u201d said La Jolla Historical Society historian Carol Olten. \u201cConsequently, hotels were built, such as La Valencia<\/a> (which opened in 1926) and the Grande Colonial (opened in 1913). These hotels became dining experience destinations for people that were visiting and living here. If you wanted a nice dinner or to take your date out, you would go to La Valencia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The early hotel restaurants ranged from upscale to casual.<\/p>\n

For example, the Grande Colonial contained a pharmacy called Putnams that had a cafe offering small bites and ice cream. Gregory Peck Sr., father of actor Gregory Peck, was a pharmacist and sold soda floats.<\/p>\n

At La Valencia, where the kitchen was far from the dining room, waiters would transport dishes under silver cloches to keep them warm while creating an air of sophistication.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe La Valencia Hotel in La Jolla is pictured in 1937. The hotel turns 100 this year. (La Valencia Hotel)<\/p>\n

Before it became the senior-living community it is today, Casa de Ma\u00f1ana<\/a> opened in 1924 as a resort hotel. Its original structure, the main building at 849 Coast Blvd., included several cocktail lounges and a restaurant for guests. The restaurant was considered an upscale place for special occasions such as first dates, engagements and wedding receptions and was popular for celebrity spotting.<\/p>\n

Other restaurants soon opened. However, the decade that followed was fairly quiet by comparison.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 1930s were a very dull period in La Jolla,\u201d Olten said. \u201cIt was a pretty quiet place.\u201d<\/p>\n

But World War II changed that in the 1940s.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were so close to Pearl Harbor and there was the big blackout [when residents were encouraged to dim their lights and cover their windows with thick black curtains after dark to be less visible to potential enemy attackers],\u201d Olten said. \u201cThe blackout was taken pretty seriously because people were scared. People didn\u2019t want to go out as much at night because they felt vulnerable. And we had soldiers staying in local hotels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casa de Ma\u00f1ana opened its doors to members of the Navy coming home from combat, operating the hotel as a rest and recuperation center.<\/p>\n

Most restaurants, however, continued to operate normally \u2014 at least for those who would venture out to them.<\/p>\n

New restaurants opened after the war.\u00a0Among them was La Valencia\u2019s famed Whaling Bar, which debuted in 1949 and regularly played host to children\u2019s author and La Jolla resident Theodor (Dr. Seuss) Geisel, novelist Raymond Chandler and Hollywood luminaries including Gregory Peck. The nautical-themed bar closed in 2013 and became Cafe La Rue. However, in 2021, plans were announced to bring The Whaling Bar back, and it reopened in February 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"AnAn undated photo shows the La Valencia Hotel\u2019s Whaling Bar in its early days. (La Jolla Historical Society)<\/p>\n

More restaurants with international themes began to open as well, Olten said. British influence already was present in the tea rooms that had existed in La Jolla since the early 1900s, but a French restaurant and two German restaurants came in, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrance was recovering after the war, and all the big fashion houses were operating again, so French fashion became a thing \u2026 and that carried into various aspects of the culture and made us want to have snails for lunch,\u201d Olten said. \u201cPeople were traveling more and were curious and aware of other food styles \u2026 and restaurants kind of went along.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verdes El Ranchero<\/a>, believed to be one of La Jolla\u2019s first Mexican restaurants, opened in 1946 at 7404 La Jolla Blvd. with a focus on homestyle cuisine. The Green family, which bought it in 2009 and added the word \u201cVerdes\u201d (Spanish for Greens) to the name, are celebrating the restaurant\u2019s 80th anniversary.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe 80-year-old Verdes El Ranchero restaurant is at 7404 La Jolla Blvd. (Ashley Mackin-Solomon)<\/p>\n

With cultural shifts in the transition from the 1950s to the \u201960s came \u201ca great change in terms of dining experience,\u201d Olten said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u201950s were very formal and featured cocktail hours,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was something you dressed up for. Women wore white gloves and hats when they went to lunch.\u201d<\/p>\n

La Jolla was seen as a \u201cconservative, strung-up kind of place,\u201d with a sense of formality in everything from lunch to weddings, she said.<\/p>\n

One restaurant that embraced that was the upscale Plaza near La Jolla Boulevard.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of Raymond Chandler\u2019s favorite places,\u201d Olten said, and also was known to host then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. It closed by the end of the 1950s.<\/p>\n

When the \u201960s hit, Olten said, \u201cthere were all these casual dining experiences that started happening. We still had white-tablecloth restaurants, but they were more of a passing fancy. People were more oriented toward casual experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the newer establishments had a niche element.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne restaurant that was very, very important in La Jolla was the Chart House \u2026 which was designed by the architect Kendrick Kellogg,\u201d Olten said. \u201cIt was a steakhouse that, for some reason, the owners hired surfers as waiters. So they had a reputation for handsome waiters and good steaks. The whole Windansea surf crowd was working there.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, a place called the Pour House was a surfers\u2019 hangout with a lot of fistfights, Olten said.<\/p>\n

At the Bratskellar, which also opened around that time,\u00a0\u201cthe decor was \u2026 very churchy and they had a medieval theme going on,\u201d she said. \u201cThe phone booth was in an old confessional taken from a church. The menu was simple. They had really good French wine and they were open until midnight on weekends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olten said she recalls going there for a late-night hamburger, a side of fries and corn on the cob for $2.95.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could have a wonderful dinner for less than $10,\u201d she said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

Next installment: While many of La Jolla\u2019s earlier restaurants were one of a kind, more chains would join the ranks as the decades passed \u2014 with some controversy. \u2666<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is the second installment in a series of stories on the history of dining out in La…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[11705,7,930,5184,9224,6804,6953,74,84,76,75],"class_list":["post-350613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-bird-rock","tag-california","tag-la-jolla","tag-la-jolla-light","tag-la-jolla-light-business","tag-la-jolla-light-news","tag-la-jolla-shores","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}