![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Jack-in-the-Box-site.jpg\")
The former Jack in the Box on Pearl Street in La Jolla is pictured after it closed upon being acquired by The Bishop\u2019s School in 2021. It is now occupied by El Pueblo Mexican restaurant. (Ashley Mackin-Solomon)<\/p>\n
Chains such as Taco Bell and McDonald\u2019s followed Jack in the Box onto prominent La Jolla streets.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a really big stink when McDonald\u2019s opened a location on Prospect Street,\u201d Olten said. \u201cWe already had a Jack in the Box, so people were acquainted with fast food and chain restaurants. But \u2026 we did not want a national chain on Prospect Street. People stood up at meetings and talked about [the possibility of] trash and paper napkins being all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the McDonald\u2019s eventually opened in the 1980s, it was in a location on Prospect Street where water and trash would collect in a dip in the asphalt.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they made an attempt to keep everything very clean when they opened, but when they would hose the street off, the water would collect there outside in the gutter, and you would not believe the literal stink that was caused,\u201d Olten said. \u201cPeople pointed to that and talked about the stagnant water and napkins floating in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eventually, the McDonald\u2019s restaurant moved out of La Jolla. Olten doesn\u2019t recall when, but there are reports of the McDonald\u2019s still operating in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n
In addition to the chains, restaurants started to open that have become household names in the La Jolla culinary scene.<\/p>\n
One of the earliest that remains is Harry\u2019s Coffee Shop, which opened in 1960 at 7545 Girard Ave. The restaurant, which is open daily for breakfast and lunch and has been owned by the same family since its inception, is widely considered a slice of Americana.<\/p>\n
Another longtime La Jolla eating establishment, George\u2019s at the Cove, opened in 1984 at 1250 Prospect St. as a California-style restaurant inspired by other popular places of the time, such as Wolfgang Puck\u2019s restaurants.<\/p>\n
When it opened, George\u2019s restaurant was located on the lower level and the bar level. The rooftop Ocean Terrace opened in 1991.<\/p>\n
George\u2019s chef and owner Trey Foshee, who joined in 1999, recalled that that was a busy time for restaurants.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had worked in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Hawaii prior to [George\u2019s] \u2026 so I had been exposed to what was going on on the national scale, but La Jolla had its own little vibe. There was a lot of social activity in the restaurants. La Jolla felt like a hub for that kind of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
For example, he said, there was a time when George\u2019s bar needed a bouncer to regulate crowds.<\/p>\n
Culinarily speaking, however, Foshee said La Jolla \u201cwas a little behind the times\u201d and was \u201cvery Maine lobster, veal chop and martini.\u201d So upon his arrival, George\u2019s menu started to change.<\/p>\n
\u201cLa Jolla didn\u2019t have its own culinary legs at that time,\u201d Foshee said. \u201cIt felt like we needed to bring things up a couple of notches,\u201d including using new techniques and local ingredients.<\/p>\n
\u201cSan Diego back then had all this great stuff, but people weren\u2019t using it,\u201d he said. \u201cI remember when we put local yellowtail on the menu and the response was \u2018Really?\u2019 Nowadays it would be odd to fly something in rather than use local ingredients, but it used to be the opposite. It was all about East Coast black cod and snapper from Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sami Ladeki, owner of Sammy\u2019s Woodfired Pizza, said that in the 1980s, \u201cLa Jolla\u2019s dining scene was largely made up of fine-dining French and Italian restaurants, so there was an opportunity to create something different. \u2026 People were looking for fresh, healthy food in a more relaxed setting.\u201d<\/p>\n
So he opened one of La Jolla\u2019s first pizzerias in 1989 at 702 Pearl St.<\/p>\n
\u201cSammy\u2019s brought a new California-style cuisine and a more casual dining experience to La Jolla,\u201d Ladeki said.<\/p>\n
Nearly a decade later, Ladeki had the opportunity to travel to Tokyo and \u201ccompletely fell in love with the city, its culture and its cuisine.\u201d<\/p>\n
So in 1998, he opened Roppongi at 875 Prospect St.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the time, Roppongi was the first modern Asian cuisine restaurant in San Diego,\u201d Ladeki said. \u201cWe combined influences from Japan, China and Thailand in a way that wasn\u2019t being done anywhere else locally. There was no sushi in La Jolla at the time, and diners were becoming more adventurous and eager to explore new flavors. Roppongi introduced many guests to a completely different style of dining and helped broaden the culinary landscape of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Members](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/LJL-L-BIZ-ROUNDUP-APRIL-01_eeb07f.jpg\")
La Jolla leaders and Roppongi officials gather for a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the restaurant’s reopening last year. (Roppongi Restaurant & Lounge)<\/p>\n