Thursday, November 19, 2009

I have driven up and down the stretch of Hwy 101 that extends from Carmel Valley Road up to Via de La Valle hundreds of times, it is one of my favorite areas of San Diego yet I had never questioned how it all came to be. This piece of heaven also called Del Mar California has the feel of a European medieval town, with the feel of a small community and ocean views that never end.So how did it all get started?

I found some information on Del Mar 's history through it's own historical society. According to documents found the date when you could say everything was set in motion was on August 14 1882, the day the railroad tracks were laid along this stretch of coastline in the effort of uniting San Diego and San Bernardino.

The man in charge of overseeing the project was Theodor M. Loop an engineer and contractor. He set up camp in a beautiful parcel of land that he referred to as "the most attractive place on the entire coast.". He set up a tent city and built a house for himself and his family. It was his wife Emma who named it, Ella, called it "Del Mar" - words taken from a popular poem, The Fight on Paseo Del Mar.

Loop met a gentleman named "Colonel" Jacob Taylor who suggested they develop the area and build a town here. It was 1885 when he purchased 338.11 acres at the northern end of the mesa from homesteader Enoch Talbert. It is said that he paid $1,000. And at this Del Mar was officially founded.
Taylor had a very clear picture in his mind of what the area was to become. His plan was for this to be a playground for the well to do, a seaside resort for the elite. The visionary designed and built a town whose focal point was Casa del Mar, a hotel-resort. Other town attractions included a natatorium, dancing pavilions, and a bathing pool extending from the beach out into the sea.In 1889 tragedy struck and the main attraction, the hotel, burnt down to the ground and so the town was left without it's focal point. This together with the struggling economy left the small town in a dormant state for at least 15 years.

It was until the beginning of the 1900 when The South Coast Land Company hired a prominent Los Angeles architect, John C. Austin, to draw plans for a new hotel, the Hotel Del Mar. The hotel opened in 1910, and fulfilling the original plans for the area, the elegant hotel served as a magnet for Hollywood stars of the silent film days.

From 1912 till 1920 beautiful new homes began to appear around the new town and many of them soon became landmarks. Construction was halted in the 1930's

Still it was during this time in 1933 when the search for a site to host the San Diego County Fair began. Ed Fletcher suggested that the 184 acre site in the San Dieguito Valley - just off the main highways and the Santa Fe Road - would be easily accessible and a perfect setting for a fairground.
It was on October 8, 1936 when the fair opened with an attendance of fifty thousand guests.

Bing Crosby made the Del Mar Turf Club a reality and Pat O'Brien became the Vice President. The Race track opened on July 3, 1937,and with it a new era began in Del Mar. The track was hailed as Bing's Baby or Movieland's Own Track. In 1938, Bing recorded the song that would open and close everyday of racing since those early days - Where the Turf Meets the Surf (click to listen to the song).

The race track brought A list celebrities and personalities every year, and many of them decided to set up homes in Del Mar, among them Lucy and Desi, Burt Bacharach and many others.

However during World war II the race track had to be closed and converted into a bomber tail assembly production facility until 1945 when racing returned to the the track.

The city of Del Mar was incorporated until 1959. During the following two decades everything was mostly quiet in the area. There was a growing movement of people in Del Mar whose goal was to beautify and maintain the open space, and it was at this time when the gorgeous Seagrove park with its grassy are overlooking the ocean was created.

Today the centerpieces of new Del Mar are L'Auberge - a beautiful hotel designed with the Stratford Inn in mind - and just recently renovated. And the elegant shops and boutiques of the picturesque seaside shopping center, Del Mar Plaza. Its selection of restaurants provides great taste, mood, and rave reviews.

Del Mar has maintained it's picturesque main street, it's small upscale town ambiance, with beautiful homes each one unique and different from the rest, some landmarks in their own right some brand new.

Today Del Mar is 92014 zip code. According to the Multiple Listing Service information the area has:
142 Active Listings out of which 114 are detached and 34 are attached
7 Contingent listings
32 Pending
15 Sales in the past 30 days
This gives it a 9.47 month inventory of homes.
60 properties on the counties list of foreclosure and preforeclosure.
And according to the statistics of the sales the averages are:
A.Selling Price-$1,640,770
A.Price per Square Foot $740.52
A.Days on Market 108
A. percentage of sale to asking price 94%

The School District includes the Del Mar Union School District which is one of the highest ranking school districts in all of San Diego. It has 8 Elementary schools and 2 middle schools and 2 High Schools.

For more detailed information you can visit my web site http://www.sandiegoexclusiveproperties.com/ or contact me by:
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You can even search properties in Del Mar just by going to our web site


All the information in this blog has not been checked, it is believed accurate but not guaranteed.

Monday, November 9, 2009

History of La Jolla California

EARLY HISTORY



La Jolla is believed to have been the home of Native Americans and some artifacts have been found, however there has been no clear consensus as to who they where and what happened to them.



The first written records that have been found according tho the "La Jolla Historical Society" are those that appeared in all land grant and mission records since 1928 and in scattered documents at least back to 1870 when they appeared spelled "L-a-J-o-y-a".



That spelling is consistent with the Spanish spelling of the word "The Jewell" although some argue that the name actually comes from the Native American term Woholle that means, hole in the mountain.



The reality is, no matter where the name actually originated it is assumed to be the first option because La Jolla is actually considered to be a Jewell. With it's breathtaking views of the ocean and the mansions lining it's streets, this is a place that exudes refinement.



Incorporated in 1850, the first lots of land sold in La Jolla in 1869, they were purchased by two brothers, the Sizer lots were sold for $1.25 per ACRE and each purchase a 80 acre lot in what is now downtown La Jolla. However it was Frank Terrill Bostford who first started auctioning off pieces of land in the area which earned him the title of "Father of La Jolla"

By 1900 it had 350 residents and by the end of the first world war there about 4000. At this time in history the basis of the economy for the area was tourism. The architecture slowly shifted its design from the initial cottage style to the Spanish mission style of construction.
In 1929 with the crash of the stock Market, the area was affected along with the rest of the country, not many houses were built in the 10 year period following the crash and it was until the second world war that the area had another growing spur, after the end of the war many people came back to call this area home and they began developing the adjacent hills into subdivisions. By 1960 17,000 people called La Jolla home and Today there are well over 40,000 residents.

Although la Jolla is most famous for its natural beauty and terrain, it is also well known for being the place where Charles Lindbergh learned to fly gliders, he flew from the top of Mt. Soledad. Today there are no gliders flying out of that area but there is a very well known glide port in the Torrey Pines area, just above the Scripps institute of oceanography, there you can watch this gliders take off almost every day.
Another well known attraction in La Jolla is the 7 caves at La Jolla Cove, only 1 of this caves is accessible from any point other than by sea, it is a destination for scuba divers and Kayaks which are very common in the area.

There is also the La Valencia Hotel which is a destination hotel visited by many stars back in the golden era of cinema and even today. It is located adjacent to the La Jolla Cove park and it has some of the most amazing vies any hotel has in the area.

La Jolla has also been the home for many famous artist, writers, even a Nobel Laureate and many sport and movie stars. But one of the most famous residents would be Theodore Geisel also known as Dr. Seuss. Today you can still walk down prospect street with its many galleries and stores and find many of his paintings and artwork for sale in the area.

Today, the citizens of La Jolla are among the most engaged in the world of charity, it is a society that is constantly supporting all kinds of causes and it has become a standard of living to be involved with at least one cause if not several. From the Rady Family who a couple of years ago gave a sizable gift to the San Diego Children's Hospital having it re-named Rady Children's Hospital to the Jacobs family who are known as one of the most philanthropic families and big patrons of the art who donated 100 million dollars to the San Diego Philharmonic Orchestra.

La Jolla's zip code is 92037 and it has consistently remained on the lists of most expensive zip codes in the country. Today there are 427 properties listed for sale out of which 259 are detached homes. There are 83 properties in pending Status and there have been 50 properties sold in the last 30 days. The average sale price today is $866.06 per square feet and 120 days is the average days that a property takes to sell.

If you have any quetsions regarding this area or any other areas in San Diego please contact me

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