Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Park
Influenced by the American picturesque park movement, Scripps Memorial Park has a 3.8-acre lawn and heritage plantings that include groves of gnarly trunked pink melaleuca (Melaleuca nesophila), an Australian native plant; exotic dragon trees (Dracaena draco) from the Canary Islands; several Monterey cypress (Hesperocyparis macrocarpa); and a row of Mexican fan palms (Washingtonia robusta).
[3][4] La Jolla was the location of a large habitation area known to early Kumeyaay inhabitants as Mut kula xuy (place of many caves).
"[6] It is a site like Point Conception, a headland in Santa Barbara County that is said to be sacred to the Chumash people, the “Western Gate” through which the souls of the dead could pass between the moral world and the heavenly realm.
On the La Jolla plat map, the park was linked to the main commercial street, Girard Ave., so that residents and visitors could easily access the coast.
[9] In 1894, the San Diego, Pacific Beach, and La Jolla Railroad financed the construction of a pavilion in the park to serve as an entertainment center where people could hold meetings, listen to music, and play cards.
The La Jolla Improvement Society, like other similar organizations nationwide, made efforts to beautify the park with landscaping and belvederes perched over the cliffs.
La Jolla Submarine Canyon's southern branch, later the Matlahuayl State Marine Reserve, had reefs and a kelp forest teeming with leopard sharks, garibaldi, lobster, and octopus.
In 1939, at the end of the Great Depression, the park became the site of the Adult Recreation Center built with the support of the Works Progress Administration.
[24] Curving paths through the park mirror organic patterns found in nature and lead walkers along the edge of the coastal bluff.
The park’s roadside edge is lined with Mexican fan palms (Washingtonia robusta) originally planted by La Jolla resident Walter Lieber in 1910.
They include groves of gnarly trunked pink melaleuca (Melaleuca nesophila), an Australian native plant; exotic dragon trees (Dracaena draco) from the Canary Islands; several Monterey cypresses (Cupressus macrocarpa); a Cook pine (Araucaria columnaris); an Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis); pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa), often called the New Zealand Christmas tree; karo (Pittosporum tobira); and a row of Mexican fan palms (Washingtonia robusta).
Ground covers including several varieties of ice plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum) and sea fig (Carpobrotus edulis) spread over adjoining beach cliffs, creating carpets of red, pinks and purples through the spring and early summer.
Stairs at the northern end of Ellen Browning Scripps Park provide access to the beach, a popular site for swimming, diving, and engaging with marine life.
Boomer Beach, located below the bluff adjacent to the Adult Recreation Center, was a popular site for shell collecting, body surfing, and diving.
In 2023, the San Diego City Council approved a year-round closure of Boomer Beach for seven years to separate people from a sea lion rookery.
A navigational marker, it played a significant role in California's maritime history by offering a protected anchorage from southern storms.
In 2023, the San Diego City Council approved a year-round closure of Point La Jolla for seven years to separate people from a sea lion rookery.
The Adult Recreation Center, 1160 Coast Blvd., is a one-story building located on a promontory at the northern end of Ellen Browning Scripps Park.
Designed by architect Richard S. Requa, it was funded by the La Jolla Chamber of Commerce and built by the Works Progress Administration.
The Adult Recreation Center was remodeled in the 1950s and 1960s to accommodate increased membership of the La Jolla Cove Shuffleboard and Bridge Club.
In 1995, a lifeguard call box in the park designed in bronze by artist Paul Sibel was added above Boomer Beach to honor a beloved waterman and body surfer, David C. Freeman.
