La Hermosa: A 1920s residential subdivision in early La Jolla

by Debbie L. Sklar • Times of San Diego

*La Jolla coast, La Hermosa – aerial, date unknown. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)*

What is now part of the Bird Rock area in La Jolla was once mapped and marketed under early subdivision names in the 1920s. One of those names — La Hermosa, or the beautiful one — shows up in the record as a tract tied to early hillside development along the coast.

“Bird Rock” wasn’t the name being used yet. Developers divided the area into smaller tracts and gave each one its own subdivision name for sales and identification. La Hermosa was one of those, used when the coastline was still being broken into parcels and sold off piece by piece.

A photograph from around 1927 shows a Balfour Co. Inc. sales office sign inside the subdivision. It is a simple detail, but it points to what was happening on the ground: raw land being sold, rather than a finished residential neighborhood.

*Circa 1927 La Hermosa photographic record (Balfour Co. Inc. on-site sales office signage; archival images*; *(Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)*

The terrain shaped a lot of what followed. Steep slopes and canyon cuts influenced how roads were laid out, with streets bending to follow the land instead of a clean grid. Some lots were built on quickly. Others stayed empty for years.

You can still see that pattern today in the way the streets curve and the parcels shift in size, some suggest.

Top left (View of residence or building at La Hermosa in La Jolla in 1926. Steps are leading up to the building in the left foreground). Top middle Bird Rock c. 1926. Top right view of the residence at La Hermosa in 1927, on a hill with a garage below the residence on street level. Bottom left, construction of the Adams home in 1926-1927. It looks to be brick and wood; an automobile is parked on the street in the right foreground. The Pacific Ocean is in the background. Other houses are seen in the middle distance, including La Hermosa, and a middle aerial view of the La Jolla coast, unknown date. At the right, a view of a residence at La Hermosa in 1927, with the Pacific Ocean seen behind the house in the background. Residence is Spanish style with a tile roof. (Photos and captions info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)

La Hermosa was one of several early tract names used in La Jolla during this period. Like most of the homes, it wouldn’t last. Once the area was filled in and the neighborhood identity took hold, the name faded from everyday use.

What remains are small pieces of that earlier stage — old photographs, sales records, and hillside layouts showing a coastline still being divided, sold, and built out.

Read more history stories here, and do you have a story to tell? Send an email to DebbieSklar@cox.net.

Sources:

Circa 1927 La Hermosa photographic record (Balfour Co. Inc. on-site sales office signage; archival images.)
La Jolla Historical Society – early subdivision and coastal development history.
City of San Diego Planning Department.
San Diego County tract and parcel records (1920s subdivision era.)
California Coastal Commission – coastal development context.
Other various research