Surfin' USA: "All over La Jolla"
Posted by: 
LeoGeo
N 32° 49.765 W 117° 16.834
11S E 473740 N 3632411
La Jolla (in San Diego, California), mentioned in the Beach Boys' "Surfin' USA."
Waymark Code: WM4YDV
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 10/13/2008
Views: 27
One of the many Californian, Hawaiian, and Australian surfing locations mentioned in "Surfin' USA" is La Jolla, the name of a neighborhood in San Diego, California. The thatched-roof beach hut shown in one of the photos here is at Windansea Beach (yes, it's really spelled that way) in La Jolla, one of the epicenters of San Diego surfing.
"La Jolla" is pronounced as if it were spelled (in English) "la hoya," and is homonymous with the Spanish word for "jewel," "la joya." Therefore, it's often called "the jewel" in English. But "jolla" isn't the usual Spanish spelling of the word meaning "jewel," and one theory is that the name comes from a geological/nautical term, "jolla," meaning cove, cave, or hole -- which are prominent features along the coast here. But presumably the local Chamber of Commerce wouldn't want the community to become known as "the hole"!
The name "La Jolla" actually covers a lot of area. Windansea, and south of it, Bird Rock, are the southern beaches of La Jolla. A bit to the north is La Jolla "village," with steep hillsides reminiscent of Monte Carlo and other Mediterranean towns perched above the ocean -- a very wealthy and expensive neighborhood, home to the late Dr. Seuss and many chi-chi boutiques and art galleries. Beyond that there's a long flat beach, and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of California's San Diego campus, with the surrounding very new apartments, offices, hotels, and retail.
By the way, in another verse the Beach Boys sing that people are surfing "all over Manhattan." No, they don't mean surfing in the Hudson, Harlem, and East Rivers, nor even in the Atlantic on Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn. It's another Manhattan Beach -- in Los Angeles County, California.
Musician: Beach Boys (and many others)
Name of Song: Surfin' USA
Relevant Verse:
At Haggarty's and Swami's
Pacific Palisades
San Onofre and Sunset
Redondo Beach, L.A.
All over La Jolla
At Waiamea Bay
Everybody's gone surfin'
Surfin' USA
Location website: Not listed
|
Visit Instructions:
There are no specific requirements for logging a waymark. You are, however, encouraged to include any funny or interesting pictures of your visit.