Walking Tours
Guided Walking Tours
Join us for historic walking tours of La Jolla and experience its unique history, architecture, landscape and more with Museum of History and Culture La Jolla (MHC La Jolla) Historian, Carol Olten.
Walking tours are NOT held weekly - check out our schedule below for upcoming dates!
Comfortable shoes, sunscreen, hats and sunglasses are encouraged.
$20 per person | $10 for MHC La Jolla members
Upcoming Guided Walking Tours
Join historian Carol Olten on walking tours experiencing the sights – and sites – of La Jolla village. All tours start at 2p.m. Sundays at Wisteria Cottage and last about two hours.
Walking tours are NOT held weekly - check out our schedule below for upcoming dates!
NEW! Lanes & Alleyways
MHC La Jolla historian Carol Olten introduces a new walking tour, “Lanes & Alleyways,” on her Fall/Winter series of La Jolla explorations. This walking tour pokes into the mysteries, names, residents and buildings of some of La Jolla’s legendary lanes in the village area.
Sunday, October 18, 2026 @ 2:00 PM
Museum of History and Culture La Jolla
780 Prospect Street
Raymond Chandler
Time for sleuthing! Walk the sidewalks and snoop the alleys that one of the detective genre’s most popular writers experienced when he lived and worked in La Jolla. This tour will focus on Chandler’s Playback, the last book written starring venerable gumshoe Philip Marlowe tracking surly criminals in a 1950s beach town disguising La Jolla as Esmeralda. Stops for gumshoe prose and dialogue reading along the way.
Sunday, November 15, 2026 @ 2:00 PM
Museum of History and Culture La Jolla
780 Prospect Street
NEW! Commercial Courts
A Mid-century answer to office and retail space, Commercial Courts reflects La Jolla’s distinctive blend of modernist design, village character, and everyday commerce. Discover the architectural details, history, and stories behind this tucked-away collection of shops and workspaces.
Sunday, November 15, 2026 @ 2:00 PM
Museum of History and Culture La Jolla
780 Prospect Street
Self-Guided Tours
Want to explore the charm of La Jolla at your own pace? Choose from our themed self-guided tours. Learn about the unique history, architecture and landscape of our beautiful coastal region. Put on your walking shoes and let the adventure begin!
A Walking Tour of La Jolla Village
This hour-long tour of La Jolla focuses on significant landmarks and is designed to provide insight into the past century of community growth and development. Included are examples of early beach cottages, European architectural styles that developed starting in the 1920s, as well as modern buildings.
Historic Beach Cottages of La Jolla
Before paved streets, running water, and grand hotels, La Jolla was a village of small cottages that clung to the cliffs and nestled in the canyons along the rising topography of the coastline. Craftsman-style beach cottages were the vernacular architecture of the late-19th century and early-20th century. Of basic design and simple wood construction, the cottages on this driving tour remain a window into early La Jolla.
WT MacDonald House, Architect Richard Requa 1933, photomontage by Nick Agelidis
Jazz Age La Jolla: Architecture of the 1920s
In 1920s La Jolla, the automobile and electric streetcar encouraged residential developments such as the Barber Tract, Hermosa, Muirlands, and the Shores. Beach cottages gave way to the work of architects who adapted historic styles to modern sensibilities. These early subdivisions built on the outskirts of the Village continue to define neighborhoods, street patterns, and historic architecture.
Mid-Century Modern Architecture
The 1950s and 1960s were decades of a remarkably rich creative culture in La Jolla, and a group of modernist architects emerged to spearhead new, influential, and enduring ideas in building design. This driving tour highlights residential, commercial, and academic buildings designed in the modern style and reflecting influences ranging from the Bauhaus to Frank Lloyd Wright.
Wheeler Bailey Apartment, La Jolla, 1932, Architect Irving J Gill, Collection of the San Diego History Center
Irving Gill’s San Diego
The Arts and Crafts movement was becoming popular when Irving Gill (1870-1936) arrived in San Diego in 1893, and his early designs reflect this aesthetic. By 1908, his mature style characteristic of early modernism was beginning, and he became known for the design of clean facades devoid of ornamentation. Gill is now regarded as a pioneer in the early modern movement in architecture. This extensive tour of Gill’s designs cover three decades of his work, and ranges from Coronado to Oceanside, La Jolla to Hillcrest and Bankers Hill.
The tour maps above are the intellectual property of the Museum of History and Culture La Jolla and are provided for personal use only. All rights reserved, including but not limited to reproduction, distribution or sale, display or performance, and/or the creation of derivative works.
Behind the Scenes Member Series
Visit behind-the-scenes places in La Jolla and experience readings and programs on some of the community’s unusual artists and writers who have lived and visited here in a new members-only series coordinated by historian Carol Olten.
