1903 Map of La Jolla

About this map

Ex Mission San Diego stands as a central landmark in this coastal landscape, situated within the broad San Diego Mission Valley. The map reveals an era when much of the region remained open Pueblo Lands of San Diego, with small, emerging settlements like Pacific Beach and Morena clustered near the shoreline. Coastal travel was defined by the Southern California R. R. Surf Line, which threaded through Soledad Valley and passed the settlement of Delmar. Inland, the terrain rises toward the Cleveland National Forest, where steep canyons like Los Penasquitos Canyon and Carroll Canyon cut through the hills. The hydrology of the era is preserved in the expansive False Bay and the meandering San Diego River, long before the intensive development of the mid-twentieth century transformed these tidal flats and valley floors.