Something more has been added to distinguish La Jolla: a huge new community entryway sign.

Over five years in planning, the new sign is strategically situated in the triangular median at the intersection of Torrey Pines and La Jolla Shores Drive. The huge sign faces southeast at the median at La Jolla Shores Drive and Torrey Pines Road, just west of “the throat” intersection where Torrey Pines and Hidden Valley roads, as well as La Jolla Parkway, converge. Tens of thousands of vehicles pass through this point daily.

Designed by La Jolla architect/urbanist Trace Wilson, the new “Welcome to La Jolla Sign” was unanimously green-lighted by three of the community’s planning groups – La Jolla Shores Association, La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Board, and La Jolla Community Planning Association.

Located on City property, the sign was funded primarily by the Rotary Club of La Jolla, whose emblem marks the sign’s lower left corner. Rotary raised the funds to pay for the new sign, having donated $17,000 to the City for maintenance of the sign’s median in 2018.

Wilson characterized the site designated for La Jolla’s new entryway sign as “crying out for attention.” He said this was because “nobody was taking care of it.” He added a fiscal analysis determined some public tax monies were eligible to be used for maintenance of the sign’s median. “As an urbanist, my main concern was for properly maintaining public landscaping for the project, keeping it from dying out,” he said. “We worked with the City Parks and Recreation Department to take care of landscaping that median.”

Remaining to be done in the combination sign/garden project are landscaping additions, including creeping vines on the sign and plants and shrubbery around it. Plans also include adding lighting.

“The new garden will be planted by the City contractor, who is also providing mulch and will be doing the planting,” noted La Jolla Rotary Club president Cindy Goodman. “If we have any funds left, the next step will be to install solar lighting.”

Goodman pointed out the community beautification project began over five years ago when La Jolla Rotary’s Community Services Committee met to discuss projects for the year.  “Among those (projects) suggested at the time was to ‘adopt a (garden) plot’ at Balboa Park along with other Rotary clubs,” said Goodman adding, “Committee member Chuck Dick noted however that we might want to consider doing something similar for our own. From this came the idea of providing a Welcome to La Jolla sign and garden.”

Wilson said it wasn’t difficult to sell La Jolla’s planning groups on the designated site for the new welcoming sign because it was in the “perfect place. It’s really small right now,” added the architect about the garden surrounding the sign. “But it will grow. It (sign) is meant to have vines growing through its screens accenting the fan palms, which have been there for a long time.”

Goodman noted Rotary Club of La Jolla’s initial attempt to plan La Jolla’s new entryway sign “did not go well.” She added, “Two years later, we decided to try again. This time we enlisted guidance from the City on what actually could be done. And Trace Wilson volunteered to develop, pro bono, a design plan. Once the concept was approved by the board and endorsed by a variety of local organizations, the real work began. The board approved $10,000 in seed funding, a company was hired to pull permits and construct the sign, and fundraising began in earnest.”

Goodman said Rotary worked with the City to determine “what sort of a garden we could install that could be maintained under their Gas Tax Median program.” She added, “The following year, 14 community groups and numerous individuals contributed to the project. We were ultimately able to raise over $80,000, including a $25,000 grant from the County of San Diego.  We decided that the Rotary logo should be generic rather than just our club’s, and three area Rotary clubs made contributions in varying amounts.”