In 1950, coming south on the old Route 5, a visitor had to pull a quick right hand turn around an old gas station where a wooden sign said “To La Jolla.” The ride down the Torrey Pines “Grade” was like a ride on a roller coaster. Since then, the road has been graded and paved so that cars now slither at high speed to sea level. Before the visitor gets to the streets of the village proper, he would be wise to have his car insurance in order, check his seatbelts and have a phone number handy for a tow truck. That would prepare him for driving over some of the potholes in La Jolla’s village streets. — Patricia Weber lives in La Jolla