Mandarin House owner Nelson Law has a special new greeting for passers-by to his La Jolla eatery: a giant mural of Tony Gwynn.
The new Gwynn mural, on the side of the Chinese restaurant’s building at 6765 La Jolla Blvd., is a testament to Law’s fondness and lifelong appreciation for San Diego’s most iconic Padre. “The (Gwynn) wall has been blank for a while, just black,” noted Law admitting, “I didn’t know what to put on it for a long time. We’ve had (mural) ideas we’ve bounced back and forth with customers over the years, but nothing stuck.”
Law ultimately linked up with Ground Floor Murals, owned by a couple, Paul Jimenez and Signe Ditona, who did a similar Padres’ mural in Ocean Beach on Appletree Market (now Krisp) of Fernando Tatis, Jr. “Ground Floor went on social media and said, ‘We are looking for a wall to do a free mural contest to honor Tony Gwynn,” said Law. “A customer saw that and sent it to me, and I made a video submission (to Ground Floor), and a lot of people were supportive of it (mural), so they chose us as well as another restaurant downtown. We’re each getting a mural. Alesmith (local craft brewery) sponsored it (Gwynn mural) so I didn’t have to pay anything for it.”
Pointing out Mandarin House had already been carrying Alesmith’s San Diego Pale Ale.394, a brand named for Gwynn’s highest batting average, Law said the new mural just seemed to fit perfectly as a local sports landmark. “Alesmith is doing a can to commemorate Gwynn’s 3,000th hit and this (my) mural is going to be on some of those cans,” enthused Law.
Mandarin House has another colorful, high-profile mural of a dragon on the south wall on the opposite end of the building painted by Natalie, the daughter of La Jolla surfboard shaper Tim Bessell. “She did the mural for me after she’d moved to Australia on one of her trips back home that’s been on there for two or three years now,” Law said.
Law said his restaurant space at 6765 La Jolla Blvd. has a long, colorful history, originally opening as one of the first grocery stores in La Jolla. Law noted his dad and his business partner had a friend who operated an American-style diner in the space during the ‘60s and ‘70s before his family converted it into the Mandarin House in 1977. “I took it over in 2017,” he said.
MANDARIN HOUSE
Where: 6765 La Jolla Blvd.
Info: mandarinhouselj.com, 858-454-2555.
La Jolla restaurant’s history – The founders of the Mandarin House, John “Tat” Law, and Bill “Wai Choi” Man were young teenagers growing up working and cooking in restaurants in Hong Kong in the 1960s. A chance meeting brought them back together and sent the pair on a journey ultimately from the East Coast to La Jolla where, on April 21, 1977, they opened the Mandarin House of La Jolla.
The two young chefs crafted a menu using their Hong Kong techniques which were also inspired by East Coast menus. They added a few original signature recipes and over the years the menu was refined. John’s son, Nelson, has since taken over and the traditions of the Mandarin House live on.
In August 2019, a small non-injury summer kitchen fire, determined by fire investigators to be grease buildup in the kitchen vent, shut the restaurant down, which was unoccupied at the time, until June 2021. Mandarin House was able to rebuild the kitchen, as well as remodel a lot of the restaurant in the process. The aim of the repairs and remodel was to not only maintain the Chinese eatery’s ’70s feel, but also to make it a bit more contemporary.
