Starting Friday, Girard Avenue is closed to cars from Torrey Pines Road down to Prospect Street, and it stays that way until Monday morning. Wall Street is closed from Herschel to Girard, and Silverado Street from Herschel to Fay. That is the setup for the La Jolla Art & Wine Festival, which runs Oct. 10 and 11 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with free general admission. Eighteen days later Draper Avenue closes for an evening. Two days after that, the shops along the Village's commercial streets hang balloons and give out candy.
Put those dates on a map and the pattern is clear. Almost everything on La Jolla's fall calendar this year happens within a few blocks of Girard and Prospect, close enough to walk between in an afternoon. Over the past two months, the La Jolla Village Merchants Association has also added the pieces that link those blocks: directional signs, a phone app for discounts, and a set of events that use the same streets again and again.
The weekend that starts it
The organizer lists more than 160 juried artists for this year's festival. A July report in the La Jolla Light put the number above 170, artists from the U.S. and Mexico included. The festival lists the Girard Avenue Marketplace at 7505 Girard Ave. as its location. Besides the art, there will be wine and beer, live entertainment, and a family art center.
The closures reach past Girard, which is the part that matters if you live nearby. Wall and Silverado are both cut off between Herschel and the festival, and setup and cleanup push the closure past the event hours, from Friday, Oct. 9 to Monday morning, Oct. 12. If you normally cut across the Village on Silverado to reach Fay, plan on Herschel for those four days.
The signs and the app that link the blocks
Plenty of people walk the festival without knowing the Village got new directional signs this summer. On Aug. 23 and 24, the merchants association put up 24 directional banners on light poles, mostly on Girard Avenue and Prospect Street, with a few near La Jolla Cove. Five more were planned. The banners hang about 12 feet up, point toward attractions, coastal landmarks, and transit stops, and each one carries a "you are here" sticker. According to the La Jolla Light's report, the Village had been discussing signs like these in different forms since 2015. Earlier ideas such as painted or vinyl-wrapped utility boxes never happened.
The second link is on your phone. The La Jolla Village Savings Pass launched Sept. 4 and is free on iPhone and Android through the Vibemap app. Most participating businesses are in the Village, plus a few in La Jolla Shores. Restaurants on the list include Duke's La Jolla, Roppongi Restaurant & Lounge, Pinpoint Cafe, and Sammy's Woodfired Pizza & Grill. Bret Webster Gallery has the biggest retail discount, 50% off one item, and Hyssop & Honey, 8th Harmony, and Awaken Family Chiropractic each offer 30% off certain services or items.
Two of the perks have deadlines. The 10% discount on Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego admission lasts through the end of the year. Anyone who uses the pass through the end of October is automatically entered in a random drawing for a La Jolla "daycation" that includes two nights at La Jolla Inn by the Sea. The idea isn't new. Executive Director Jodi Rudick said the old physical "La Jolla-lty card" was redesigned as a digital pass.
October, block by block
With the signs and the pass in place, the rest of the month uses the same grid. Here are the dates:
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sun., Oct. 11, 7:30–10 a.m. | La Jolla Cars & Coffee | 1298 Prospect St. |
| Sun., Oct. 18, 2 p.m. | "Lanes & Alleyways" walking tour | Starts at 780 Prospect St. |
| Wed., Oct. 21 | "The Axolotl's Garden" opens | Birch Aquarium |
| Thu., Oct. 22, 6:30–9:30 p.m. | "Oceans at Night: Halloween," 21+ | Birch Aquarium |
| Fri.–Sat., Oct. 23–24, 6–8:30 p.m. | "Halloween Aglow," all ages | Birch Aquarium |
| Wed., Oct. 28, 5:30–7 p.m. | Trunk or Treat | Draper Ave., Kline to Prospect |
| Fri., Oct. 30, 3–6 p.m. | Creepy Candy Crawl | Village commercial streets |
| Mon., Nov. 2, 3–5 p.m. | Día de Muertos Celebration and Community Ofrenda | 6811 La Jolla Blvd. |
The two Halloween events in the Village are a short walk apart. Trunk or Treat is back for its second year and closes Draper Avenue between Kline and Prospect streets from 3 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 28. The La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Board has already approved the closure. Last year 32 decorated cars lined the street. This year the organizers are adding free chili, apple cider, and apple in a cup, plus a pumpkin carving area.
The Creepy Candy Crawl starts one block away on the Friday before Halloween. Candy bags are available at 908 Kline St., and participating businesses mark their storefronts with balloons. Judges dressed as witches walk the Village for the costume contest, prizes come from Geppetto's toy store, and winners are announced at about 4:15 p.m.
Birch Aquarium is the one major date on the list outside the Village, down the hill in La Jolla Shores. "Halloween Aglow" is held in the Adam R. Scripps Living Seas Gallery and includes underwater pumpkin carving and a "Boo and Goo Lab" with animals that can regrow parts of their bodies. "The Axolotl's Garden" opens Oct. 21, and regular admission covers it.
Where the new names opened
The latest openings follow the same pattern. They sit on, or one turn away from, the streets the events use.
Mahj Theory Collective opened Aug. 12 at 7863 Girard Ave. It's run by mother-daughter team Deb and Sam Solomon and offers Mahjong lessons, open play, memberships, and events. La Jolla Perfume & Cologne had a soft opening Aug. 1 at 7606 Girard Ave. Both are inside the stretch of Girard that closes this weekend.
The Shores got a new morning stop. Casa Del Lobo opened Aug. 18 at 2246 Avenida de la Playa. Owners Saul Moreno and Christine Silver, a La Jolla couple, serve seasonal coffee drinks, matcha, and local pastries and sell Mexican-made ceramics. It's a few minutes from Birch Aquarium. Also in the Shores, Barbarella Restaurant & Bar hired executive chef Shawn Washington, who is adding meat and seafood dishes to the menu.
To the south, Bird Rock Athletic Club opened Sept. 1 at 5721 La Jolla Blvd., offering gym, Pilates, training, and recovery services. It's on the same boulevard as the La Jolla Community Center, where the Nov. 2 ofrenda takes place.
What shifts at the edges
Two changes affect how you get to and around these blocks this season.
The La Jolla Recreation Center at 615 Prospect St. switched to a shorter schedule at the end of August. The building now closes Sundays and Mondays and is open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, noon to 6 p.m. Friday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The grounds stay open. Starting Nov. 11, the free Qi Gong and Tai Chi class moves from Friday mornings to Wednesdays, 10 to 10:50 a.m.
Torrey Pines Road, the main route into the Village from the north, is getting permanent guardrails between Prospect Place and Coast Walk. The La Jolla Light reported Oct. 6 as the expected start date, with work continuing through March 2027. Crews are scheduled to work 7 p.m. to 3 a.m., Sunday through Thursday nights. Some shifts may close the northern westbound lane, and the northbound bike lane stays closed for the whole project. When the sidewalk is closed, pedestrians will use a protected path on the south side, crossing at Prospect Place and at the mid-block crossing between Amalfi and Princess streets. The city's project page lists about 420 feet of bridge rail, new sidewalk and curb, repaving, and restriping.
The December dates already booked
The calendar continues into December, still on the same blocks. Cars & Coffee meets at 1298 Prospect on Nov. 8 and Dec. 13. The Museum of History and Culture is offering two more walking tours after "Lanes & Alleyways": "Raymond Chandler's La Jolla" on Nov. 15 and "Commercial Courts" on Dec. 13.
Mavi Mediterranean is the one opening to watch on Fay Avenue. Devrim and Selin Bashelvaci are planning Turkish-inspired Mediterranean food at 7536 Fay Ave., with a separate speakeasy-style room called Pera 26. As of late September, management had moved the expected opening from October to Wednesday, Dec. 2. The space was still in final development, permitting, staffing, and training, and Pera 26's exact hours had not been confirmed, though it is expected to take its own reservations. Fay is one block from Girard, and Silverado Street, which closes for this weekend's festival, ends there.
At Josh Higgins, we follow how La Jolla's Village blocks change from season to season, from the new banners on Girard to what's opening on Fay. If you live a short walk from these streets and want to know how that location affects your home's value, Request a Complimentary Home Valuation and we'll put together a clear, data-backed estimate.
