Old Encinitas is the small beachside heart of the city, a mix of shops, restaurants and older housing along historic Coast Highway 101. The Encinitas welcome arch, the Swami's surf break and the early-20th-century La Paloma Theatre are all here. A low coastal ridge separates it from New Encinitas inland.[1]
History
Jabez Pitcher formed the town of Old Encinitas in 1881.[1] The California Southern Railroad built a depot in 1887, and the original building survives, moved to 510 North Coast Highway and now a coffee shop.[2] Pitcher, who owned much of the town, developed Moonlight Beach with a bathhouse, playground, boardwalk and dance hall. Between 1915 and 1925 it drew North County residents for social outings and horse races.[3] In 1929 Miles Minor Kellogg used timber from the closed Moonlight Beach Dance Parlor and the Encinitas Hotel to build the boat-shaped houses known as the S.S. Encinitas and S.S. Moonlight.[4]
Downtown
Since 1982 the Encinitas 101 Main Street Association has worked to preserve downtown's historic beach-town character while supporting a commercial district of local salons, restaurants, shops, bars and galleries.[1] The two-day April Street Fair and the one-day November Fall Festival close Coast Highway 101 to traffic, and classic cars line the highway on the third Thursday of each month from May to September.[1]
The La Paloma Theatre opened on February 11, 1928, as a 540-seat silent-movie house designed by Edward J. Baum. Mary Pickford attended the opening and Charlie Chaplin performed there. It still shows films, including long-running Rocky Horror Picture Show screenings, and hosts concerts. Owner Alan Largent restored it in 2016.[5]
Self-Realization Fellowship
On the bluff south of downtown stand the Self-Realization Fellowship temple, hermitage and gardens, an Encinitas landmark since the 1930s.[1] Paramahansa Yogananda lived at the hermitage after returning from India in 1936. It was a gift from his disciple Rajarsi Janakananda, and there he wrote Autobiography of a Yogi.[6] The property includes an ashram. Ravi Shankar gave his first U.S. concert at the SRF Encinitas retreat in 1957, and George Harrison spent time there.[7]
Beaches
Moonlight State Beach, at the foot of Encinitas Boulevard, is one of the most visited beaches in the city. It is used for surfing, swimming, surf fishing, beach volleyball and bonfires, and it hosts the Wavecrest Woodie Meet and the Switchfoot Bro-Am.[3][1] Swami's, below the SRF grounds, is an internationally known right-hand point break, and its cliff-top park has a staircase to the sand.[8] See beaches and surfing.
Public art
The Surfing Madonna, a 10-by-10-foot mosaic of the Virgin of Guadalupe on a surfboard, was secretly installed on the Encinitas Boulevard rail bridge on April 22, 2011, by artist Mark Patterson and Bob Nichols, who posed as construction workers. The city treated it as graffiti and had it removed. It is now displayed across the street from its original site, at the corner of Highway 101 and Encinitas Boulevard.[9] The bronze statue Humanity by Maidy Morhous was installed at the J Street overlook in 2018.[1]
Getting there
Encinitas station, served by the Coaster and NCTD BREEZE buses, is in Old Encinitas, making downtown easy to reach by train from Oceanside or San Diego.[2] See getting around. Paul Ecke Central Elementary, an Encinitas Union school, serves the area.[10]
Common questions
- Where is downtown Encinitas?
- Along Coast Highway 101 in Old Encinitas, roughly between the Encinitas sign and Moonlight Beach, near Encinitas station.
- What is there to do in downtown Encinitas?
- Walk Coast Highway 101's shops and restaurants, catch a film at La Paloma Theatre, visit the Self-Realization Fellowship meditation gardens, see the Surfing Madonna and the Boathouses, and go to Moonlight Beach or Swami's.
See also
Notes and sources
- Encinitas, California. Wikipedia.
- Encinitas station. Wikipedia.
- Moonlight State Beach. Wikipedia.
- Encinitas Boathouses. Wikipedia.
- La Paloma Theatre. Wikipedia.
- Paramahansa Yogananda. Wikipedia.
- Self-Realization Fellowship. Wikipedia.
- Swami's. Wikipedia.
- Surfing Madonna. Wikipedia.
- Encinitas Union School District. Wikipedia.