City of Solana Beach
Population : 13,059 (2009)
Median Income: $ 91,848 (2009)
Elevation : 72 ft (22 m)
Land: 3.53 Square Miles
Water: 0.1 Square Miles
Area Code: 858
Zip Code: 92075
Average temperature:
Highest: 73-63 *F
Lowest: 55-44 *F
Airport Distances:
John Wayne Airport: 67.6 Mi.
LAX Airport : 106 Mi.
Ontario Airport : 103 Mi.
Solana Beach is a city in San Diego County, California. The population was
13,783 at the 2010
Geography Solana Beach is located at 32°59′43″N 117°15′37″W / 32.99528°N
117.26028°W / 32.99528; -117.26028 (32.995393, -117.260380).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of
9.3 km² (3.6 mi²). 9.1 km² (3.5 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it
(2.22%) is water.
Over 13,000 residents call this small beach community their home. The Pacific
Ocean is to the west; the City of Encinitas to the north, and the City of Del
Mar to the south. The unincorporated village of Rancho Santa Fe is located on
the east side.
History
Until 1923, the main area known as Solana Beach was originally called
Lockwood Mesa. The area first settled by the George H. Jones family in 1886.
When Lake Hodges Dam was built in 1917-18, the area encompassing Solana Beach
began to develop rapidly. The creation of the 12,000-acre (49 km2) Santa Fe
Irrigation District in 1918 ensured that the area from Rancho Santa Fe through
Solana Beach would prosper and expand. The coastline from Solana Beach to
Oceanside began to boom in the early 1920s. In 1922 Colonel Ed Fletcher, an
early community leader and developer, purchased 140 acres (0.57 km2) at $20 per
acre from farmer George H. Jones to develop the town of Solana Beach, with the
help of his brother-in-law Eugene Batchelder. To provide access to the beach for
the development, hydraulic water pressure was used to erode away tons of earth
and create the Fletcher Cove entry and beach. This took one man three months
with a fire hose, using water that was coming over the spillway at Lake Hodges
Dam. The beach was opened with great fanfare including horse races on the beach
on July 4, 1925.
The community grew slowly, but steadily throughout the rest of the century,
with particular booms occurring in the decade after World War II and a real
estate boom in the last quarter of the 20th century. In 1986 the community
officially incorporated as the city of Solana Beach.
While still a relatively tranquil coastal town, the city received national
news in 2003 upon becoming the first city in the Continental United States to
enact a smoking ban on its public beaches, a trend which has continued as many
other coastal Californian towns have followed suit in banning smoking on their
beaches. Solana Beach was the last coastal community in North San Diego County
to ban alcohol on the beach, doing so for at least a year in an action
unanimously approved by the City Council.
Solana Beach returned to the national spotlight on April 25, 2008 when
retired veterinarian and 38-year resident Dr. David Martin suffered a fatal
injury from an extremely rare great white shark bite while swimming with a group
approximately 150 yards (140 m) off shore near Solana Beach's Fletcher Cove. The
group of swimmers reportedly began their swim at Tide Beach Park to the north.
Surfers in the area of Fletcher Cover noted harbor seals in the water and a
wounded seal on the beach at Fletcher Cove just before the attack, the latter
being a typical sign of sharks feeding in the area. Recent increases in the seal
population along the Southern California coast - and the seals' tendency to swim
in close proximity to human swimmers - is suspected to be contributing factors
in the attack.
Eden Gardens
The neighborhood of Eden Gardens (also known as La Colonia), one of the
oldest residential areas of Solana Beach, was a community formed in the 1920s by
Mexican farmers who were hired by the owners of large ranches in Rancho Santa
Fe. These farmers wanted their families nearby, hence the formation of La
Colonia (the colony). The name Eden Gardens came later from a land developer who
thought it would be a good marketing tool. Many residents still refer to the
area as La Colonia. Famous residents include Chicano rapper Lil Rob and comedian
Rene Sandoval who were born and raised in the community.
