Leucadia Blog: Historic Encinitas Sandy Beaches and Bluffs

Saturday, March 07, 2009

Historic Encinitas Sandy Beaches and Bluffs

Encinitas Historical Society HQ

Look what I found in the Encinitas Historical Society archives, at the old schoolhouse next to Pacific View.

Noonan Point (aka Swamis) before the SRF

I interpret the speckled band between the sand and the bluff as a strip of exposed cobblestones. Because of early accounts and photos like these, I conclude that cobbles are not alien to our beaches or a diagnostic sign of a bankrupt sand budget.

Moonlight Beach, the Early Years (1940?)

In the foreground and near the D Street zone you can get the sense that the usable beach was wider than today. If you look toward Swamis I don't get the sense that you "could run along the beach between Moonlight and Swamis without getting wet at high tide." That is the critical test for some sand lobbyists.

The high berm doesn't look that far off the bluff face, so it is tough for me to say that the total volume of sand was really that much different than today.

Moonlight Memories Postcard, 1975

JP and I have childhood memories of our beaches being much higher and wider. This postcard provides evidence that our memories were correct. It seems that the 70s and early 80s were the anomaly.

SEE ALSO:
Cobbles present at the beginning of Encinitas
Romancing the cobblestone
Aceti's inspiring quotes about cobbles
Sand in the 60s
The entire sand trilogy

3 comments:

AnonymousMarch 07, 2009 8:04 PM
If you click on the postcard and blow it up you can see the high-high tide line is close to the bluff. Look for the piles of kelp.
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J.P. March 08, 2009 9:02 AM
The mid 70's were legendary for it's repeated large south swells that brought epic waves and copious amounts of sand. It was a fluke but those are the years that stand out in people's minds as "normal". If Steve Aceti can make the southern-hemi swells pump again he will have his sand. He won't be able to make money off it or charge us a tax, but he'll have sand.
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AnonymousMarch 08, 2009 8:58 PM
Maybe Global Warming has raised the water levels?
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About Leucadia

Leucadia is a funky little beach community located in North San Diego county in southern California. Leucadia is the north section of the city of Encinitas.

English spiritualists settled the small coastal community of Leucadia in 1870, and are reputed to have danced, in diaphanous white robes in the little Roadside Park (Leucadia Blvd and Hwy 101).

The spiritualists are the reason so many of the streets are named after Greek gods and goddesses. Leucadia is Greek for "a sheltered place." Heritage Eucalyptus trees, planted in the 1880s, still grace the highway. When President Roosevelt passed through Leucadia in an open car during the Depression, local children climbed the Eucalyptus trees to wave to him.

Change happens slowly in this nostalgic little California beach town. In lieu of fast food restaurants and franchise chain stores, Leucadia has two miles of Mom 'n Pop businesses, and that's the way everyone likes it. The town war cry is "Keep Leucadia Funky."

Leucadia played an active role in the rebirth of the classic Highway 101 shield, restored in 1997, and was part of the successful 101 Campaign to have Highway 101 declared an historic route.

Leucadia is experiencing growing pains and culture clash in these first decades of the 21st century...

*note - the Leucadia Blog is mostly inactive at this time