A great place to get lost in

The Solana Beach area was first settled by the San Dieguitos, early Holocene inhabitants of the area. During the Spanish colonial era, trails heading north near Solana Beach crossed inland to avoid the marshes and inlets of the area. The George H. Jones family were the first settlers in the area now known as Solana Beach, arriving in 1886 when they established the first two ranches. Until 1923, the main area known as Solana Beach had been called Lockwood Mesa. When Lake Hodges Dam was built in 1917-1918, 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 201 acres at $200 per acre from farmer George H. Jones to develop the town of Solana Beach.  Fletcher’s goal was for his new community to be the regional commercial center for Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe and Solana Beach. 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. That year, the city hosted the final funeral services for Desi Arnaz, who had died in Del Mar. Arnaz’s funeral was held at St. James Roman Catholic Church, one of two Catholic churches in the city and part of the Diocese of San Diego.

There are plenty of attractions to enjoy while you are in Solana Beach. The first thing you want to visit would be Fletcher Cove Park, the beach in Fletcher Cove isn’t big, but when the tide is up, the other Solana Beach beaches might be under water and some of Fletcher won’t be. When the tide isn’t high you can walk or run the sandy beach north to little-known Tide Beach Park or south all the way to Del Mar North Beach. Fletcher Cove Park is a nice little park with grassy areas, kids play area, basketball court, and picnic tables that look out over the ocean. Another beach to enjoy in Solana would be Seascape Surf, this beach has wide sandy beaches provide excellent recreational opportunities for beach activities such as walking, jogging, and Frisbee throwing. It is also an excellent location for surfing, surf-fishing, swimming, body-boarding, snorkeling, and other water-related activities.

Aside from enjoying the beaches, you could also enjoy the culture that there is by visiting the many art galleries Solana beach has to offer. For fine art photography in Solana Beach, Aaron Chang’s art features world-famous surf and ocean photography. The collection features Aaron’s high impact, large format photographic prints of waves, surf shots and many other exotic images collected from a lifetime of traveling, as well as recycled eco-art, surfboard art, and fountain fish tank sculptures. The Trios Gallery is a showcase of American craft which features sculpture, glass, jewelry, ceramic and more in a colorful, casual setting. They focus on regional artists and specialize in items handmade in small studios across the US.