La Jolla Parks & Beaches board lends support for next year’s Concours d’Elegance car show

The La Jolla Parks & Beaches board gave its support to the La Jolla Concours d’Elegance car show during its Dec. 4 meeting, heralding it as “world-class.”

The 2024 festival, themed “The Roaring ‘20s and the Glamorous ‘30s,” will include three days of events Friday through Sunday, April 19-21, culminating with the annual ticketed classic car show April 21 in Scripps Park.

Event Chairman Michael Dorvillier told the LJP&B board that the 2023 event brought in more than $200 million worth of cars and was a boon for local hotels and businesses.

He added that the event’s footprint in the park hasn’t changed in the past few years. Two years ago, he said, “we changed the main entry point. But other than that, everything has been consistent.”

LJP&B member Phyllis Minick thanked Dorvillier for “building [the event] up and making it charitable … and making it a world-class event.”

Proceeds from the show benefit the La Jolla Historical Society, but in past years it also has aided other community nonprofits.

The board voted unanimously to support the use of Scripps Park for the event.

In some recent years, the board struggled with supporting the Concours because it fences off the park for ticket holders, limiting public access. In 2017, some board members spoke out against the event, arguing it takes up too much of the park and asking that the scale be reduced. As recently as 2020, some trustees voted against having the event in the park because it had not downsized.

No one voiced opposition in 2021 or ’22.

See more details about the 2024 Concours at the end of this article.

Other LJP&B news

The wood fences along Scripps Park are losing their stability and could pose a safety hazard, some residents say.

(Claire Sheinberg)

Fence repair: An application for a right-of-entry permit that would allow LJP&B and its volunteers to complete work in public spaces, such as a long-standing plan to repair the white wood fences at Scripps Park, is undergoing legal review by the city of San Diego.

LJP&B Vice President Brenda Fake said she anticipates the group will get the permit “relatively soon.” It has been in the review stage the past few months.

A working group tasked with fixing the fences was formed earlier this year and submitted the permit application soon after.

“The general scope we are thinking covers multiple [sections of] fencing, starting at Goldfish Point and The Cave Store all the way along Coast Boulevard to Whale View Point,” Evans said at the time. “The fencing we are looking at includes the white wooden fences but also … refurbishing and repairing some of the post-and-chain and upgrading them where needed.”

LJP&B board member Tom Brady said this week that the fences “look like hell” and are “an embarrassment.” He said he’s hoping for a quick resolution on the permit application.

Windansea belvedere: Friends of Windansea member Melinda Merryweather said a new belvedere for the area could be in place in coming months.

“The belvedere is paid for,” she said. “It is going to be made offsite and then poles will be put in place and the belvedere will be [installed]. It’s going to be great.”

She said construction will be complete “by spring for sure.”

Merryweather announced in August that recent donations of more than $25,000 had put Friends of Windansea over its fundraising goal for the construction cost, which it previously estimated at $24,000.

The 63-square-foot blufftop belvedere, or gazebo, on Neptune Place near Rosemont Street is part of a larger project for the area that also includes installation of about 1,800 feet of post-and-rope fencing along the sidewalk on the west side of Neptune between Westbourne Street and Palomar Avenue bordering Windansea Beach park. It also authorizes relocation of two public benches and their supporting concrete pads.

The fencing and bench relocation are intended as erosion-mitigation measures by rerouting the path of pedestrians along the bluff.

Fundraising is underway to pay for the rest of the project, which has been estimated at $475,000.

Backers say the new belvedere will replace one that was built in the 1920s and torn down in the 1980s in an apparent act of vandalism. The belvedere proposal has been supported by several of La Jolla’s community planning groups since it began circulating in 2018.

But the Preserve Windansea Beach Association, which was formed in early 2021 by opponents of the belvedere, has argued that the structure would be atop an eroding bluff and could create public risk if the bluff or the gazebo falls. The organization also contended the gazebo would obstruct ocean views from the sidewalk and attract additional traffic to the already-popular beach area.

The association appealed to a San Diego hearing officer, the San Diego Planning Commission and San Diego City Council and was denied each time. In June this year, the California Coastal Commission unanimously determined that the appeal did not raise any substantial issues and that the project could proceed.

Coast Walk Trail: Fake, who also is president of Friends of Coast Walk Trail, said the trail recently was resurfaced with decomposed granite “from one end to the other.”

The “Cocktails on Coast Walk” fundraiser Sept. 29 provided enough money to complete the resurfacing, Fake said.

“Without [that], the trail is slippery and you can’t walk on it. So the resurfacing gives it tread and helps mitigate soil erosion,” she said.

Friends of Coast Walk also is exploring trimming vegetation and making repairs to the bridge that connects the trail to a parking area on Coast Walk.

Next meeting: La Jolla Parks & Beaches next meets at 4 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22, at the La Jolla/Riford Library, 7555 Draper Ave. Learn more at lajollaparksbeaches.org.

2024 La Jolla Concours d’Elegance

When: April 19-21

Schedule:

Friday, April 19: VIP Party, 6-10 p.m., Scripps Park. Live music, cocktails, food from 20 San Diego restaurants, live auction. $300.

Saturday, April 20:

• La Jolla Concours Tour d’Elegance, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visit to car collections, followed by a scenic driving tour of San Diego, with lunch. $425.

• Porsches on Prospect, 5-9 p.m. 75 Porsches lining Prospect Street, live music, retail and restaurant specials and more. Free admission. $125 to register a Porsche for the showcase.

Sunday, April 21: La Jolla Concours d’Elegance, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Scripps Park. Display of more than 200 classic and rare vehicles, Champagne and Honey Tasting Garden, live music, vendors, beer and cocktails, vintage plane flyover. $80-$275.

Information: lajollaconcours.com ◆