The very first house built in Solana Beach was located on today’s Highway 101. That’s what a sign that I saw during a recent walk attests.
Perhaps driving along you’ve seen the above Plaza 101 sign, about a block south of Lomas Santa Fe Drive. It features the following plaque:
When I do some quick research, however, I find the first house in the area might have actually sat on Pepper Tree Lane, now called Del Mar Downs Road. Built in 1887, the Stevens House was moved to La Colonia Park and now houses the museum of the Solana Beach Civic and Historical Society. (It’s a museum that I have not yet visited.)
I believe the plaque refers to the Estes Home at 155 S. Highway 101. The Solana Beach Civic And Historical Society website explains: When Colonel Ed Fletcher bought Solana Beach in 1922, there were only two houses, George Jones’s house on Barbara Street (later occupied by Herschell Larrick Sr. and his family) and this Highway 101 house of Jones’s sister, Lucy Estes and her husband, N. H. Estes, and their son, Herb. The Estes family was originally from San Francisco. They built this first home in Solana Beach on the narrow dirt road highway 101 and put in a well.
You can see photos of the Estes home here.
During walks on and around old Highway 101, Solana Beach’s first commercial center, I’ve discovered a number of historical buildings. You can see those photographs here and here and here!
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