Why does a block of La Jolla Shores that the city made permanent more than a year ago still look like a pandemic stopgap? The stretch of Avenida de la Playa between El Paseo Grande and Calle de la Plata has been closed to cars since July 2020. In August 2025 it got a permit with no expiration date. As of the most recent reports, it still has no skim-coated surface, no removable bollards and no new planters.
The finished promenade is waiting on 11 replacement public parking spaces and on a Coastal Commission review the city doesn't expect before 2027. Parking is also part of the story at the block across El Paseo Grande, where a city sewer repair has the park fenced off.
The Permit That Ended the Renewals
For five years, the street dining on Avenida de la Playa ran on a permit from the city's Special Events & Filming Department that had to be renewed regularly. That permit was set to expire on Aug. 9, 2025. Three days earlier, the San Diego Development Services Department approved a right-of-way permit that keeps the block closed with no end date, according to the La Jolla Light's report in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The permit keeps the block closed around the clock and requires a 20-foot buffer for emergency vehicles. The La Jolla Shores Business Association filed for it. Phil Wise, the Shores resident who started the outdoor dining project in 2020, has kept it going ever since.
The permit approves the street. It doesn't approve the dining areas built on it. Wise described the split to the La Jolla Light in June:
"Our permit is twofold: One, it applies to the promenade, which is strictly constructing the promenade — not the 'streetaries' [street dining areas] within the promenade. … The second part is the parking."
Not every business on the block will run a streetary. The ones that do have to submit their own plans.
How 26 Spaces Became 11
The parking rule dates to 2023. That year the San Diego City Council agreed to California Coastal Commission regulations requiring businesses closest to the beach to replace any public parking their street dining takes up. The replacement spaces have to be within 1,200 feet of the ones that were lost.
The first count for the Shores block was 26 spaces. City spokesman Richard Berg and Wise explained to the Light how that number fell to 11:
- Three spaces were already gone under the state's "daylighting" law, which bans street parking within 20 feet of an intersection or crosswalk.
- Two spaces sat next to storm drains.
- Ten spaces marked "no parking" were found to be eligible to become legal spaces.
The plan puts the 11 spaces along Camino del Oro next to the Kellogg Park parking lot. Berg told the Light the asphalt there would be widened by narrowing the sandy berm, with no change to the park's current footprint. In late July, Wise told Times of San Diego that the spaces would sit on city-owned land with the city's approval and be free to the public around the clock.
The count is still disputed. The same Times of San Diego story quoted Shores residents who believe more than 11 spaces are needed. Others raised concerns about emergency vehicles and delivery trucks having to route around the closed block. Longtime Shores community planner Janie Emerson backed Wise's plan and told the outlet the promenade "has revitalized the Shores business area."
Two Clocks, Read in Order
The promenade has a permit deadline. A possible way around the parking requirement runs on a separate approval schedule. Here's how the two line up:
- July 2020. The block closes to vehicles for outdoor dining during COVID-19 restrictions.
- Aug. 6, 2025. The permanent right-of-way permit is issued, starting a two-year window to deliver the replacement parking and the rest of the promenade work.
- February 2026. Wise tells the La Jolla Light the team plans to wait for a decision on a proposed city code change before building the parking. A city web page says the permit can be extended 180 days if circumstances outside the applicant's control prevent the work from being finished.
- May 11, 2026. The City Council unanimously approves a 134-item package of Land Development Code changes. One amendment says the parking replacement rule for promenades and streetaries in the beach impact area "applies only when located outside the transit priority area."
- June 2026. Organizers report about $150,000 raised for Phase 1 and a target of $300,000 for the parking-focused Phase 2.
- August 2027. Two years from the permit's approval, the window to finish the parking and promenade work runs out unless the 180-day extension applies.
Promenade de la Playa sits inside both a beach impact area and a transit priority area. That second category comes from Assembly Bill 2097, signed in 2022, which bars minimum parking requirements within a half-mile of a major transit stop.
The council vote didn't put the change into effect. According to the city's Development Services Department, the amendment doesn't apply until it's added to the city's Local Coastal Program and certified by the Coastal Commission. City representative Kelly Peter told the Light the commission was unlikely to take it up before 2027. The city tracks the code package on its Land Development Code updates page.
That leaves the street waiting on a commission hearing the city doesn't expect before 2027 and a two-year permit window that also runs into 2027, and the Phase 2 fundraising target depends on how that turns out. The $300,000 figure has already risen from $250,000 because of projected costs, unexpected permitting fees and additional city requirements.
Across El Paseo Grande, the Fence Is for a Sewer Repair
The promenade's western end is El Paseo Grande. The next block of Avenida de la Playa, from El Paseo Grande to Paseo del Ocaso, is Laureate Park, and it has been fenced since late September.
The reason is underground. A sewer main at Sewer Pump Station 27, located at the park, was damaged, and sewage reached the surface on July 10. City spokeswoman Jennifer McBride told the La Jolla Light in late October that crews contained it and sent it back into the sewer main, and that "the broken infrastructure has been isolated." The next step is a proper bypass pump. The city expects repairs to be done in January, and the cost and cause of the damage are unknown.
The closure also takes parking. The October report described cones blocking several stretches of 90-minute street parking around the park. Spaces on El Paseo Grande and Paseo del Ocaso were fenced off as a staging area for construction equipment. So this winter, one block is closed because of a parking requirement and the block next to it is short on parking because of a repair.
Terry Kraszewski, who runs the nearby Ocean Girl apparel and gift shop, told the Light she hopes the repair "will go smoothly and quickly and that the park will be restored in good condition for the neighborhood to enjoy once again."
New Businesses Opening Anyway
New businesses kept opening on the street while the paperwork and repairs were pending.
Shio La Jolla, 2259 Avenida de la Playa
Shio, which means "salt" in Japanese, held its grand opening on Oct. 24 in the former Sandpiper Restaurant space. The menu covers sushi rolls, nigiri, sashimi and noodle dishes. One signature is hon toro tadaki, five pieces of seared bluefin tuna belly with truffle ponzu, crispy onions and kizami wasabi. The 12-piece Tasting Shio menu is $200 and requires at least two people. Hours are 5 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, according to the Union-Tribune's November business roundup.
Casa Del Lobo, 2246 Avenida de la Playa
La Jolla couple Saul Moreno and Christine Silver opened Casa Del Lobo on Aug. 18. It's a coffee bar that also sells large handcrafted ceramic planters and fountains made in Mexico, and custom pieces are available for home and commercial projects. The café is open daily from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the ceramics from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The name means "house of the wolf" and comes from the couple's dog, Buck. Silver told the Union-Tribune the goal was "a neighborhood space in La Jolla Shores that feels warm, design-forward, and a little unexpected."
Barbarella's New Kitchen Lead
Barbarella Restaurant & Bar brought on executive chef Shawn Washington this summer, according to a September business roundup.
What Could Change Down the Street at Kellogg Park
The promenade's parking plan points toward Kellogg Park, and so does another project. The Walter Munk Foundation for the Oceans has city Parks & Recreation approval to install four wave-themed benches on the east side of the Map of the Grand Canyons of La Jolla. That's the 2,200-square-foot mosaic of marine life where scuba divers get ready and families set up for the day. Each bench costs $30,000. As of September, one was funded and the foundation was looking for donors for the other three, according to the La Jolla Light. Foundation president Mary Munk said the benches will be bought and installed once all four are paid for, with a goal of finishing by the end of the year.
Here's what's on the calendar for the strip. The city expects the Laureate Park repair to be done in January. The promenade's Phase 1 work covers the skim coat, removable bollards, closure signs, flower boxes, trees and accessible ramps, and organizers reported having raised enough in June to start it. The 11 parking spaces along Camino del Oro depend on two things: the code amendment's Coastal Commission review, which the city doesn't expect before 2027, and the permit's two-year window, which runs to August 2027.
If you own a home near the Shores and want to know whether the promenade, the Laureate Park repair or the Camino del Oro parking plan affects what it's worth, The Dream Homes Team can walk you through it block by block. Request a Free Home Valuation and we'll show you how this stretch of Avenida de la Playa figures into your home's value.
