"Solana Beach had learned, slowly and deliberately, to take responsibility for its own affairs, to tie its own shoes." Local author Peter House wrote that line about July 1, 1986, the day Solana Beach became the newest city in San Diego County. The city's 40th year started that same summer with an official proclamation and a beach concert. What's left on the calendar keeps moving between two addresses. One is Fletcher Cove, where the city was sworn in. The other is La Colonia Park on Valley Avenue, in a neighborhood settled more than six decades before Proposition N passed.
You can read the rest of the birthday year as a map of those two places.
A Swearing-In Moved to Dawn
The first City Council was supposed to take the oath in the evening. Council members then heard that a large number of building permits were being rushed through the County Planning Department before the handover. They moved the ceremony to sunrise at Fletcher Cove. County Supervisor Susan Golding swore in Mayor Margaret Schlesinger, Deputy Mayor Jack Moore, and Council members Richard Hendlin, Marion Dodson and Celine Olson at 7 a.m. Their first act was an emergency 45-day freeze on all new construction, one of 21 ordinances and resolutions adopted that morning. The meeting recessed at 7:22 a.m.
That urgency had been building for years. The Solana Beach Civic & Historical Society points to two fights that set the stage. The first was a 1981-82 Inn Suites International proposal for a large hotel and conference complex on the parcel along Highway 101 near North Rios Avenue. County planners backed it until the California Coastal Commission stopped the grading. The second was a plan for up to 44 homes in Holmwood Canyon, opposed by a group called Friends of Holmwood Canyon that grew to 600 members. Both came out of County decision-making, and the Society credits them with building support for cityhood.
It still took four tries. Two earlier ballot measures would have joined Solana Beach with neighboring San Dieguito communities, and one Solana Beach-only measure also failed. In 1986, Proposition N passed with almost 65 percent of the vote. The new city included La Colonia, the community's original neighborhood.
The city seal used that morning was already on the podium at Fletcher Cove. It was designed by Carol Peek, who with her husband Jack had kept Friends of Holmwood Canyon going through its years-long fight.
Summer Belonged to the Cove
The anniversary's first half went back to the beach where the city began. On July 1, current and former council members gathered for the Council's ruby-anniversary proclamation, which the Civic & Historical Society describes as the start of a year-long celebration. The next evening, the official birthday concert brought the 1980s sets of Betamaxx and Atomic Groove to Fletcher Cove Beach, with hot dogs and cupcakes from the City and a raffle.
On Aug. 8, the 21st annual Beach Blanket Movie Night returned to the sand at Fletcher Cove with the Silver String Submarine Band and a screening of North Shore, presented as part of the anniversary. The City sold $25 shirts that night commemorating both the concert and the movie night. Earlier, Fiesta del Sol had marked its own 45th year at Fletcher Cove on May 30 and 31. That makes the festival five years older than the city that now hosts it.
So Fletcher Cove hosted the first half of the year. The next big date moves the celebration a mile inland.
October 18 Moves the Party to Valley Avenue
This year's Día de los Muertos takes place Sunday, Oct. 18, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at La Colonia Park, 715 Valley Ave. The City and the La Colonia Community Foundation host it together. The event has a different theme each year, and this year's theme is the city's 40th anniversary. The featured display is a collection of photographs from across the city's history, and the day also includes a cake cutting and a limited-edition mug giveaway.
The anniversary is woven into an event built around a much older tradition. The center of the day is more than 40 altars honoring family and friends who have passed away. Danza Azteca San Luis Rey blesses them at 10 a.m. Here is the rest of the program:
- Dance and cars: MiraCosta Ballet Folklórico Club and a classic car show by the Viejitos Car Club
- Music: Los Gringos Muertos Band, Smooth Groove Band, Ilusión Norteña, JoJo Productions and Mariachi Del Mar
- Contests: Catrin and Catrina costumes, a dog costume contest and a face mask contest
- For kids: a piñata, a scavenger hunt and crafts, all free
Mexican American food and drinks will be for sale, and vendors will offer handmade goods. Admission is free. The City says parking will be limited and asks guests to carpool, bike, walk or take public transit, and to bring their own picnic chairs and blankets. The foundation posts updates on Instagram and Facebook at @lacoloniacommunityfoundation.
Why the Birthday Photos Hang in La Colonia
La Colonia de Eden Gardens dates to the early 1920s. Ed Fletcher and Eugene Batchelder developed it for Mexican American families who did agricultural work in nearby communities, and the foundation says about 30 families settled there. Some of the first families lived in tents before building homes and community institutions together. The Civic & Historical Society records that in the 1930s, Mexican American children in segregated Americanization schools were punished for speaking Spanish.
The Día celebration is much newer. The first one was held Nov. 1, 2015, co-sponsored by the La Colonia de Eden Gardens Foundation and the City Parks & Recreation Commission. It grew from a proposal by Mary Ann Aguilar for an annual gathering to bring together the neighborhood's founding and former families.
That history explains the choice of venue. The neighborhood was here more than six decades before the city, and when the city was created in 1986, La Colonia was inside its boundaries from the first day. Showing the city's photo history at an event started to reunite La Colonia's first families puts the two histories in the same place.
The Calendar Alternates Through December
After Oct. 18, the remaining dates continue to alternate between the two neighborhoods:
- Nov. 14, Fletcher Cove Community Center. A City-hosted community clothing swap and a Fixit Clinic with San Diego Fixit Clinic, both linked to World Kindness Day.
- Dec. 6, Fletcher Cove. The free Holiday Tree Lighting starts at 4:30 p.m., with Santa expected at 5:20 p.m.
- Dec. 11, around town. Santa's sleigh route starts and ends at the Fire Station, 500 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, with a 2:30 p.m. start.
- Dec. 13, La Colonia Park. The free Holiday Tree Lighting runs from 5 to 7 p.m. at 715 Valley Ave., again with Santa expected at 5:20 p.m.
Earlier anniversary schedules printed in the spring listed Nov. 13 and Dec. 12. The City's current event pages give Nov. 14 and Dec. 13, and those are the dates to go by.
Reading Up Before the Altars Go Up
You can read the backstory for free. Peter House expanded his 2025 book Tale of a City into Making Great Better: 100 Years of Creating a California Coastal City for the anniversary. It covers Fletcher Cove, Highway 101, Cedros Avenue, La Colonia and the suburbs, and how each has changed. He offers a fully illustrated PDF at no cost, and print editions are also available. House drew on the Civic & Historical Society's digital archive. At the July 1 gathering, the City gave the Society $2,000 for that archive, which includes digitized documents, photographs and maps, along with recorded interviews with longtime residents. The Society's history page also links to the minutes of that 7 a.m. first council meeting.
Getting Between the Two Addresses This Fall
The City is asking people to arrive at La Colonia on foot, by bike or by transit, and two other things will affect how you get around this season. The City's free Solana Striders walking club meets at 8:30 a.m. on the first Monday of each month at the north end of the Solana Beach Train Station parking lot for a walk on the Coastal Rail Trail. Inland, the Lomas Santa Fe Corridor East project is rebuilding about 0.93 miles of Lomas Santa Fe Drive between Santa Helena Drive and Highland Drive. Work runs weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with breaks around Thanksgiving and Christmas. The City's schedule runs from September 2026 to late summer 2027, and the project adds a shared walking and biking path on the north side plus bike lanes in both directions. Since the Oct. 18 celebration and both December tree lightings fall on weekends, the weekday construction schedule won't overlap with them.
At Appleby Family Group, we see our work as caring for the stories behind places, and Solana Beach's 40th year has plenty of them, from a dawn oath at Fletcher Cove to the altars at La Colonia Park. If your family's history here goes back several generations, or you're thinking about how to pass a home along, we would be glad to hear about it. Request a Private Consultation.
