During its 100-year history, La Jolla’s Casa de Mañana has served first as a hotel, then a church facility and now a retirement community, providing a home to retired religious leaders, visiting dignitaries and thousands of other people — plus a Dalmatian named Tagg.
Located at 849 Coast Blvd., the community is celebrating the location’s 100th anniversary this year.
Resort hotels
Casa de Mañana was originally opened in 1924 by Isabel Hopkins and was conceived as an upscale seaside resort for tourists visiting San Diego. The main building featured several cocktail lounges (some of which were called “private dining rooms” during Prohibition) and a restaurant.
Casa de Mañana was built in 1924 on Coast Boulevard in La Jolla.
(La Jolla Historical Society)
During World War II in the 1940s, the hotel business struggled, so Hopkins opened Casa’s doors to Navy personnel returning from combat and operated the hotel as a rest and recuperation center.
Eventually, unable to recover from the depression, Hopkins sold the hotel to Pacific Homes in 1953 for $5 million, who turned the resort into an upscale senior living community. At the time, Pacific Homes was affiliated with the Methodist Church.
Brigid O’Farrell, a Casa de Mañana resident, historian and member of the Centennial Committee, said the facility was primarily for pastors and church officials at the time.
“In 1954, expansion began, with the construction of Casa Loma and La Casita, and many other renovations,” O’Farrell says. “I was really impressed with how well the exterior architecture and design was preserved. Over the years, additions were made to the property, giving it a cottage-like feel that makes it feel like a home.”
But “when the hotel was first sold, the townspeople were not happy,” O’Farrell said. “They [the loss of] “It started out as a hotel for affluent guests, but soon the residents became involved with the entire La Jolla community. Many La Jolla residents moved here and maintained ties with the service organizations. They quickly realized it was a good thing.”
When adjacent lots became available, Pacific Homes acquired them to expand Casa de Mañana. Six “Roma” cottages opened in 1965 and quickly became occupied. Later in 1967, Casa de Mañana held a groundbreaking ceremony for what would become Riviera Cottages.
After numerous delays, the building permit for Villa d’Este was granted in 1972, and the two buildings that make up the villa were constructed in 1973.
Later in 1987, Casa de Mañana was added to San Diego’s list of designated historic landmarks.
Casa de Mañana is pictured here after an expansion and renovation project in the 1960s.
(La Jolla Historical Society)
In 1999, Pacific Homes merged with three other nonprofit organizations to form what is now Front Porch Communities. Though its affiliation with the Methodist Church ended, Front Porch Communities still operates Casa de Mañana.
The community currently sits on five acres and has accommodations for 200 residents, and also offers independent and assisted living services.
Encounter with fame
Pianist Gustavo Romero performed before an early audience at the Casa de Mañana before taking to the keys for the Athenaeum Library of Music and Arts’ annual summer concert series.
“I was 11 years old when I performed for the first time at the Athenaeum,” he says, “and my teacher asked me to perform at the Casa de Mañana as an audition, so I did. It was one of the first places I performed in public.”
“I’ve played there every year since that show. … From the beginning, when I had to play somewhere else with a little more expectation, it was a reassuring and comfortable place to play. It was a great rehearsal space. I’ve always remembered that, and it still is for me.”
Pianist Gustavo Romero, a regular at the Athenaeum Musical Arts Library’s annual summer concert series, performed for an early audience at Casa de Mañana.
(Athenaeum Music and Arts Library)
Romero, now 59, said he enjoys returning to playing on the same pianos he played on as a youth.
“This is part of a long history I have in La Jolla,” he said. “I [Casa de Mañana] “Over the years it has been renovated, developed and evolved. It’s nice to be involved with something that has such an enduring history.”
Casa de Mañana has also hosted other notables. A September 30, 1937 article in the La Jolla Light newspaper stated, “J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, visited Casa de Mañana for a week, accompanied by Clyde Tolson and Guy Hattie, both of Washington, D.C. They spent most of their time in a cottage at the hotel before flying to Washington. Mr. Hoover was highly pleased with the beauty of the scenery and the high moral character of the community, and promised to return.”
Other reports have said the hotel was also visited by British actor Arthur Treacher, best known for his roles as Officer Jones in the 1964 film “Mary Poppins,” as well as in several Shirley Temple films, as the anchor and sidekick on “The Merv Griffin Show,” and for naming the Arthur Treacher fish and chip restaurant chain after himself.
At least two movies have been shot in or in front of Casa de Mañana, including 1980’s “The Stuntman,” starring Peter O’Toole, in which residents were paid $25 a day to work as extras.
‘Fun Facts’
In preparation for the centennial celebrations, Sue MacLeod, who has lived there for six years, decided to take it upon herself to research Casa de Mañana’s history and find out some more “fun facts” about her home.
Each week for the past year, one of her stories has been printed on the back of Friday’s dinner menu and posted in various locations around the facility, including the laundry room.
“In Casa’s history, around 1930, there was a dog who would take the hotel’s daily deposits to the bank,” McLeod says. “The dog in question was a Dalmatian named Tug, owned by A.W. Brown, the hotel’s assistant manager. Each day, as soon as the bank opened, Brown would open the Casa’s safe and hand the impatient dog a bag containing the previous day’s cash and checks. Tug would (follow his owner closely) to the bank and hand it over to the teller.”
McLeod added, “One of the guests at Casa’s hotel in the 1930s was Jane Addams of Hull House fame. Addams was a leader in the history of social welfare, women’s suffrage and rights for minorities and the poor. She was the recipient of numerous honors, including the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.”
According to the March 31, 1931 edition of The Light, Ellen Browning Scripps, a prominent La Jolla philanthropist, hosted a dinner party for Adams at the Casa de Mañana and invited “those who are active in local educational and community service causes.”
Hopkins attended the party with Helen and Mary Marston, daughters of San Diego department store owner and philanthropist George Marston.
“Culture of Caring”
Casa de Mañana today
(Ashley Mackin Solomon)
McLeod said she wants other residents to get excited about the centennial celebrations as part of the “culture of caring” that initially attracted her to the community.
“We have great residents here,” she says. “Newcomers are treated like rock stars and everyone wants to get to know them.”
O’Farrell pointed to things like “Trading Post” shops where residents can donate household items they no longer need and other residents can purchase them at a discount.
There are also committees and other groups that raise funds for scholarships, support staff and their children, and provide entertainment and holiday events for Casa residents.
“It’s a very welcoming and friendly community and the staff are fantastic,” O’Farrell said.
Celebrating 100 years
Casa de Mañana will celebrate the location’s 100th anniversary on Monday and Tuesday, July 1st and 2nd.
The celebration will kick off with a full day of programming that will include networking opportunities with local leaders, historical talks, speeches from representatives of the Front Porch community, performances and more.
The following day, there will be a 1920s and 30s-themed concert and reception, followed by a dinner served on tableware modeled after that used in the original hotel.
For more information about the celebration, please email casacentennial2024@gmail.com.
For more information about the community, visit frontporch.net/community/casa-de-manana.
