Sunny Jim's Sea Cave | |
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![]() The cave in 2016 | |
Location | San Diego-La Jolla Underwater Park |
Coordinates | 32°50′57″N117°16′13″W / 32.8491°N 117.2702°W |
Discovery | 1902 |
Visitors | 60,000 (2015) [1] |
Website | www |
Designated | April 28, 1999 |
Reference no. | 380 |
Sunny Jim's Sea Cave is a cave in the La Jolla community of San Diego, California. It is a popular tourist attraction in the area for its resemblance to the British cereal mascot Sunny Jim. The Cave Store, a gift shop above the cave, offers access to it for a fee. It is also the only underwater cave that can be accessed through land in California. [1] [2]
In 1902, German entrepreneur Gustav Schultz hired two Chinese laborers to dig out a tunnel from the gift shop, then Schultz's residence, to the caves below, one of which being Sunny Jim's Sea Cave. [3] [4] Schultz believed that tourists who wanted to access the sea caves below would pay money to use the tunnel. The laborers took two years to dig the entire area out only using a shovel and pickaxe. Schultz began to hold tours in 1905. [5] Originally, the cave was accessed through a rope, but a staircase was created not long after. L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , gave the cave its name. [6] [7] The cave was rumored to be used to transport whiskey illegally into San Diego during the Prohibition era. Bootleggers additionally used the area to transfer opium. The cave may have been also used to smuggle immigrants into the U.S. [8] Jim Allen bought the store in 1994. Before the acquisition, the business mostly made money only from selling seashells. [1]
The Cave Store was originally the residence of Gustav Schultz. It offers 15 to 20-minute-long group tours to the cave through a 145-step staircase. 90% of the store's revenue comes from entrance fees for the cave. [1] California sea lions can be occasionally heard from the cave. [3] It is possible to access the cave from the ocean, although the store prohibits people from entering the ocean from the viewing platform that visitors reach at the end of the staircase. [6]
Pacific Beach is a neighborhood in San Diego, California, bounded by La Jolla to the north, Mission Beach and Mission Bay to the south, Interstate 5 and Clairemont to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. While formerly largely populated by young people, surfers, and college students, because of rising property and rental costs the population is gradually becoming older and more affluent. "P.B.," as it is known as by local residents, is home to one of San Diego's more developed nightlife scenes, with a great variety of bars, eateries, and clothing stores located along Garnet Avenue and Mission Boulevard.
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