The Sept 11 event ended in a countdown to cut the ties on La Valencia’s new palm trees, after mingling and business and nonprofit presentations.

A highway to connections, the latest drive to build community by La Jolla 101, held Sept 11 at Pacific Sotheby’s on Prospect Street, started with handshakes and ended with palms.

A twice-yearly event hosted by La Jolla real estate broker Amber Anderson, La Jolla 101 is designed to be a resource for newcomers and others to learn about opportunities in La Jolla.

The event is “a way of celebrating our town, and it couldn’t happen without all of you,” Anderson said.

For the first half hour, attendees mingled while sampling food and drinks from local companies including the forthcoming Roseacre, Queenstown Village, Smallgoods Cheese Shop & Cafe and Sushi Nekosan.

Participants then listened to presentations from 12 local businesses and organizations including Enhance La Jolla, L&G Projects and San Diego Symphony.

Cody Wagner introduced his company, La Jolla Golf Cart Tours, as a way to see all of La Jolla. 

“These aren’t your granddaddy’s golf carts,” he said. “These are all jacked out, beefed up, all the top features.”

Golf cart tours include restaurant tastings and more, Wagner added, with his flagship tour being “like a living postcard tour, where your greatest hits are rolled into a 90 minute photo op.”

For gardening workshops and presentations, the La Jolla Garden Club invites you to one of its monthly meetings, President Roberta Saunders said.

The 57-year-old club’s mission is to “beautify La Jolla as well as stimulate interest in learning more about gardening,” Saunders said, encouraging people to visit lajollagardenclub.org.

Many of the presenters are hosting events in La Jolla imminently, such as Cocktails Off Coast Walk Sept 25; Walter Munk Day Oct 4; and the La Jolla Art & Wine Festival Oct 11 and 12.

The annual BirdStock Music Festival will be held from 10 am to 8 pm Saturday, Oct 25, along La Jolla Boulevard from Midway Street to Camino de la Costa.

What began as a “little street fair” in Bird Rock decades ago has been revitalized since 2021 to raise funds for Bird Rock Elementary and provide visibility for local businesses, co-founder Kelsey Martin said.

“Music brings people together when nothing else can,” she added. 

Last year’s festival was the first to close off the streets; this year, the event will expand to four stages.

There will also be a pumpkin patch, kids zone, skate ramp and many local artisan vendors.

“BirdStock is bigger and better than ever,” Martin said.

The La Jolla 101 evening culminated in La Valencia Hotel general manager Troy Longwith presenting two new Medjool date palms on the historic property across Prospect Street, which were planted July 21 to replace two Canary Island date palms removed in February for a South American palm weevil infestation.