Cleaned up and secured against further vandalism, the famed Mushroom House might get a new life below the bluffs.

Cleaned up and secured against further vandalism, the fabled Mushroom House is in the hands of a La Jolla working group, which is now exploring new uses for the legendary structure.

La Jolla’s “Mushroom House” is the topic of many Reddit threads, Instagram posts and media pieces, shot from the sand at Black’s Beach. Its unique, orbicular structure and custom funicular keep the structure at the forefront of La Jolla lore and visitor curiosity.

The Mushroom House was designed by Dale Naegle in 1968 as a guest home for Sam Bell (of Bell Brand potato chips), who lived on the crest above on La Jolla Shores Lane.

Originally called “Bell’s Pavilion,” the mushroom-shaped house was constructed as a “futuristic, earthquake-proof structure,” La Jollan Patrick Ahern said June 17 at the La Jolla Shores Association meeting.

To access the home, a 300-foot funicular tramway connected the Mushroom House with the main house.

The tramway sustained damage in a 2020 partial bluff collapse; California Coastal Commission regulations enacted after the funicular was built prevent owner Buzz Woolley, Mushroom House owner since 2015, from repairing the funicular.

With no accessway, the Mushroom House has remained empty and unguarded, a site for illegal parties, trespassers who tagged the walls and made a mess of the interior with rotating graffiti images frustrating local residents about the eyesore the structure has become.

The city of San Diego directed Woolley to restrict access to the Mushroom House and clean it up, Ahern said, adding that he has worked with Woolley and members of GDC Construction to secure the site and remove debris and graffiti.

“It’s been cleaned up and maintained,” Ahern said, with cameras and a metal gate to deter trespassers.

“The goal for all of us is to find a new use” for the Mushroom House, he said. “It’s iconic.”

Woolley would like the structure to “be a community asset with multipurpose usage,” said Joe Vecchio, a member of a Mushroom House working group that includes Ahern, GDC representatives and architect Michael Morton.

Ideas have included donating the Mushroom House to use as a San Diego lifeguard station, repurposing it as a research lab for Scripps Institution of Oceanography or opening it for public tours, Vecchio said, adding he and Ahern are speaking to various community groups for feedback.

Noting the Mushroom House’s isolation from roadways and limited access during low tides, La Jolla Shores Association members commended the cleanup efforts but raised concerns about insurance, ADA accessibility and liability. 

“When you’re talking about opening it up to the public, you have a huge problem,” board member Mary Coakley Munk said.

Ahern said brainstorming and community discussions will continue.