The new grove, a project overseen by La Jolla Parks & Beaches, has a GraniteCrete floor, new picnic tables and a grill for all park visitors to use.

A second picnic grove has opened at Scripps Park in La Jolla, four years after the first.

The new picnic grove, on the western edge in the center of the renowned coastal park, adjacent to the first grove, is laid with the same GraniteCrete, a blend of decomposed granite and a binder. There are also two picnic tables, a charcoal grill and trash cans.

The first picnic grove opened in 2022, primarily funded by the family of the late Selma Malk, a longtime resident of La Jolla’s La Valencia Hotel who had a fondness for the park.

The first grove has been “a very big success,” said La Jolla Parks & Beaches board member Alexandra Corsi, who served as project manager for both groves. “It’s really well used.”

The first grove’s popularity led the Malk family to want to create a second grove, Corsi said. Donors for the second picnic grove include Malk’s daughter and son, Ann Lipschitz and Brian Malk, LJP&B President Ann Dynes, LJP&B board member Rev Tim Seery, Corsi, the Kiwanis Club of La Jolla and LJP&B’s general fund.

Being able to implement the project is a “big accomplishment” for LJP&B, Corsi said.

The city of San Diego Parks & Recreation Department also donated the grill and one of the benches.

The spirit behind the creation of both picnic groves is the same, Corsi said: “to go to a place [with] this amazing, amazing view and … share a table to see it.”

The groves are “really well embraced by visitors, the community and everybody.”