People & Places Tours: The Man Who Planted Trees

People & Places Tours:

Rogues or royals?  Historical legends or misfits?  Landmarks with secret stories? Historian Carol Olten explores novel and unfamiliar stories about some of La Jolla’s distinctive people and places in a new series of guided walking tours presented by the La Jolla Historical Society.

Tour participants will meet Olten at 2 p.m. Thursdays at each of the sites for visual programs and discussions of singular – and often surprising! – looks at some of the people and places shaping La Jolla history from dubious guests at the Green Dragon Colony to a female aerialist who regularly descended to the beaches from the skies with a pet monkey in the late 19^th century.  Visit the LJHS website for tickets, $10 for members and $20 for non. Each tour will be about an hour and a half.  

Details:

Duration: Approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes

When: Thursday, April 10, 2025 at 2:00 PM

Where: Meet at Union Circle Park, Park Row, La Jolla

The Man Who Planted Trees

He was a quiet little fellow of good Philadelphia standing who got off the train in La Jolla in 1904.  His name, Walter Lieber, and he thought he could genuinely improve the place.  Plant some trees.  Build a few really nice cottages.  Get rid of trash in Scripps Park.  He did a good job  for the rest of his life and, after he died in 1945, the community honored him with a flagpole flying the California Republic flag in the center of Union Circle Park.  The park is on a small rise of a hilltop above the village, now known as Park Row. We meet around the flagpole bearing Mr. Lieber’s plaque.