Save Our La Jolla Post Office Task Force Raises Enough Money for Historical Designation Application

The La Jolla Historical Society announced Tuesday that it had raised enough money to cover the application fee required to add the La Jolla Post Office to the local San Diego Register of Designated Historical Resources. The Historical Society's Save Our La Jolla Post Office Task Force raised more than $1,200 in less than two hours on Saturday. This historical designation would provide a layer of protection for the building and WPA-era Belle Baranceanu mural.

“The community continues to respond decisively to support our efforts to save the historically-important Wall Street post office,” said Heath Fox, executive director of the La Jolla Historical Society in announcement Tuesday. “We let La Jollans know on Thursday that we would be in front of the post office collecting the necessary fees for the application and they showed up to make sure we did just that. It continues to be clear that the community wants our 78-year-old post office to remain, as it is, where it is.” 

La Jollans first learned that the Postal Service proposed a relocation and sale of the Post Office in January.

On Jan. 11, the Postal Service said the La Jolla Main Post Office on the corner of Wall Street and Ivanhoe Avenue would be relocated to a smaller location within 1 mile of the current site.

That same month a representative for the U.S. Postal Service told Patch, “The Postal Service appreciates the fact that customers like those in La Jolla hold their local Post Offices in high regard and value our products and services. That’s why we are taking necessary steps nationwide to ensure the long-term viability of the Postal Service by identifying sensible ways to reduce our costs and maintain affordable, efficient service.”

In June, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the local post office to its 2012 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.

The annual list spotlights “important examples of the nation’s architectural, cultural and natural heritage that are at risk of destruction or irreparable repair.”

The La Jolla Historical Society has spent more than $10,000 fighting to protect both the services and the building.