While visiting the Mount Soledad Monument in La Jolla, I took tons of photos of the mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west…little knowing I might be capturing a scene of the home of a famous resident.
Then we descended the mountain by a twisty turvy road that kept the massive Pacific Ocean front and center to our views, surrounded by trees galore: a bit of citrus, many twisted and gnarled, some heavily windblown, called flag trees.
Suddenly we arrived to the gorgeous 1920s pink hotel, La Valencia, for lunch…where that famed resident also enjoyed dinners.
While researching the history of some of the sites I visited that day and of the fantasical plant life that abounds with unique shapes, I learned that Dr. Suess used to live in the area!
So I’m collecting all my experiences and photos into one place, to tell interesting tidbits of Theodore Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss.
DR. SEUSS IS BORN
Attending Dartmouth College during the prohibition years, Geisel and his friends were caught drinking gin.
Banned from extracurricular activities, Geisel continued publishing for the campus humor magazine under a pseudonym, Dr. Seuss…derived from his father’s desire that he become a medical doctor and from his mother’s maiden name.
FROM WRITER TO ARTIST
While later attending Oxford to earn a Doctor of Philosophy in English, Geisel met his future wife.
Noticing his habit of filling sketchbooks during his free time with fantastical animal sketches, she suggested he become a full-time artist instead of teaching.
So Geisel left Oxford in February 1927, to promote his art work to potential publishers in America.
On July 16, 1927, the Saturday Evening Post was the first to publish one of Geisel’s works, under his psuedonym…Dr. Suess.
LA JOLLA VACATIONS
Upon Geisel’s first visit to Southern California in 1928, he and his life were charmed by the area’s unique geology of seaside cliffs with caves and tide pools…as was I!
One of their favorite La Jolla spots was La Valencia Hotel…where I had lunch!
While dining at a picture window looking upon the Pacific Ocean, I thought how inspired I would be if I could spend the entire week there, writing due to all the scope for the imagination.
Apparently, Geisel had a similar idea, since he sketched the sites he viewed at the hotel, which he frequented so often that a plaque was placed at his favorite booth. (Gotta find that on our next trip out there!)
LA JOLLA MOUNTAIN TOP HOME INSPIRES MORE BOOKS
In 1948, the Geisels’ dream of living in the area came true, when they purchased land on Mount Soledad, that came with an observation tower looking over La Jolla.
Building their house around the tall structure, Geisel settled his office within that inspirational space, which yielded sixty mile views of mountains, the Pacific Ocean and the many curious trees scattered about the land.
Surely these views inspired Geisel in his 1950 book, Yertle the Turtle:
I’m king of the butterflies! King of the air!
Ah, me! What a throne! What a wonderful chair!
I’m Yertle the Turtle! Oh, marvelous me!
For I am the ruler of all that I see!
Some say that the bright orange Garibaldi fish, often seen in the La Jolla waters, inspired One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.
Since I spent so much time at the coastline in Point Loma, I’ll have to visit the coast in La Jolla next time, to find the fish, which are apparently easy to find.
FINDING THE GRINCH IN LA JOLLA
When I imagine Geisel looking down the mountain from his writing nook of an observation tower, I see the Grinch looking upon Who-ville at Christmas time…oops. Little did I know…
While interviewed by Redbook in 1957 about the Grinch, Geisel explained: I was brushing my teeth on the morning of the 26th of last December when I noted a very Grinchish countenance in the mirror. It was Seuss! Something had gone wrong with Christmas, I realized, or more likely with me. So I wrote the story about my sour friend, the Grinch, to see if I could rediscover something about Christmas that obviously I’d lost.
Emoting his feelings, Geisel even represented his lifespan of fifty-three years into the story:
That’s one thing he hated! The NOISE!
NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! Then the Whos, young and old, would sit down to a feast.
And they’d feast! And they’d feast! And they’d FEAST!
FEAST! FEAST! FEAST!…They’d sing! And they’d sing! And they’d SING!
SING! SING! SING!…Why, for 53 years, I’ve put up with it now! I must stop Christmas from coming, but how?
Of all his books, this was the easiest to write…until he came to climax, where he struggled for three months on how to most properly resolve the Grinch’s crisis.
“I got hung up on how to get the Grinch out of the mess,” Geisel once explained of his writing process. “I got into a situation where I sounded like a second-rate preacher or some bible thumper… Finally in desperation… without making any statement whatever, I showed the Grinch and the Whos together at the table, and made a pun on the Grinch carving ‘roast beast’… I had gone through thousands of religious choices, and then after three months, it came out like that.” –Dr. Seuss’ Surprising Inspiration for the Grinch, Biography, December 24, 2024.
While growing up, my family and I enjoyed watching this cartoon (the production of which is further explored in the above link), because Max looked much like my dauchshund, whom I’d bring to sit on my lap for the cartoon.
And I always thought Geisel perfectly resolved the story, not by explicitly preaching, but by continuing the story of the true meaning of Christmas, even after he snatched away the decorations, gifts, and food:
But the sound wasn’t sad! Why, this sound sounded merry!
It couldn’t be so! But it WAS merry! VERY!…
Every Who down in Whoville, the tall and the small,
Was singing! Without any presents at all!
He HADN’T stopped Christmas from coming! IT CAME!…
“Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.”
“Maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!”
And what happened then? Well…in Whoville they say,
That the Grinch’s small heart Grew three sizes that day!
And the minute his heart didn’t feel quite so tight,
He whizzed with his load through the bright morning light,
And he brought back the toys! And the food for the feast!
And he, HE HIMSELF! The Grinch carved the roast beast!
Ever since, Geisel was easily spotted driving through Who-ville La Jolla with his license plate: GRINCH.
Written earlier in 1957, the Cat in the Hat described Geisel’s better days.
When the US Postal Service debuted a Dr. Suess stamp in 2003, Geisel’s step-daughter noted: I always thought the Cat [in the Hat] was Ted on his good days, and the Grinch was Ted on his bad days. –Dr. Seuss’ Surprising Inspiration for the Grinch, Biography, December 24, 2024.
INSPIRED BY UNIQUE FLORA OF LA JOLLA
In 1971, The Lorax was inspired by a windblown Monterrey Cyprus tree below La Valencia Hotel, along the Pacific Ocean.
The park is easily seen below the hotel, with an amazing assortment of other interesting flora.
Can you imagine the palm trees in the Seuss books, that look like giant fluffly lollipops?
While many of the various species of trees are windblown, twisted, and gnarled, other types of vegetation are quite different from any I’ve ever experienced in my gardening and travels.
For instance, the Bird of Paradise (with orange flowers, below at Liberty Station in Point Loma), which abound throughout Southern California, looks like a fantastical inspiraiton for a Suess book.
How about this flat topped tree (below, Point Loma Point) that also abound in Southern California, for Suessian tales?
Even the Dragon Tree has a name as fanciful as its configuration (below, Hotel del Coronado)…leaning from the many winds of time.
Leaning twisted gnarled trees abound in Southern California (below, at La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles) formed by the strong Santa Ana winds that blow for days.
I saw many of these types of trees as we drove about the area.
When the different species of trees start growing horizontal to the ground, from all the wind, they are called flag trees.
SEUSSIAN GALORE
Also in 1971, Geisel painted a unique scene of the Hotel del Coronado (which I also visited) in his typical style, now officially designated Seussian in the dictionary: relating to or characteristic of children’s books by the author Dr. Seuss, especially in being whimsical or fantastical.
Below is a view of Coronado Island from the near Geisel’s house in La Jolla.
Later in our La Jolla day, we drove to my husband’s alma mater, University California – San Diego, where I saw a fantastical building, the Geisel Library, home to much Dr. Seuss memorabilia.
After Geisel’s death in 1991, then his wife’s passing in 2018, the house was bequeathed to the UC – San Diego.
Last year they sold the house at auction. Enjoy this video tour of all things Seussian within and without Geisel’s house!
btw…Geisel sometimes used a different pen name, Theo LeSieg, which is Geisel spelled backwards.
