THE POTTER'S CANYON
During her lifetime, my mother saw her mission as saving La Jolla, a coastal town within the City of San Diego, from unfettered real estate development. Towards that end, she worked tirelessly to have a small canyon that had been home to a family of potters from Mexico declared an historic site and a public park. The family had settled at the mouth of the canyon in the 1920s and over the next several decades, produced tiles for many of San Diego's most important buildings. By the time my mother became involved, the canyon had become a tranquil enclave, populated with eucalyptus and nasturtium and surrounded on all sides by housing developments.
My mother's efforts were ultimately successful. In the late 1970s, the City created Pottery Canyon Nature Park. After my mom passed away in 2019, I began to photograph the park as a way of remembering her and honoring what she considered one of her most important professional accomplishments.