I was showing a property off Via Capri last week, up near the top of Mount Soledad, and there was a McLaren 750S just sitting in the neighbor's driveway. No cover. No garage theatrics. Just parked there like a Camry.
That's La Jolla for you.
I think about exotic cars a lot, probably more than a real estate agent should. But here's the thing. The cars parked on a street tell you something real about a neighborhood. Not just income level. That's the obvious read. I'm talking about how people live. A covered car in a temperature-controlled garage says one thing. A supercar sitting in the sun, clearly being driven daily, says something completely different.
The 750S is a wild machine. Twin-turbo V8, around 740 horsepower, and McLaren stripped weight from everywhere they could. It's faster than the 720S it replaced, which was already absurd. The doors still go up. The driving position still feels like you're sitting inside a fighter jet. And the sound at full throttle is something that sticks with you.
What I find interesting is how many of these cars show up in La Jolla versus, say, Rancho Santa Fe. Rancho Santa Fe has its share of serious collections. I've walked through a few garages out there that had seven, eight cars deep. But those tend to stay hidden behind gates on 3-acre lots. In La Jolla, especially around the Bird Rock to Mount Soledad corridor, people drive their cars. You'll see a GT3 RS at Brick and Bell on a Tuesday morning. It's a different energy.
For buyers I work with, this actually matters. The garage situation in La Jolla is a real constraint. A lot of the older homes near Windansea and along Nautilus Street have two-car garages max. Some have one. If you're someone who owns more than two cars (and a lot of my clients do), that becomes a serious filter on which properties even work. I've had deals where the house was perfect but the garage killed it.
Rancho Santa Fe solves that problem with space. Del Mar solves it with newer construction that planned for it. La Jolla makes you get creative.
So yeah, I notice the cars. Every time. Partly because I love them. Partly because it tells me who already lives on the street.
What's parked in your driveway right now?