Carlsbad Flower Fields

Carlsbad has a wide range of homes, from stylish oceanfront properties to carefully planned new suburban developments. The recent Aviara development is a case in point, with its superb golf course and the only five-star resort in San Diego County.

Carlsbad contains several distinctive communities and each has their own special features:

We've already mentioned Aviara, an upscale community in the southwest part of Carlsbad, on the edge of the scenic Bataquitos Lagoon. Lovely walking trails skirt the edge of the lagoon, which extends inland about a mile and a half from the ocean. The local homeowner's association keeps the landscaping uniformly excellent, and the Four Seasons resort is luxurious. The Aviara Golf Course is surrounded by beautiful homes, and many others have lagoon or ocean views.

La Costa is an upscale area built in the nineteen-eighties that is known for its great range of homes. Affordable town homes and condos (La Costa has the highest concentration of these in Carlsbad) appeal to young couples who want to live in an exclusive area for an affordable cost. Larger town homes and luxury family homes are also available, and many have gorgeous views of the beautiful golf course, which hosts championships at the national level. (La Costa also has a world-class tennis facility that sees its share of national championships.) The world famous La Costa resort and spa is surrounded by rolling hills; properties there also have superb views. Some homes look out over the lagoon or the ocean, and many are exquisitely designed and landscaped.

La Costa Valley is a new development on the southern flank of Carlsbad. It has the advantage of being in the high ranking San Dieguito school district, and it has the town's best recreational center with several pools, a hot tub, tennis courts, gym and community meeting space on site. A full time recreation director organizes events, so there is much to do and plenty of ways to stay involved with your community.

Named for the native stand of Live Oaks on its southern end, La Costa Oaks is an upcoming development planned to border the lovely thousand-acre La Costa Preserve. Residents will be able to enjoy the Oaks Club, a top-notch recreation center with a clubhouse, gym, and swimming facility; and a well planned trail system will lead to the adjacent wilderness preserve.

Another new community is Bressi Ranch, which is set to open in early 2005. Sensitively planned neighborhoods include curving tree lined streets, plenty of parks and gardens, and properties large enough for outdoor pursuits. There are several architectural styles from which to choose your new home.

Bressi Ranch is a place where families can work, play, and live amidst gardens that bloom year round. Everything needed by the people who live in Bressi Homes will be within walking distance of one another. It fulfills the meaning of the word "community".

LOCATION
Just thirty-five miles north of San Diego and eighty-six miles south of Los Angeles on the Pacific Coast, charming Carlsbad is close to big city life without sacrificing its relaxed beach town feel.

I-5 journeys through Carlsbad on its way north to Los Angeles and south to San Diego and the Mexican border. Inland to the east, I-15 runs parallel to I-5 and key routes pass through Carlsbad to connect the two interstates.

Encinitas is around ten miles south.

TRANSPORTATION/AIRPORTS
Carlsbad's McClellan-Palomar Airport serves light aircraft (both private and commercial) and provides an air-shuttle to surrounding airports. Taxi and limousine rental are available at the airport. For wider national and for international travel, residents travel to nearby San Diego International Airport, about thirty miles to the south.

San Diego Metropolitan Transit run a good bus service in Carlsbad, and additional routes connect it to the other towns in the region, including Oceanside (to the north), and Encinitas (to the south), both of which also have rail connections to surrounding towns, San Diego, and beyond. Amtrak stops in Encinitas.

BRIEF HISTORY
Home to local Luiseno Indians for centuries, the Carlsbad area came under Spanish control in the seventeenth century and thence passed on to Mexican rule. By the early eighteen-hundreds, the Mexican government was looking to open up the region between Los Angeles and San Diego to ranchers, and in 1842, Andreas Antonio Ybarra made a successful bid for a land grant here.

The northeast corner of Ybarra's rancho was to become Carlsbad. He built an adobe house there and his wife lived in it for eighteen years, until he sold up to developers in 1860.

The developers converted the adobe to a station and this service the Seeley-Wright Stage Coach Line. Visitors to Carlsbad today can see the remains of the adobe on the hill above the tennis courts. After they foreclosed, the rancho was parceled up and sold to various developers and homesteaders.

In the eighteen-eighties, John Frazier established a homestead in the Carlsbad area and struck mineral water while digging a well. Tests revealed the water to have the same properties as those at the famous Karlsbad spa in Czechoslovakia; Frazier started offering it to thirsty train passengers, and the name stuck.

After three years Frazier sold his by now quite famous well to Schutte, a German immigrant, who founded the California Land and Mineral Water Company, and built a new hotel. Tourists began flocking to the new "seaside sanatorium" and Carlsbad began to grow. Schutte's mansion still stands and is now the superb Neimans restaurant.

In 1887 the Arizona Eastern Railway built the Carlsbad depot, which was also an office for telegraph, post, and Wells Fargo Express and a general store. Trains bought in tourists and shipped out locally grown fruit, vegetables and flowers. Irrigation came in 1914, further bolstering the region's agriculture. Closed in 1960, the depot now houses the town's Tourist Information Center and is on the national register of historical places.

The Great Depression bought an abrupt end to Carlsbad's tourist industry and the famous mineral well was capped for lack of interest. Agriculture, especially flowers, remained a stable industry, as it remains today, and in recent decades, visitors have again discovered the charm of historic Carlsbad.

ABOUT EDUCATION

The acclaimed Carlsbad Unified School District is known for its excellence, strength of academic learning, and exciting creative programs. There are several private schools in Carlsbad, including the Army Navy High School, several church-based elementary schools, and the Carlsbad Montessori School (K to 6).

Plentiful higher education options consist of the Gemmological Institute of America, Occupational Training Services, and the Progressive Montessori Institute, all in Carlsbad. Further possibilities include, the California Institute for Human Science in Encinitas, Palomar College in San Marcos and Mira Costa College in Oceanside.

There are several top facilities in San Diego, including the San Diego Miramar College, the San Diego Mesa College, San Diego State University, and the University of California, San Diego.