Children's Pool Beach

Children's Pool Beach is a small beach in La Jolla, California, separated from the open ocean by a curved concrete wall. The sheltered cove sits north of downtown and attracts seals that lounge on the sandy shore and slide into the water.

Philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps commissioned the breakwater in 1931 so children could swim in calm water. About 60 years later, harbor seals discovered the cove and made it their preferred resting zone along the California coast.

The name recalls Ellen Browning Scripps, who funded the breakwater for families, while today seals rest on the sand and visitors watch from the seawall. This double use shapes daily life at the cove, where people and animals share the same narrow stretch of coast.

From December 15 to May 15, the cove stays closed during seal pupping season, while it opens to the public in the remaining months. Morning hours often bring more seals before crowds arrive and noise levels rise.

Harbor seals chose this engineered cove spontaneously as their favorite spot and changed how the beach is used within a few years. Today, seals and visitors often form a chain together along the breakwater, each group watching the other.