Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters

Take your next trip with Atlas Obscura!

Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life.

Visit Adventures
Trips Highlight
Central Asia yurt night stars
Uzbekistan • 15 days, 14 nights
Central Asia Road Trip: Backroads & Bazaars
from
A view of Brașov’s Old Town.
Romania • 12 days, 11 nights
Legends of Romania: Castles, Ruins & Culinary Delights
from
View all trips
Top Destinations
Latest Places
Most Popular Places Random Place Lists Itineraries
Add a Place
Download the App
Top Destinations
View All Destinations »

Countries

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan

Cities

  • Amsterdam
  • Barcelona
  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Boston
  • Budapest
  • Chicago
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico City
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • New Orleans
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Philadelphia
  • Rome
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Stockholm
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Vienna
  • Washington, D.C.
Latest Places
View All Places »
The Eye of God at Newchurch in Pendle
St. Govor’s Well.
St. Govor’s Well
Shivsrushti
Pierced domes of Hammam Seffarine.
Hammam Seffarine
Latest Places to Eat & Drink
View All Places to Eat »
Cacio e pepe lasagna combines two classics.
C'è pasta... E pasta!
Spaghetto taratatà is named for the sound of rattling sabers.
Giano Restaurant
The gnocchi here get blanketed in a sugo with braised oxtail.
Cesare al Pellegrino
Romans insist you should feel the cracked peppercorns and cheese grains on your tongue.
Flavio al Velavevodetto
Tripe is fried to a crisp.
L’Osteria della Trippa
Recent Stories
All Stories Video Podcast
Most Recent Stories
View All Stories »
Grasshopper Chapel and grounds.
How the Rocky Mountain Locust Plague Spawned Federal Disaster Relief
about 17 hours ago
The Guy Bradley Visitor Center at Flamingo in Everglades National Park.
America’s First Game Warden Died Fighting for the Birds
about 18 hours ago
Echo Park Time Travel Mart.
Atlas Obscura Presents: Traveling Back in Time for Coconut Cake With The Sporkful
1 day ago
One of the PATH’s many entrances.
A Supposedly Boring Mall I Might Actually Visit Again
3 days ago

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All the United States California San Diego Sunny Jim Cave Store

Sunny Jim Cave Store

Behind this beachfront shop lies a spectacular, colorful sea cave with an equally colorful past.

San Diego, California

Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
  Lampshade1660 / Atlas Obscura User
  Lampshade1660 / Atlas Obscura User
145 stairs leading to the cave  
Wildlife at the sea cave   Lampshade1660 / Atlas Obscura User
  melmodel89 / Atlas Obscura User
Light Illuminating the Cave   DannyBoy / Atlas Obscura User
  Lampshade1660 / Atlas Obscura User
July. 2022 outside Sunny Jim’s   ccesare / Atlas Obscura User
July 2022 looking up the Steps   ccesare / Atlas Obscura User
July 2022 outside Sunny Jim’s   ccesare / Atlas Obscura User
July 2022   ccesare / Atlas Obscura User
July 2022 At the cove   ccesare / Atlas Obscura User
July 2022 at the bottom of the steps   ccesare / Atlas Obscura User
Cave walls July 2022   ccesare / Atlas Obscura User
July 2022   ccesare / Atlas Obscura User
Cave walls July 2022   ccesare / Atlas Obscura User
July 2022   ccesare / Atlas Obscura User
The cove at the bottom of the steps July 2022   ccesare / Atlas Obscura User
July 2022   ccesare / Atlas Obscura User
Entrance to cave steps July 2022   ccesare / Atlas Obscura User
Sunny Jim Storefront   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
  joeypesto / Atlas Obscura User
view from inside the cave  
  joeypesto / Atlas Obscura User
  joeypesto / Atlas Obscura User
Sunny Jim’s Cave Store Above the cave July 2022   ccesare / Atlas Obscura User
July 2022 looking up   ccesare / Atlas Obscura User
  melodan / Atlas Obscura User
  Bruxy / Atlas Obscura User
Sunny Jim cave   pauldbentz / Atlas Obscura User
I went to the store not realizing it was Valentines Day, so there were couples everywhere.  
  jondi letnap / Atlas Obscura User
  jondi letnap / Atlas Obscura User
Cool Cave!   emaroney / Atlas Obscura User
The Sunny Jim Sea Cave is especially exciting during winter storms   shellymarie9 / Atlas Obscura User
Platform leading out towards the middle of the cave   shellymarie9 / Atlas Obscura User
the steps in Sunny Jim Cave   Jennifer Boyer via Flickr
The entrance in the Sunny Jim Cave Store   Gareth I Mills, Los Angeles, CA, via Flickr
The famous cave profile that earned the name Sunny Jim   Gareth I. Mills, Los Angeles, CA, via Flickr
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

Tucked away in La Jolla, California stands a wood-shingled house that doubles as a retail store and sells all manner of beachfront necessities, including watercolor paintings, jewelry, and snorkel gear. It would be just one of a million coastal boutiques if not for an incredible twist. It has a back entrance that descends into a colorful sea cave and one of the most spectacular and hidden views of the ocean in the entire state.

The Sunny Jim Cave Store has the only entrance to any sea cave in California that you can access via land. The entrance is a narrow and dim tunnel that leads from the store to a staircase made of 145 damp steps that descend directly into the sea cave. The narrow tunnel and cave walls are incredibly colorful, due to the natural minerals and the effect the saltwater has on them. They've also become home to pigeons and seabirds, giving this already dark tunnel a vibe that Hitchcock would approve of.

The tunnel linking land to the sea cave was the vision of Gustav Schultz, a German painter, struggling artist, and mining engineer. He had hoped to retire on the allure of such a rare view of the ocean, so he hired two laborers and they started digging in 1902. These two men completed the tunnel just a year later and Gustav began charging a few cents for the opportunity to be lowered into the cave via a long rope. The rope has since been replaced with a steep staircase that can be just as treacherous due to dim lighting and ocean water spray. It is not recommended for the elderly, the very young, or the impaired. After Gustav died in 1912, his fellow La Jollans were surprised to find his widow arrived to run the shop, considering most of them had no idea he had been married. She continued to run the curio shop and cave attraction into the early 1920s when the tunnel was allegedly used during prohibition to smuggle alcohol into San Diego. 

The Sunny Jim Cave Store has become a Historical Landmark in California. It gets its memorable name from L. Frank Baum, the creator of the Wizard of Oz. When he visited, he named it that because the cave mouth reminded him of the profile of a 1920s British cereal cartoon mascot of the same name. As you might expect, trinkets featuring the famous visitor and that cartoon character's profile can be seen in the store above as well.

Related Tags

Caves Subterranean Stairs Roadside Attractions Tunnels Ecosystems Subterranean Sites

Know Before You Go

There’s an entry fee to the cave. It’s $10 per one adult and $6 per child 17 years old and younger.

Community Contributors

Edited By

shellymarie9, Lampshade1660, cavestore, wlrobboy...

  • shellymarie9
  • Lampshade1660
  • cavestore
  • wlrobboy
  • Shannon Ohaire
  • pauldbentz
  • emaroney
  • jondi letnap
  • ccesare
  • melmodel89
  • DannyBoy
  • blimpcaptain
  • melodan
  • joeypesto
  • jadey
  • Bruxy

Published

October 20, 2013

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Lajollacaves
  • http://www.hiddensandiego.net
  • http://www.cavestore.com/
  • I've been there
Sunny Jim Cave Store
1325 Coast Blvd.
San Diego, California, 92037
United States
32.849183, -117.270255
Visit Website
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Yiddishland California

San Diego, California

miles away

The Map of the Grand Canyons of La Jolla Shores

San Diego, California

miles away

Birch Aquarium at Scripps Seahorse and Seadragon Exhibit

La Jolla, California

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of San Diego

San Diego

California

Places 45
Stories 8

Nearby Places

Yiddishland California

San Diego, California

miles away

The Map of the Grand Canyons of La Jolla Shores

San Diego, California

miles away

Birch Aquarium at Scripps Seahorse and Seadragon Exhibit

La Jolla, California

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of San Diego

San Diego

California

Places 45
Stories 8

Related Stories and Lists

Sunny Jim Cave

Podcast

By The Podcast Team

Related Places

  • Tunnel with steps cut into a cliff face.

    Nottingham, England

    The Caves of Nottingham

    A labyrinthine underworld of tunnels and caverns hides beneath the city.

  • The 100,000 Soldiers.

    Mialet, France

    100,000 Soldiers of Trabuc Caves

    This army of concretions is an unexplained geological phenomenon unlike anything else in the world.

  • Entrance to the Redcliffe Caves at Phoenix Wharf.

    Bristol, England

    Redcliffe Caves

    There's a labyrinth of manmade tunnels stretching for over an acre beneath Bristol.

  • A staircase excavated from the tuff leads to a depth of 120 feet (40 meters).

    Naples, Italy

    Naples Underground

    A labyrinth of ancient tunnels hidden below the city holds the ruins of 2,500 years of history.

  • One of the 13 entrances of the complex

    Vĩnh Thạch, Vietnam

    Vịnh Mốc Tunnel Complex

    This network of tunnels housed an entire village for years, and even had a hall for screening movies.

  • Grotto of Evil Spirits

    Sevierville, Tennessee

    Forbidden Caverns

    Wild lights and sound effects turn a walk through some caves into an eye-popping 1960s tourist attraction.

  • Castillo Cave, entrance

    Puente Viesgo, Spain

    Caves of Monte Castillo

    The walls of these four caverns are filled with art that dates back to the earliest human presence in Europe.

  • Cricova, Moldova

    Wine Cellars of Cricova

    Seventy-five miles of limestone caves host more than a million bottles of wine beneath a sleepy Moldovan town.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.