Whaling Bar dedicates booths to Dr. Seuss, Joan Kroc and Selma Malk

La Jolla’s Whaling Bar has had its fair share of famous patrons, including Hollywood elite and local legends.

Among them were children’s book writer Theodor “Ted” Geisel (better known as Dr. Seuss), philanthropist Joan Kroc and longtime La Valencia Hotel resident Selma Malk, all of whom were honored May 14 with booths dedicated to them.

The La Valencia Hotel opened in 1926, and The Whaling Bar made its debut there in 1949. The original Whaling Bar closed in February 2013 to be replaced by the expanded Cafe La Rue. However, an effort was launched in 2021 to bring back The Whaling Bar at its original location on the ground floor of the La Valencia at 1132 Prospect St.

After a lengthy renovation, the current Whaling Bar officially greeted guests Feb. 16 with restaurant group SDCM serving as the hotel’s operating partner for the bar.

Food & Drink

La Jolla’s Whaling Bar is back where it began

Photo gallery: The storied venue, which originally opened in 1949 and closed in 2013, returns to the La Valencia Hotel.

Feb. 16, 2024

As part of the plans to bring back The Whaling Bar, hotel management issued a survey about the features guests would like to see and received more than 300 responses.

“The amount of stories and the people that came out of the woodwork was crazy,” said SDCM owner Matt Spencer. “We wanted to do something to memorialize some of the more important people and events that have happened within four walls. … We probably could have done triple the amount of plaques.”

The booths honoring Geisel, Kroc and Malk have plaques with their names and reasons for recognition.

“We reached out to family and friends to triangulate stories,” Spencer said. “When we place these plaques on those walls, they will be here for 20 or 30 years, hopefully even longer.”

A new plaque honors Theodor “Ted” Geisel (Dr. Seuss) at The Whaling Bar.

(Ashley Mackin-Solomon)

Geisel, one of La Jolla’s most famous residents, frequented The Whaling Bar while he lived locally from the 1940s until his death in 1991.

The author of “The Cat in the Hat,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Horton Hears a Who,” “Green Eggs and Ham” and many others “is someone who has touched children’s lives all over the world,” Spencer said.

Former radio host Joe Vecchio, who has been seeking a way to honor Dr. Seuss for more than 20 years, said: “I thought it was important for people in San Diego to know that he wrote and illustrated all those books in his home here in La Jolla. … Something told me we had to do something at La Valencia.”

The plaque for Kroc, a former La Jolla resident who died in 2003, reads: “The Whaling Bar played host to the meeting where Joan Kroc donated 97 million dollars to The Salvation Army. This donation created the first Ray and Joan Kroc Community Center. Today there are 26 Kroc Centers nationwide.”

Several institutions in the San Diego area are named after her, including the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego and the St. Vincent de Paul Joan Kroc Center for the Homeless.

She also owned the San Diego Padres from 1984 to 1990 after inheriting the team from her late husband, McDonald’s magnate Ray Kroc.

Malk was honored, Spencer said, for her longtime patronage of The Whaling Bar and her local notoriety.

“[Her family] came here from South Africa on vacation, and when her husband passed away, she just wanted to stay at the La Valencia Hotel,” Spencer said. “People didn’t think it would last as long as it did, but she was here for [more than 30] years and held court over there. She let everyone know she was the boss. If you were not dressed properly, she would let you know.”

A picnic grove in La Jolla’s Scripps Park that opened in December 2022 contains a plaque honoring Malk, whose family provided early funding for the project.

Malk died in 2017 at age 103.

A picnic grove in La Jolla’s Scripps Park contains a memorial plaque for Selma Malk, a longtime resident of the La Valencia Hotel (in the background). Malk also has a new plaque in her honor at the hotel’s Whaling Bar.

(Joan Plaehn)

When the current Whaling Bar opened, many of its loyalists said how excited they were to have it back. Some oohed and aahed as they walked in the door. One said the space still felt “intimate,” as it once did.

The drink menu features offerings that pay tribute to La Jolla landmarks, such as the “Green Dragon,” a nod to the former Green Dragon artists colony; “The Jewel,” a nickname for La Jolla; the “Bishop’s Daiquiri,” for The Bishop’s School; and the “Cove Tea” for La Jolla Cove. ◆