We love discovering hidden secrets wherever we live, and San Diego has been full of them, including a secret sea cave and dangerous surf trail named after the famous trail in Vietnam. While hiking the Ho Chi Minh Trail, we discovered yet another San Diego secret: the Mushroom House.
This post may contain affiliate links, where we receive a small commission on sales of the products that are linked at no additional cost to you. All opinions are always our own. Read our full disclosure for more info. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Local Adventurer possible.
Last Updated: July 5, 2020
The Abandoned Mushroom House on Blacks Beach San Diego
A unique mushroom-shaped building hides at bottom of the cliffs at Blacks Beach. The architect Dal Nagle designed it and built it in 1968 to withstand naturally occurring rock slides, earthquakes, and waves. The original name was the Pavillion, and you could access it from the cliffs via a nearly vertical tramway running almost 300 feet down the cliff. It was also used as a guest house, and it offers a 180-degree view from Torrey Pines State Park to La Jolla.
It looks mostly empty now but rumors say it was last owned by UCSD as a place for professors and administrators to take a sabbatical. You can’t enter the house since it’s private property, but we enjoyed taking photos and relaxing on the beach.
If you’ve explored the beaches in San Diego, you’ll know that Blacks Beach is also known as the nude beach in San Diego. If you want to go nude, you can find the nude side at the north end of the beach. Don’t forget to grab directions to the Mushroom House here and check out our ultimate bucket list of 101 things to do in San Diego!
Have you checked out the abandoned mushroom house or what about any other abandoned spots near you?
Did you enjoy this post? Pin it for later
SEE MORE FROM SAN DIEGO
⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡
“Discovery consists not of seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes” – M. Proust
Esther + Jacob
Esther and Jacob are the founders of Local Adventurer, which is one of the top 5 travel blogs in the US. They believe adventure is found both locally and globally and hope to inspire others to explore their greater backyards. They explore a new city in depth every year and currently base themselves in Las Vegas.
