There’s nothing like a good urban legend to feed the imagination, and San Diego has its own lasting one. It’s not widely known, but if you’ve grown up here or gone to college in the city, you’ve likely heard rumors about “munchkin houses.”
Munchkin houses, you say? If you drive through La Jolla, you may see a home that doesn’t look out of the ordinary, basically like a ranch, although the height seems a bit small and the ceiling is very low.
The truth behind the legend
OK, so here is the real deal. There are no munchkin houses. And it has nothing to do with the “Wizard of Oz,” whose author, L. Frank Baum, wrote parts of the book while in San Diego, although the movie came out at the time the houses were built, perpetuating rumors of The little people who played the Munchkins in the movie lived in the houses during filming.
The houses (originally there were four) are real. In fact, they were built by the famous architect Cliff May, who often built houses to accommodate the layout of the land (in this case, a hillside). There is only one house left in La Jolla. It has some features that a vivid imagination might interpret as “munchkin-inspired,” like cobblestone floors and a round fireplace.
The location explains the optical illusion of short stature. The houses are built on the side of the hill, just below the road grade, so from the road the structures appear shorter than normal, even though the houses are of normal dimensions for the time (late 1930s).
Of course, over the years, the stories mutated into something more interesting: The little people who made money appearing in The Wizard of Oz came down to La Jolla and built a colony. According to San Diego reader Matthew Alice, the myths have been turned into stories of Chinese smugglers, Barnum & Bailey circus performers, mysterious European millionaires, flashes of midnight lights, and sightings of dwarfs. None of that is true, by the way.
So there you have it. Your own piece of San Diego folklore – a true urban legend that you can pass on to others. It’s a great conversation, especially when there’s a break at a party or gathering: “Did you know there are munchkin houses in La Jolla?” Then, of course, after drawing the attention of the entire meeting, you have to tell them the truth.
How to get there
To see this off-the-beaten-path attraction in San Diego, take Hillside Drive to the 7470 block, on the northwest side of Mount Soledad. You can get to Hillside Drive from Torrey Pines Road.
