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Samuel and Daniel Sizer had an idea, and even back in 1869, California was a place that liked ideas, big or small, fantastic or farfetched. The Sizer brothers had a grand one for La Jolla, a sunny curl of land that leans like an ear into the Pacific Ocean in the northwest corner of San Diego County. They decided to grow grapes.

Paying $200 for 160 acres and planting 5,000 vines, the Sizers became the town's first residents.

But some dreams just don't come true, and both the Sizers and their vineyards are long departed. La Jolla's destiny would be first as a charming beach colony that blossomed into one of Southern California's most exclusive communities, and more recently as a destination for travelers looking for luxury, as well as the best food and wine to go with all that sand and sunshine.

In many ways, La jolla has become to San Diego what Martha's Vineyard is to Boston. A small fold of mountains sets it apart from downtown attractions 12 miles to the south. With a population of 40,000, La Jolla is at times busy with tourists, but on a smaller scale than San Diego proper. The atmosphere is casual, but the dress code is more Ralph Lauren than Hang Ten. And like Martha's Vineyard, its natural beauty has attracted wealth and gentrification.

Locals and sightseers tread the sidewalks of the downtown village, which is populated with sidewalk cafés, art galleries and upscale boutiques (and only a handful of postcard and T-shirt shops).

Weather is key in La Jolla, a name derived from the Spanish term la joya, meaning "the jewel." Peak season comes in the summer, when temperatures seldom rise above 80 degrees Fahrenheit or fall below 65 degrees Fahrenheit, but the great appeal of the city is its temperate climate year-round. Even in January, daytime temperatures reach nearly 70 degrees Fahrenheit, making La Jolla winters ideal visiting times. "It's not as busy in January and the sunsets are beautiful," says Pat Dahlburg, a local historian and 40-year resident. (Local restaurateurs and hoteliers report that the fall wildfires nearby darkened the La Jolla sky only temporarily.)

Sunsets aren't the only time visitors gaze across the Pacific Ocean. Because the city flows down from the top of Mount Soledad and west onto the curved peninsula, the ocean is a constant backdrop as you look west.

The heart of the village is Scripps Park by La Jolla cove, where spindly palm trees and rocky cliffs meet the Pacific. Along the coast-walk near the cove there is ample room for hiking and picnicking, and there are a number of sheltered beaches with calm blue water fit for swimming and snorkeling.

There has been no shortage of high-end restaurants in La Jolla over the years, but until recently, the views were more important than the food or the wine lists.

"For years, San Diego and La Jolla were such meat-and-potato towns," says Chuck Samuelson, 49, chef and owner of Cuvee restaurant. "The food scene has just improved incredibly."

Gary Parker agrees, and appreciates the new competition. He's the owner of the WineSellar & Brasserie, a top restaurant foun-ded in 1988, which was pretty early for the area. "If you go back 25 years, there was just nothing here," Parker says. "Now you have some great dining choices."

Over the past few years, a new wave of intimate dining rooms have opened in La Jolla, restaurants such as Cuvee, Tapenade, Fresh and Nine-Ten, each of which serve a blend of French and California cuisine and have Wine Spectator Award of Excellence-winning wine lists.

In response, some of La Jolla's established players have stepped up quality. George's at the Cove, for example, has always been known for its choice view of the Pacific, but it wasn't until chef Trey Foshee arrived a few years ago that the food began rivaling the scenery.

One of the best and most recent additions is A.R. Valentien, the fine-dining restaurant at the new Lodge at Torrey Pines. Chef Jeff Jackson's cuisine matches the lodge itself -- both are luxurious and boldly structured.

La Jolla is a town that likes wine. Wine shops are abundant, and 13 local restaurants hold Wine Spectator wine awards, including a Grand Award for the WineSellar & Brasserie and three Best of Award of Excellence ratings: Donovan's, the Sky Room at La Valencia Hotel and Top of the Cove.

California wines dominate most of the lists -- the Award of Excellence-winning list at A.R. Valentien is exclusively Californian -- but the top award winners carry admirable selections of French, Italian and other Old World wines, as well as library wines.

Two of the more intriguing lists are found at two quite different venues -- Cuvee and the WineSellar & Brasserie -- restaurants off the usual tourist paths and popular with wine-loving locals. Both have retail shops attached and allow customers to buy wine and have it served with dinner for a modest corkage. For Parker, that pricing formula was a logical choice at WineSellar & Brasserie. "Customers were ordering wine with dinner and then getting mad when they saw it at a lower price downstairs at the shop," Parker says. "Now I'm selling more wine, and I know I have a lot of happy customers."

The menu and atmosphere at WineSellar & Brasserie is a bit more formal, and it has an expansive selection of new vintages and older collectibles from around the world. Cuvee, on the other hand, is more laid-back, with an eclectic wine list that's a mix of mostly new-release California wines.

Along with the increased number of fine restaurants has come an improved selection of upscale accommodations, once sorely limited.

The historic La Valencia Hotel has been the traditional choice since the late 1920s, drawing an elite crowd that included Groucho Marx and Gregory Peck; more recent visitors have included Madonna, Martha Stewart and Rush Limbaugh. The Mediterranean-style "Pink Lady" overlooks the cove and recently added a wing of luxury villas with ocean views.

A new addition is Hotel Parisi, just across from La Valencia but miles away in style. It's a boutique hotel with a sleekly modern decor that targets a more youthful crowd.

But if it's truly a luxury getaway you seek, the Lodge at Torrey Pines is La Jolla's best option. Located north of the village, away from the sometimes crowded streets, this new resort is a handsome tribute to the California Craftsman style, made popular by Charles and Henry Greene in the early 1900s and a close kin to the work of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Staying at the lodge also allows easy access to one of La Jolla's preferred pastimes: golf. There are a number of excellent courses in the San Diego area, but the lodge adjoins the Torrey Pines Golf Course, which will be home to the 2008 U.S. Open. (Tiger Woods' favorite suite at the lodge opens onto the 18th green.)

There are plenty of alternatives to golfing, shopping, dining and lazing at the beach, too. Torrey Pines State Preserve is a windswept patch of green popular with hikers. Not to be missed is the Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, situated high on a coastal bluff overlooking the ocean.

The arts are crucial to the community as well. Most notable are the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and the La Jolla Playhouse, both of which have national reputations.

Though San Diego is in the museum's name (and there is a second location in downtown San Diego), the Museum of Contemporary Art is homegrown La Jolla. Visitors browsing the collection can also stop to watch the surfers and sea lions in the water nearby. The La Jolla Playhouse, considered a top regional theater, has sent several shows to Broadway over the years, including Big River, The Who's Tommy and A Walk in the Woods.

San Diego, which has a number of fine restaurants of its own, is just a short drive away. A day trip there could include attractions such as the San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld, The Gaslamp Quarter and Coronado.

It's interesting the way time changes things. In the old days, it was La Jolla that was the day trip. "People would come from San Diego for the beaches," Dahlburg says of La Jolla's first tourism boom in the late 1800s. "The trip would take all day. They all wanted to come to the cove."

Nowadays, with wine-savvy restaurants and posh hotels, it's not just the sun and the sand that tempt visitors to La Jolla. It's a destination worthy of more than a day trip. But if history has taught us anything, don't expect to find vineyards.

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