21st Street
Estate

Del Mar occupies a narrow strip of coast between the Pacific and the San Dieguito Lagoon — and it knows how good it has it. The village is small, unhurried, and quietly exceptional. No pier, no arcade, no crowds. Wide sandy beaches backed by low bluffs, streets draped in bougainvillea, a farmers market on Sunday mornings, and a summer racing season that has drawn Californians to the hills above the beach every July and August since 1937. The 21st Street Estate sits two minutes from the sand, at the quiet end of a walkable block.

The house is Spanish Mediterranean in form — white stucco, terracotta tile roof, arched windows, palm trees framing a checkerboard driveway. Inside, the ground floor opens into a soaring two-story living space where floor-to-ceiling glass dissolves the boundary between the room and the garden. Terracotta tile underfoot, cathedral ceiling overhead, the Pacific light coming through all day. A leather sofa faces the garden. A farmhouse table seats eight. The kitchen anchors the room with a waterfall island, dark cabinetry, and everything a serious cook needs.

Upstairs, the primary suite is its own world: a king bed, a fireplace, French doors to a private terrace, and a bathroom that takes its cues from Marrakech — navy vanities, arched mirrors, oil-rubbed bronze fixtures, and a freestanding soaking tub set beneath a window framed in palms. Each of the other two bedrooms is a room unto itself, with its own full bath, and a den with a queen-size Murphy bed handles the overflow. No one is assigned the inferior room. There isn't one.

The outdoor spaces are layered and private. A walled garden with mature fruit trees and flowering hibiscus filters the afternoon light. A patio with a hammock slung between palms. A hot tub on the upper deck. An outdoor dining area and a built-in Kamado grill for evenings when staying in is the only reasonable choice. By summer nightfall, the compound takes on the atmosphere of a private resort.

The beach at the foot of 21st Street is one of the finest on the Southern California coast: broad, clean, and uncrowded even in peak season. The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club — where the turf meets the surf, as they've said for eighty years — runs its season July through September. Camino del Mar's restaurants, the Sunday Farmers Market, and the boutiques of the village are all within an easy walk. San Diego International Airport is twenty minutes south.