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How Do Waves Not Break The Glass at La Jolla Restaurant The Marine Room?

If you’ve ever been to The Marine Room in La Jolla, you know that the restaurant is famous for ocean waves crashing against its glass windows. The real question is, how do the waves stay outside the restaurant?

The answer is relatively simple. But, it’s steeped in the history of The Marine Room, which stretches back to the 1930s when the Kellogg family founded the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club (where restaurant is located).

While The Marine Room seems impervious to the crashing tides now, Mother Nature has breached the restaurant’s glass walls in the past. The first breach happened in 1941, when a roaring surge flooded the restaurant.

Eventually, The Marine Room rebuilt — and, this time, used bulletproof glass in its construction. This invention helped the restaurant keep the waves out until 1982. However, the bulletproof glass didn’t fail at that time. Instead, years of salt water exposure had corroded the steel I-beams.

After that incident, the restaurant took nine months to rebuild its iconic dining room. This time, it used reinforced steel covered in Gunite — a material used to construct swimming pools. The Marine Room also upped the ante with even more durable bulletproof glass.