Encinitas: Our History and People

After having two ladies clothing stores in
Encinitas, Kirsten opened a widely acclaimed
boutique shop, with a wine cellar, on the
property she and Charley purchased in 1990 in
the beautiful mountain town of Idyllwild. They
traded the property in 2004 for the Leucadia
Beach Inn.
The Inn holds a unique place in the Encinitas
and Leucadia guest lodging history. It is the
oldest continuously operating lodging facility in
the city. It was originally constructed in the
1920s and has been in operation ever since. The
Leucadia Beach Inn is comprised of two separate
buildings. The one-story building on the south
side was constructed in the classic California
motel “horseshoe” design, around a flower filled
central courtyard. Farrah Fawcett and many
other Hollywood stars were guests at the Inn.
The two-story building to the north was
added in the 1970s in order to nearly double
the capacity of the Inn.
Kirsten and Charley have the distinction of
being the longest tenured owners of the Inn. One
of the most interesting owners of the Leucadia
Beach Inn, in two separate stints, was Despina
Aslinades. Despina was the grandmother of Charlie
Sougais of Charlie’s Foreign Cars in downtown
Encinitas, and the great-grandmother of the
present owner, Niko Sougais. To learn more about
this marvelous lady please refer to the Sougais
family piece which is part of this Encinitas History.
The Inn is presently managed by
Todd Derr, the Marvin’s son-in-law,
with the very capable assistance of
Mark Decotis. The Marvins are very
proud of the Leucadia Beach Inn’s
ranking as the top lodging facility in
guest satisfaction along the entire
North San Diego County Coast.
In his retirement, Charley has become
a writer. He has already self-published a
book, available on Amazon, “The
Tuesday Morning Gang”. Among other
writing projects, Charley is working on
publishing his book, “Leucadia Tales—
A Whimsical History of Leucadia”.
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