The article says 2.125 million for 2200 sqft in La Jolla, compared to 1.49 million in Palo Alto.

Like for like, Palo Alto is in fact more expensive than La Jolla. This is even true if you compare a view house in LJ with a non-view house in PA.

There is a lot of choice in LJ of houses with 2500 sqft under 1.5 million.