Once upon a time there were two islands; North Coronado Island, which actually was an island, and South Coronado Island, which was not. In reality, South Coronado Island was just the bulbous tip of a very narrow, seven mile long, sandy peninsula called the Silver Strand. In 1886, land speculators bought both of them and decided to build a lavish hotel, a popular strategy of that day for turning a patch barren sand into something special.
When it opened in 1888, the Hotel del Coronado was certainly that. It was the largest resort hotel in the world and the first to have electric lights. It was also heated by the world's first oil furnace.
Flat, sandy North Coronado Island was left undeveloped, a place for hotel guests to hunt or ride horses, which was fortunate, as it proved an ideal spot for the first naval aviators who began training there as early as 1911, just eight years after the Wright brothers historic flight. By 1917, the government had appropriated the land and construction was begun on runways for a naval air station.
During World War II, North Island was the principle support base for all operations in the Pacific. In 1945, the base was expanded by filling in the shallow bay called the Spanish Bight which had separated North Island from the city of Coronado. Today, about two thirds of the consolidated landmass is occupied by the Naval Air Station. That the rest is taken up by one of the most affluent communities in the country strikes me as exceedingly odd.
For a town sharing space with such a large and active military facility, Coronado is a surprisingly tranquil place that wears its wealth without a lot of pretensions. Maybe being here on a Sunday had something to do with this impression, but we found the atmosphere much more laid-back than La Jolla. Nancy has decided that this is her second favorite place on this trip; Monterey still remains first.
We started our visit with a stop at a small park on the waterfront where the ferry to San Diego used to dock before it was replaced in 1969 by the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge. The land had been sold to developers but was saved for public use through the efforts of three local citizens. A smaller ferry still operates nearby, but I think it is primarily used by tourists. There are also a collection of shops and restaurants and a small beach, plus a front row seat to downtown San Diego across the bay
We explored the rest of town by car, then bought some lunch and took it to the beach to eat. We parked just down the street from the Hotel del Coronado. Even after all these years, it is still the star of the show here. After finishing our lunch, we leashed up Sadie, and went to take a closer look.
Before we were through, we had walked all the way around it. It is so picturesque, so iconic, that I thought that getting good pictures would be easy, but I was wrong. There are few clear lines of sight and it is almost too big to photograph.
The shot at the beginning of this post was one that I wrote off at first because the light was all wrong, so I just used it to experiment with, and I'm glad I did. Here is one that came out better with only minor tweaking.
Day 127
Bonita, CA
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