Hotel del Coronado: soak up history and sunshine just across the bay from San Diego

Travel America, July-August, 2004 by Randy Mink

CROWNED WITH A JUMBLE OF RED-SHINGLED TURRETS, CUPOLAS, GABLES, AND domes, the rambling white Victorian landmark strikes a singular profile. It cannot be mistaken for any other building in America. Fanciful and monumental, the Hotel del Coronado has commanded a prime beachfront setting since 1888. One of the few surviving seaside resorts from the Gilded Age, the "Del," as it's called, is not only a flamboyant architectural icon but an important part of the social history of the United States and Southern California. Fresh from a recent facelift, the well-preserved grande dame offers every 21st century comfort along with heady doses of nostalgia.

Leaving our balcony door open, we let the surf serenade us to sleep as it lapped the sandy shore. Miniature shells and starfish left on our pillows encouraged dreams of the sea.

The aura of enchantment spreads beyond the resort grounds and into the tidy neighborhoods of Coronado, a quiet town on a peninsula between San Diego Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Perfect year-round weather enhances the idyllic atmosphere and sense of well-being.

The Spanish word "Coronado" means "the crowned one," and Coronado's nickname is the Crown City. Often referred to as Coronado Island, the town is actually connected to the mainland by a narrow strip called the Silver Strand. (Early on, when the spit of land was thinner, high tides would cover it, turning Coronado into a veritable island.)

To get the lay of the land, we rented bikes at the hotel and went on a guided tour of Coronado, pedaling down streets lined with palm, pine, eucalyptus, and orange trees. Bougainvillea, hibiscus, geraniums, and bird of paradise festooned the yards and gardens of gingerbread Victorians, stucco bungalows, and walled, Spanish-style haciendas with iron balconies. Even the humblest abodes in this comfortable community sell for over $500,000.

A bike path along the bay took us past the Coronado Municipal Golf Course, beneath the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge, and to the park-like Coronado Ferry Landing for a snack and shopping stop. We had great views of ship traffic and the San Diego skyline, and could spot the brand new San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum aboard the decommissioned USS Midway. The "top gun" of U.S. military towns, San Diego has 19 major Navy and Marine installations, including Naval Air Station (NAS) North Island, which occupies half of Coronado. Later in the tour, we paused at the gate of NAS, so our guide, Aaron Brummel of the Del's recreation department, could tell us about the base.

On tony Ocean Boulevard, which runs along Central Beach from the Del to the naval station boundary, Aaron pointed out the town's largest home. It's a 27-bedroom mansion that once belonged to Larry Lawrence, owner of the hotel from 1963 until his death in 1995 and a U.S. ambassador to Switzerland.

A block from the Del we saw the gabled yellow house where author L. Frank Baum, a regular hotel visitor, wrote some of the sequels to his Wizard of Oz series. It seems fitting that this master of fantasy frequented the whimsically designed resort and lived in such a storybook town. A bit removed from reality--or at least from San Diego proper--Coronado (pop. 30,000) resembles a movie set.

Hotel del Coronado, though very much its own little kingdom-by-the-sea, is hardly cordoned off from the community. In fact, the Hotel Del is right on the town's main thoroughfare--Orange Avenue--within easy walking distance of boutiques and sidewalk cafes.

From its beginnings, the Del has catered to an elite clientele; the earliest guests were among America's richest families. The Del came of age during a period of unparalleled wealth, when the well-heeled traveled from one fashionable resort to another, servants in tow. Most arrived by train, some in private rail cars; a train trip from the East, across vast unsettled territory, took seven days.

The Del was built by two Midwestern businessmen who became acquainted after moving to San Diego in the mid-1880s. In 1885 Elisha Babcock and Hampton Story bought the entire sagebrush-covered peninsula of Coronado. They then subdivided the land, sold lots to investors, and used the profits to create their dream hotel, which they envisioned would be the "talk of the Western world."

Promoted as a hunting and fishing resort, the Del also offered more refined amenities, including billiards (separate rooms for men and women), bowling, croquet, swimming, boating, bicycling, golf, tennis, and archery. The princely sport of polo was added in 1906, and in 1913 the hotel started its own school for the children of long-term guests.

Two years before the Del opened its doors, an advertising booklet touted rooms "with every luxury known to modern ingenuity" and grounds "planted with the rarest of tropical flowers." It stated: "Of the cuisine, there shall be nothing to complain, the intent of the managers being to cater to a class of patrons who are accustomed to and who appreciate luxury."

Guest rooms had hot and cold running saltwater--thought to be health-promoting--as well as freshwater. The hotel was one of the country's largest buildings to have electric lights. It also boasted telephones (but not in guests' rooms) and elevators.