San Diego - Maritime Museum

Friday, October 2, 2009

After we left the ferry, we strolled along to the Maritime Museum, mainly to look at two ships - the Star of India and the Surprise. A rainbow broke out at this point, and the rain stopped. The museum was open until 8:00 pm so we could have gone aboard the ships but we didn't feel the need to. There were also submarines.

Well, every ten years the Star of India goes into dry dock and this was its year, so I was glad it made it back to the museum in time for our visit.

Star of India

This ship sailed around the world 21 times and still sails with a volunteer crew every November.

The bowsprit, according to Glenn.

Part of this sign reads:

The Star of India, a three masted bark, is the oldest iron hulled merchant ship afloat. Built on the Isle of Man, Great Britain, she was launched in 1863 and christened "Euterpe".

HMS Surprise

This ship is a re-creation of a 24-gun British frigate.

From the net:

"The ship now known as HMS Surprise began life in 1970 as a replica of the 18th century Royal Navy frigate Rose. During the next 30 years Rose sailed thousands of miles as an attraction vessel and sail training ship prior to her conversion to HMS Surprise. For the academy award winning film, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, the film makers made a painstaking effort to recreate a 24 gun frigate specific to Great Britain's Nelson era Royal Navy. The result is a replica vessel unmatched in its authenticity and attention to detail."

I like the figurehead.

Leaving Coronado

Friday October 2, 2009

We didn't see all of Coronado, but it looked like no poor people lived there.

Now there was a flaw in my planning. I hadn't realized the trolley didn't stop at the ferry dock on its way back off the peninsula. Therefore we had to take a bus or catch a cab. True, we could have taken the trolley across the bridge, but we wanted to have the ferry experience. (Why? We live on an island and hate taking the ferry!) We would have caught one right away if the taxi driver had known where he was going. He let us off in the wrong place, so by the time we hiked over to the wharf, the ferry was just pulling away. We had a long wait in a not-too-exciting shopping area. Then it started to rain!

The ferry, when we finally got on it, stopped at the military base on its way back to downtown San Diego. If I remember correctly, we were warned against taking photos at the military base.

Lunch at the Brigantine

Friday October 2, 2009

Leaving the Hotel del Coronado we crossed the street to a Brigantine restaurant. There are several of these restaurants in the San Diego area.

Neat old photo inside.

"You have to try a fish taco!" people said. So I did. Must say I was surprised to see it deep fried like a piece of halibut in fish 'n' chips, but unbeknownst to me at the time, you can get different kinds of fish cooked in different ways. The fish part was good so I ate it but left the soft shell taco and filling which, to me, just didn't seem to go.

Glenn's tomato soup, on the other hand, was delicious. This was the only place we left a lousy tip to go with the lousy service.

Hotel del Coronado - the beach

Friday October 2, 2009

Too bad it wasn't a sparkling day like it was when we first saw this beach on Tuesday. It was so bright and inviting then. The trolley driver told us this beach is rated #4 in the US... the first three being in Hawaii (2) and Florida (1).

The Beach Village rooms are more expensive, I think, than the main hotel rooms of the Hotel del Coronado. They probably go in the $600-$1400 a night range.

Hotel del Coronado - inside

Friday October 2, 2009

I made a point of visiting the Crown Room to see the lights which were designed, oddly enough, by Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum. But our guide book says that the original crown chandeliers have been replaced! The room features the second largest unsupported domed ceiling in the United States.

The hotel lobby was constructed of Illinois oak and Honduran mahogany. This chandelier is in the lobby.

There were several stores in the hotel. In a candy shop Glenn found some old-time 'chicken bones'. Remember them? We wish we'd bought more than one bag.

Hotel del Coronado - history

Friday October 2, 2009

It seems odd that La Jolla is part of San Diego, while the city of Coronado, which is much closer, is its own entity.

The history of Coronado's development is interesting. Here is just a bit of it from the net:

Coronado remained a barren peninsula and its chief population was jack rabbits until the island was purchased in 1885 by Elisha S. Babcock, Jr. and Hampton L. Storey. They rowed over to the island from San Diego to hunt rabbits and decided it would be an ideal setting for a luxurious resort hotel. With the railroad scheduled to reach San Diego, they believed Easterners looking for a more moderate climate would flock to the new hotel. The Hotel del Coronado opened in 1888 and shortly afterwards was sold to John D. Spreckels, the 'Sugar King.' The hotel is a designated National Historical Landmark.

Another important part of Coronado's history, both past and present, is aviation and the military. In 1911, Glenn Curtis opened an aviation camp in what is today the Naval Air Station North Island. During World War I, the Spreckels family sold it to the Navy for $5 million. In 1927 Col. Charles Lindbergh took off on the first leg of his journey to St. Louis, New York and Paris from North Island. Today, North Island homeports two aircraft carriers, making the military the top employer in the community.

When it opened in 1888, the million dollar Hotel del Coronado was the largest all-wood building in the country. Workers had been brought in from San Francisco, hundreds of thousands of feet of wood were shipped in, and about two million red shingles were used.

Inside were some historic displays. Charles Lindbergh was honored at the hotel after his trans-Atlantic flight in 1927. Many famous people visited 'the Del' including Charlie Chaplin, Humphrey Bogart, Thomas Edison, Babe Ruth, Brad Pitt and Madonna. The hotel seemed popular with writers. Since an old copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was in a display case, maybe Mark Twain was one of them. But the author most connected to this hotel was L. Frank Baum who wintered there regularly.

This is an interesting use of the discarded hotel menus.

The hotel's biggest claim to fame though, must be for its appearance in the movie 'Some Like It Hot.' (An amusing Marilyn Munroe quote: "If you're gonna be two-faced at least make one of them pretty.")

Hotel del Coronado

Friday, October 2, 2009

On the trolley I won a wooden token for correctly answering the question the driver asked - what is the most popular fruit in America? This was as we drove by the fruit import facility we'd seen on the trolley tour before... so I knew the answer was bananas (even though technically they're not fruit).

We crossed the bridge and headed straight to the Hotel del Coronado.

I was quite excited to be at this place I'd seen so many years ago in postcards.

DRAGON TREE

A sign here reads: "Native to the Canary Islands, this unusual tree was planted at The Del prior to the turn of the century where it thrives in our temperate southern California coastal climate.

The Dragon Tree was used as a backdrop in the Marilyn Monroe movie Some Like It Hot, which was filmed at The Del in 1958."