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.")
No comments:
Post a Comment