by Noreen Kompanik

Built in 1887, the Hotel del Coronado is a red-turreted Victorian architectural masterpiece and a famous National Historic Landmark. The quintessential legendary oceanfront beach hotel has hosted numerous U.S. presidents, foreign dignitaries, royalty and celebrities.

The captivating, elegant and timeless turn-of-the-century resort stands sentinel over a wide mile and a half of a spectacular pristine white-sand beach fronting the azure blue waters of the Pacific.

Though seaside resorts were commonplace along American coasts during the 19th century, few were as large or distinctive as “The Del,”—the moniker lovingly used by locals. And this historic hotel happens to be the second largest wooden structure in the United States.

Famous people have stayed at this magnificent resort like Thomas Edison, Charlie Chaplain, Babe Ruth, King Kalakua of Hawaii, Clark Gable, Vincent Price, Bette Davis and Katherine Hepburn.

Several Hollywood movies were filmed here —one of the most well-known, Some Like it Hot with Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis. Hollywood greats still flock to The Del, like Kevin Costner, Whoopi Goldberg, Brad Pitt, Madonna, Barbra Streisand and Oprah Winfrey.

L. Frank Baum, the writer and creator of the famous Wizard of Oz referred to Coronado Island as his “personal Oz.” He did much of his writing here and many believe The Del was the inspiration for the Emerald City.

This “Grand Lady of the Sea” is also reputed to be the setting of one of the most famous love stories of our time. It’s widely reported that Wallis Simpson, married to a U.S. naval officer at the time and living in Coronado, met her future husband at a grand banquet at the hotel in 1920, thereby changing the course of history.

That man happened to be Edward, Prince of Wales, who abdicated the British throne in order to marry the divorcée. Though she would never be queen, Wallis Simpson was granted the title of Duchess of Windsor and she and Edward lived a long and happy life together.

The Del was constructed at a time before San Diego had the raw materials or the manpower to support a structure of its type. Everything, including workers had to be brought in by rail from the Midwest. Miraculously, the Del was completed only 11 months after breaking ground. She opened in February, 1888 with an amazing 399 guest rooms and crowned the world’s largest resort.

Wealthy visitors traveled year-round from far and near to the iconic hotel because of San Diego’s exceptionally mild weather and 300-plus days of sunshine.

Surprisingly, the resorts lighting was provided by electricity—a novelty of its time. Other technologically-advanced amenities included an elevator, fire-alarm system and telephones in guest rooms. Even today, the antique elevator run by an operator in classical period attire carries guests to their appointed floors.

On New Year’s Day in 1937, during the Great Depression, the gambling ship SS Monte Carlo known for its “drinks, dolls and dice” was shipwrecked on a nearby beach. Fashionably-dressed hotel guests were photographed purposefully wading through wet sand and battering surf to scoop up anything they thought held value from the sunken ship.

During World War II, many West Coast resorts were requisitioned by the U.S. government for use as housing and hospitals. The Del, already housing many pilots training at nearby North Island Naval Air Station was never commandeered. The hotel manager convinced the Navy to abstain from taking over the hotel as it was already hosting families of service members going into harm’s way.

The hotel was designated as a wartime casualty station and later began a “Victory Garden Program” for the war effort planting vegetables, fruits and herbs to help reduce demand on the public food supply.

Throughout the years and even during tough financial times, The Del managed to continually upgrade its facilities and add cottages, rooms and villas on the property, while always retaining its charming Victorian character.

The magnificent beach resort has been grandly celebrating Christmas for 130 years with class and style. In 1904, the hotel introduced the world’s first electronically lit, outdoor living Christmas tree. The mighty conifer was 50-feet tall with 250 colored lights. Lighted lanterns also hung from its aromatic boughs.

Just strolling through The Del of the 21st century is an enchanting experience and a travel back in time. And there’s not a more beautiful time of year to drink in all her history and magnificent splendor than during the Christmas holidays when she is decked out to the nines.

Holidays at the Del this year are celebrating with the theme of “winter of whimsy, wishes and wonder.” Even the 21-foot inverted lobby tree decks the hall with fun and magical whimsy. Though there’s mixed opinion on what some visitors and locals see as a trendy millennial move, the inverted tree actually has its roots in the 7th century.

It’s widely believed that St. Boniface, an English Benedictine monk traveled to Germany to convert pagans and the triangular shaped tree was a way to introduce the Holy Trinity.

Others surmise the upside-down tree had a more practical meaning in the family home. Ornaments could be kept away from the hands of young children. Decorations made with cookies, wafers or berries would be out of reach of critters or pets.

Whatever the meaning, The Del’s two-story lobby tree has always been a highlight of the resort. Adorned with hundreds of twinkling lights and colorful ornaments, it’s always a highly-anticipated merry and bright tradition.

Thousands of glimmering white lights likewise cover the iconic red turrets of the main exterior building. Windsor Lawn is transformed into a spectacular outdoor ice rink providing an unforgettable “skating by the sea” experience. Skaters young and old with smiling faces glide to holiday music underneath swaying palms in a truly magical setting.

As one local resident said “Christmas without The Del isn’t Christmas.”

Today, old portraits of presidents, foreign dignitaries and stars still line the walls of its corridors and the Del continues to attract admiring guests—and always will.

This classy historic beachfront hotel has never forgotten its history. She is one of the grand old resorts of yesteryear, a not-to-be-missed American treasure with a storybook past.

If You Go:

The Hotel del Coronado is located just across the bay from downtown San Diego and only a 15-minute drive from the San Diego International Airport.

Address:
Hotel del Coronado
1500 Orange Ave.
Coronado, CA 92118

About the author:
Noreen Kompanik is a published freelance travel writer and photographer based in San Diego, California. She is a member of the ITWA and IFWTWA and shares many of her adventures, stories and photos on her website www.whatsinyoursuitcase.net and What’s In Your Suitcase? Facebook site.

All photos by Noreen Kompanik.

San Diego, California

by Troy Herrick

As you walk from the paved trolley stop into arid, sandy “Old Town” San Diego isn’t just a change of terrain, it‘s a step across the sands of time into the early 19th century when the settlement was in transition from Mexican pueblo to American frontier town.

Get your bearings at the Interpretive Center inside the McCoy House just inside the park entrance. This reconstructed wooden structure, circa 1869, exhibits the local history. Displays outline the arrival of the Spanish in 1769, the construction of the Presidio (a Spanish fort) along with Mission San Diego de Alcala and the subsequent Christianization of the local Kumeyaay Indians. Exhibits also present Mexico’s independence from Spain in 1821 and the Mexican-American War in 1846. This war forced the sale of California to the United States followed by rapid settlement and Americanization.

Complete your orientation by reviewing the scale model of the old town, circa 1872, inside the Rose-Robinson House Visitor Center then exit to the Plaza de Las Armas.

Those who have traveled throughout Latin America will notice something unusual about this Plaza de Las Armas – there is no Catholic church. Until 1868 when the Catholic Church was built, the padre said mass inside La Casa de Estudillo just across the plaza. The cupola and bell atop this house provides the only hint to this activity.

Built in 1827, La Casa de Estudillo depicts the lifestyle of a wealthy family of the period. Entering the hacienda from the plaza, you find the chapel and priest’s room to the immediate left just off the interior veranda. The dimly lit chapel houses an altar and a cabinet for storing a bible. The priest’s quarters contain a cot, piano and vestments.

All rooms inside the hacienda feature dark, heavy wooden beamed ceilings and sienna-colored clay tile floors. The dining table exudes power and authority; the central chair is more elaborate than the others. On the wall behind this chair you find a portrait of a Spanish Army Officer ready to size up the dinner guests. Heavy wooden dressers, linens, silverware, wash basins and a spinning wheel are prominently displayed.

When I visited in October, the family room was decorated to celebrate the Mexican Day of the Dead (Dia de Los Muertos) which honors deceased relatives and friends. This event coincides with Halloween and the Catholic All-Saints Day. Typically the family sets up an altar with photos of deceased loved-ones surrounded by vessels for offerings like wine, salt, bread etc. Small skulls made from sugar are also displayed. Items of clothing may also be laid out in front of the altar. Furthermore, life-sized skeletons are seen as humorous so it came as no surprise to be greeted by one dressed as a vaquero (Mexican cowboy). Visitors should also note that there are no closets in which to keep this family’s skeleton when it is not in use.

This house is one of three adobe brick homes in the old town. Adobe bricks are made from straw, sand, mud and manure. Wealthy families whitewashed the exterior adobe walls with a mixture of crushed seashells and lye. Less affluent families left the exterior in its natural brown state. All families, independent of social class, whitewashed the interior adobe walls as means of keeping the home cool during the hot weather.

A short distance away at La Casa de Machado y Stewart, you find that the ceilings are constructed from cane or bamboo branches. The family table is also more basic than the previous one. Inside the main room, visitors find the family skeleton standing next to the altar, dressed as a woman.

Meals were prepared on the veranda at the back of the house. This area included a cooking area (ornea) apart from the house and shaded with its own roof (romada) just in case a fire broke out. The back yard also features a dome-shaped brick oven known as an “orno”. The orno is a Moorish design dating to the time when the Muslims controlled Spain.

Enjoy a leisurely stroll around the town to discover a number of other homes and businesses, each with its own story. The Machado y Silvas house, circa the 1840s, has been divided into a restaurant and a gambling den. In the latter you can learn a 19th century game known as “lucky seven”. A short distance away, you also find a cigar and tobacco shop once owned by two enterprising French Canadians named Racine and Laramie.

At this point you have likely earned some refreshments. The Casa de Reyes Restaurant has an outdoor patio where you can enjoy a frozen lime Margarita or a cold cerveza while being surrounded by vibrant colors and lively Mexican music.

Pry yourself away from the fiesta-like atmosphere near the patio, and walk along the Old Presidio Historic Trail to the site of the first Spanish mission in California at the top of lush Presidio Hill. Here you find a 20-foot cross constructed of brown bricks marking the site. This mission was destroyed in a Kumeyaay revolt and re-established at its present location approximately 5 miles away. The mission priests are commemorated by the statue of “the Padre” near the cross.

A short distance away, the Serra Museum honors Father Junipero Serra, the founder of the California Mission system. Terracotta tiles adorn this whitewashed adobe structure housing Indian, Spanish and Mexican belongings, cannons, cookware and paintings. Padre Serra’s journey throughout California is also outlined. Serra was a Franciscan and therefore took a vow of poverty. You can see his Spartan bedroom at the Mission San Diego de Alcala.

At the end of the day, enjoy a reasonably-priced Mexican dinner at the Casa Guadalajara Restaurant. You’ll know you are in the right place when you see staff making tortillas just inside the front entrance. I recommend the seafood chimichanga. After your meal, step back across the sands of time to the trolley stop and leave behind an age when life was much simpler.

Private San Diego Brewery Tour

If You Go:

• Admission to Old Town State Historic Park is free. Take the trolley (Blue Line or Green Line) to Old Town Station. Trolley information is available at www.sdmts.com
• Find a map of Old Town San Diego at www.oldtownsandiegoguide.com
• The Rose-Robinson House is located at 4002 Wallace St. You can pick up a free walking tour map of Old Town San Diego here and arrange a free one-hour tour from a guide in period costume.
• The Old Presidio Historic Trail is found at the intersection of Mason Street and Juan Street. Follow the signs to the top of the hill.
• The Serra Museum is located at 2727 Presidio Dr. Admission was $5 at the time of my visit.
• The Casa Guadalajara Restaurant is located at 4105 Taylor St. www.bazaardelmundo.com
• The present-day Mission San Diego de Alcala is located at 10818 San Diego Mission Rd. Ride the trolley (Green Line) to Mission San Diego Station. Walk north on Rancho Mission and then turn right on San Diego Mission Road. The mission is approximately 500 yards on your left. Admission at the time of my visit was $3 per person. www.missionsandiego.com

About the author:
Troy Herrick, a freelance travel writer, has traveled extensively in North America, the Caribbean, Europe and parts of South America. His articles have appeared in Live Life Travel, International Living, Offbeat Travel and Travels Thru History Magazines. He also penned the travel planning e-book entitled ”Turn Your Dream Vacation into Reality: A Game Plan for Seeing the World the Way You Want to See It” – www.thebudgettravelstore.com/page/76972202 based on his own travel experiences over the years. Plan your vacation at his www.thebudgettravelstore.com and his www.plan-a-dream-trip.com sites.

Photo credits:
First Mission San Diego by Bernard Gagnon / CC BY-SA
All other photos by Diane Gagnon. A freelance photographer, she has traveled extensively in North America, the Caribbean, Europe and parts of South America. Her photographs have accompanied Troy Herrick’s articles in Live Life Travel, Offbeat Travel and Travels Thru History Magazines.