If you happen to glimpse two birds soaring in the sky above Coronado, take a closer look. You might have spotted Crossing Paths, a tall, shining kinetic sculpture!
This beautiful public art can be found between the Hotel del Coronado and the Coronado Shores condominium buildings, standing next to the beachside boardwalk.
Crossing Paths was created by artist Amos Robinson and is now part of the City of Coronado Public Art Collection. It was installed in 2022.
The wind freely turns the arms of the sculpture, redirecting the flight of two silvery birds.
To discover more sculptures around San Diego by artist Amos Robinson, click here and here and here and here!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
People are already getting ready for the Holiday Season in Coronado! And it’s still over a week until Thanksgiving!
Today I enjoyed a long leisurely walk from the Ferry Landing down Orange Avenue to the Hotel del Coronado and beyond.
What’s the first thing I saw? Red bows, wreaths, candy cane signs, festive banners, and a Christmas tree at the Coronado Ferry Landing!
Proceeding down Orange Avenue, I spied more holiday things (often in shop windows)…
The big landmark Coronado Rotary Club Christmas Tree is already strung with colorful lights!
Continuing my walk…
When I arrived at the beach near the Hotel del Coronado, I found workers setting up The Del’s holiday Beachside Igloos!
The magic of Oz is coming to The Del from November 21, 2025 to January 4, 2026!
(As you might know, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum has deep ties to the Hotel del Coronado. The beach resort’s grand Victorian architecture is said to be his inspiration for the Emerald City.)
That magic will include ice skating!
The holidays are nearly here in Coronado!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Would you like to see an outstanding exhibition concerning the Hotel del Coronado?
The Jewel in Coronado’s Crown: Over a Century of Historic Preservation at the Hotel del Coronado can now be enjoyed at the Coronado Historical Association museum.
Numerous displays in the free museum show how the iconic Del was built in the late 1800s and has periodically evolved and expanded. Through old photographs and descriptions, visitors can observe how, over the past 137 years, preservation of the hotel’s unique heritage and architecture have remained a priority.
If you enjoy learning about the history of San Diego and Coronado, this exhibition is a must see.
A little of what you’ll find, including a detailed timeline…
The Victorian beach resort was designed by architect James W. Reid and debuted as one of the largest wooden buildings in the world. With 399 rooms, it was the world’s largest hotel resort. The Del made history as the first hotel to have electric lighting.
The charming architecture’s complexity and asymmetry help make the Hotel del Coronado one of California’s most recognizable and cherished landmarks.
Luxury and elegance. Since 1888, presidents, world leaders and celebrities have enjoyed staying at the Del, along with tourists vacationing by the beach in our sunny, temperate Southern California climate.
Postcards, menus and more ephemera are displayed.
Many historical photographs in the exhibit document how the hotel has changed and expanded as time rolls on.
The beautiful Coronation Window was finally moved to a prominent position viewable from both inside and outside the hotel.
This exquisite fresco was revealed by workers removing a low ceiling in the Ocean Ballroom.
A recent lobby renovation has made the Victorian hotel’s interior entrance lighter and even more attractive.
In San Diego? Enjoy a walk through and around the Hotel del Coronado, and experience its magnificence yourself!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Dozens of amazing Christmas ornaments that were created through the years for the Hotel del Coronado are now on display in the hotel’s Ice House Museum!
Beginning in 1993, the Hotel del Coronado has offered an Annual Collector’s Ornament with a holiday theme. Most of the ornaments contain a sparkling image of Coronado’s historic Victorian beach resort.
Visitors to the hotel’s Ice House Museum can now peer into several display cases and see the jewel-like beauty of these ornaments!
I was pleasantly surprised to discover the seasonal exhibit yesterday. I took a few photographs.
(The following photo is of a 2007 Commemorative Set containing interpretations of past ornaments…)
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Several days until Christmas, and the holiday spirit is on full display in Coronado!
Yesterday I took the ferry from downtown San Diego to the Coronado Ferry Landing. I walked down Coronado’s central Orange Avenue, circled the world-famous Hotel del Coronado, then turned back east along the opposite sidewalk.
Look at all the festive holiday sights!
The Coronado Ferry Landing is decorated for the holidays in 2024.Tall nutcrackers on either side of the front door of Cocina 35.Santa Claus stands beside a Christmas tree at the Coronado Ferry Landing.A fun holiday display in a front yard on Orange Avenue.A beautiful Christmas tree inside the Coronado Public Library.The classic movie Christmas Vacation playing at Coronado’s historic Village Theatre.Beautiful Christmas theme plates in a shop window.A festive wreath in a shop door.Poinsettias surround the Coronado Rotary Club Christmas Tree.The enormous Coronado Rotary Club Christmas Tree rises beside Orange Avenue.A small Christmas tree and decorations inside the Coronado Historical Association museum.Historical museum display includes this Merry Christmas menu from the Hotel del Coronado in 1974.Hotel del Coronado Holidays book displayed at the Coronado Historical Association museum.Back out on the sidewalk, I meet a giant blue M&M candy in a Santa hat!Lamb’s Players Theatre is now showing Respectfully Christmas, A Musical Celebration.Frosty the Snowman and friend inside a shop window.The big red poinsettia Christmas tree outside the Hotel del Coronado.Beachside Igloos at the Hotel del Coronado.A Christmas tree at the Hotel del Coronado’s outdoor ice rink.Skating By The Sea at the Hotel del Coronado.A wreath on the historic Power Plant door at the Hotel del Coronado.Holiday lights and sights greet those arriving at the Hotel del Coronado.Fun wreath contains sea shells and a bit of Hollywood. Some Like It Hot was filmed at the Hotel del Coronado.a Christmas tree outside the hotel’s lobby entrance.The gorgeous Christmas tree in the lobby of the historic Hotel del Coronado.Back out on the Orange Avenue sidewalk, now starting back toward the ferry landing, I encounter a smiling Old Town Trolley Tours guide!Elvis in front of MooTime Creamery is sporting a Santa hat, too!Can Santa sit on this Christmas cow?No, I see Santa Claus has already found a nice seat in front of Wag’n Tails!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
The winter solstice occurred early this morning. The days will now begin to grow longer. Christmas is nearly here.
On the beach by the Hotel del Coronado, Bill Pavlacka, The Sandcastle Man, created a unique sand sculpture today that pays tribute to the 2024 winter solstice!
His fun sand sculpture, and another that rises a few steps away, also celebrate the holiday season! Season’s Greetings!
This is the 17th year that The Sandcastle Man has been making sand sculptures in Coronado. Whenever I walk along the ocean side of the Del, I always look for his latest creation!
Some photographs…
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
This holiday season, the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park features beautiful Christmas trees in its spacious atrium. Not only has the 15 feet high Christmas tree made of blooming red poinsettias returned, but several smaller green trees twinkle nearby.
The more traditional Christmas trees were decorated by the San Diego Floral Association and are an extension of their Festival of Trees, a favorite December Nights attraction inside Room 101 at the Casa del Prado.
One of these trees I really like. It’s filled with old images from San Diego history!
I took a few photographs…
Kate Sessions’ Christmas Tree of 1915.Panama California Exposition San Diego, California 1915.Streetscape in front of the Hotel Del Coronado.Dearest Kate, Here is a picture of your “Blank Canvas.” Your plants are growing beautifully. Your friend, Anna Marston. (Photo of the Marston House.)Botanical Building in Balboa Park.
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
What’s that tall brick smokestack near the world-famous Hotel del Coronado?
It’s the most noticeable part of a historic industrial complex!
I walked around the Hotel Del’s old laundry building, ice house and power plant last month during the San Diego Architectural Foundation Open House event. I discovered several plaques that provide information about these three buildings, which, clustered south of the hotel lobby entrance, are called the industrial complex.
The brick building shown below once provided the Hotel del Coronado’s laundry service. It’s now home to The Laundry Pub!
Laundry, established 1919.
The original hotel laundry opened on the second floor of the Power Plant in January 1888. The Laundry occupied the majority of the second floor and employed 20 women. In 1919 this brick structure was built to house the laundry operation, which had expanded to serve all of Coronado Island with a fleet of five laundry trucks and a branch location on Orange Avenue. Laundry services were provided here for the hotel until 2018.
The next photo is through the window of The Laundry Pub, which features an 1880s-era bar and the laundry’s early conveyor system above restored wood floors.
North of the brick laundry building is the hotel’s old ice house.
The ice house is now home to the fascinating Ice House Museum of the Hotel del Coronado, where you can view historical displays and artifacts, plus photographs of the many celebrities, movie stars and United States Presidents who’ve visited the Victorian resort over the years. I blogged about the museum two years ago here.
In the rear of the ice house is this plaque…
Ice House, established 1889.
Ice was originally produced with a small machine inside the Power Plant until this masonry structure was built to house a new 10-ton De Coppet ice machine. Renowned for excellent tasting ice, the De Coppet system was cutting edge technology at the time and allowed The Del to manufacture and supply ice throughout Southern California. In 1909, the building was converted into a storeroom with later uses including an upholstery shop and offices.
Lastly, north of the ice house is the old power plant with its tall, striped smokestack.
Power Plant, established 1887.
Built in 1887 to house the incandescent electric light plant, laundry, and engine house, the Power Plant supplied electricity to all of Coronado Island until service was established with SDG&E in 1922. The Power Plant housed five Mather dynamos, two Hazelton boilers, and heavy pumping and heating machinery. To this day, a utility tunnel connects the Power Plant to the historic hotel.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!
Reclaiming wood from demolished structures or trees whose life had ended, then transforming the once-living wood into furniture, art and other uniquely beautiful products, is inspired. That’s what Old Fashioned Lumber in Barrio Logan does!
I visited Old Fashioned Lumber a couple weekends ago during the San Diego Architectural Foundation Open House event. The public was allowed to peek into the inner workings of the place. These photographs represent much of what I saw.
Old Fashioned Lumber sells their handcrafted furniture and other artistic objects directly to the public. They also work with hotels, restaurants, and businesses of all types, producing conference tables, benches, bars–you name it!
They even created a set of furniture out of reclaimed avocado wood for the studio of San Diego music legend Jason Mraz!
During my visit I was shown a big heap of wood salvaged during the Hotel del Coronado renovation. If you’d like to have them design something with this historic Hotel Del wood, make a request! I also noted they have wood reclaimed from the 1887 Grand Pacific Hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter!
Converting used wood that might have been tossed into a landfill into something completely new is also environmentally friendly. Brilliant!
Learn more about Old Fashioned Lumber and its founders by clicking here.
The following stack of wood is from the Hotel del Coronado…
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!
Those who approach the Hotel del Coronado from the south will see a handsome yellow building that stands beside Orange Avenue. The old building is called The Oxford, and it was built in 1887 near the ferry landing on the other side of Coronado!
The Oxford was Coronado’s first hotel. In 1911 the building was relocated a couple blocks east of the Hotel del Coronado, where the post office is today. It was used to provide housing for the hotel’s female employees.
In 1983 the building was saved from demolition and in 1986 it was moved again to this spot on the hotel property. In 2021 it was carefully restored. The Oxford today is home to the Hotel del Coronado administrative offices.
An old photo on display in the hotel’s Ice House Museum shows the building being moved in 1986. The large structure was temporarily divided into two halves, and obstructions had to be removed from the streets during its move!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!
Cool San Diego Sights! 