Tag: hotel del coronado

Old-fashioned carnival at Hotel del Coronado!

An extraordinary event was enjoyed by a good crowd today at the Hotel del Coronado! The Seaside Victorian Carnival entertained hotel guests and the public with old-fashioned carnival games, food, jugglers, magicians, plate spinning, aerial silks, tightrope and other circus acts!

Tents on the beach featured nostalgic games like ring toss and penny pitch. Kids were having a blast trying to win a prize. Funds raised benefited a variety of charitable organizations in Coronado.

Several sand sculptures could also be enjoyed. And flying high above the sand were students from San Diego State University. Check out my photos of their amazing feats!

On the boardwalk, people lined up for caramel apples, chocolate kettle corn, giant pretzels and other yummy treats!

The main attraction was a slate of circus acts. I stayed awhile, watched several jugglers (one on stilts), an amazing chair stacker/balancer/juggler, and an aerialist smiling and spinning above a rapt audience!

Another perfect day at Coronado’s world-famous Victorian beach resort!

…

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)!

A walk past the Baby Del in Coronado.

If you walk along the beach in Coronado, you might notice a gorgeous old Victorian house that resembles a small version of the famous Hotel del Coronado. It stands near the corner of Isabella Avenue and Ocean Boulevard. The Livingston House, built in 1887, is appropriately known as the Baby Del!

The “Baby Del” was originally located in Sherman Heights at 24th and J Streets. It was the home of Mrs. Harriett Livingston. It is said many of the workers who built the house would also work building the fantastic Hotel del Coronado one year later.

In 1983 the Livingston House was moved by barge to Coronado by architect Christopher Mortenson, who was instrumental in the Gaslamp Quarter’s renewal. The property was sold not long ago for nearly 16 million dollars.

The amazing house is recognized as San Diego Historical Landmark No. 58. Read more about the Baby Del at this website.

…

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 Twitter!

Presidential visit exhibit at Hotel Del’s museum.

Last February a new exhibit was added to the Hotel del Coronado’s museum, which is located in the Victorian resort’s old ice house. Several display cases contain historical photographs and ephemera recalling visits to the Hotel del Coronado by United States Presidents.

How many Presidents? Count them. Benjamin Harrison, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

In addition to fancy printed invitations and menus, you’ll see that one state dinner in the Hotel Del’s famous Crown Room required 450 pounds of Totuava Sea Bass, 1000 pounds of Nebraska Prime Beef, 300 pounds of California Roasted Potatoes, 300 pounds of Colossal Asparagus, 1400 heads of Kentucky Lime stone [sic] Lettuce, 1400 Hearts of Artichoke…20 cases of Louis Martini Cabernet Sauvignon 1966…etc…

That must have been quite a feast!

I first visited the Hotel del Coronado’s fascinating museum a year ago and posted a blog about it here.

…

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 Twitter!

Beautiful tile murals at Vons in Coronado.

I love these three tile mosaic murals decorating the front of Vons in Coronado! You can spot them as you head down Orange Avenue.

I believe this artwork appeared in conjunction with the recent Vons remodel. The grocery store expanded into the old Cora Mart building space next door.

Several colorful scenes include an abstract Hotel del Coronado and kites in the blue sky, presumably pulling unseen kiteboarders across the ocean.

Who out there knows more about these murals?

…

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 Twitter!

Dragon Tree recalls movie at Hotel del Coronado.

Not far from the front entrance to the Hotel del Coronado grows a tree you might have seen in a classic movie.

It’s the Dragon Tree, which appears briefly in the 1958 comedy Some Like it Hot, starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon.

Here’s a page on the Hotel Del’s website about the filming of Some Like it Hot. In the movie the world-famous Victorian beach resort is called the Seminole Ritz.

When I was walking around the Hotel del Coronado late last month, I noticed the unusual Dragon Tree and then a nearby plaque…

…

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 Twitter!

Art by the Numbers in beautiful Coronado!

When I stepped into the Coronado Community Center yesterday, I was pleased to encounter beautiful works of art. The first that I’ll share is titled 92118 – Art by the Numbers.

The community’s five digit zip code is painted on five wood boards in classic postcard fashion, with iconic Coronado sights inside each number, and the words: Somewhere over the Rainbow…Dreams really do come true!

Why over the rainbow? During many winters The Wonderful Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum rented a Coronado house where he wrote several Oz novels. His Emerald City, it is said, was inspired by the architecture of the Hotel del Coronado.

As the artwork’s plaque explains, 92118 – Art by the Numbers was a project involving the Coronado High School Visual Arts Department. The colorful panels were completed by members of the public during Coronado’s big 92118 Day Celebration.

The iconic Hotel del Coronado.

Sailboats on the water, and the long, curving Coronado Bridge across San Diego Bay.

…

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!

It’s easy to explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag. There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Holiday decorations outside Hotel del Coronado.

As one might expect, beautiful holiday decorations surround the elegant Hotel del Coronado this year. The world-famous Victorian beach resort always seems to go all out to make guests and more casual visitors like me feel special.

Let’s walk around the Hotel Del and look at Christmas trees, wreaths, festive lights, the seasonal ice rink, and even two sand sculptures on the nearby beach!

(The only imperfection I observed is a few of the poinsettias in the next photo had been knocked or blown over.)

…

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!

It’s easy to explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag. There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Coronado’s Spreckels Mansion: then and now.

John D. Spreckels and his family owned the Hotel del Coronado during the first half of the 20th century.

In 1906 Spreckels began construction of a palatial home in Coronado. His mansion would stand at 1630 Glorietta Boulevard, across from his extraordinarily elegant Hotel del Coronado.

The Italian Renaissance style Spreckels Mansion, designed by renowned architect Harrison Albright (who also designed the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park), would be completed in 1908.

The above photograph was taken in 1915. The description of this public domain photo on Wikimedia Commons is: Promotional image of John D. Spreckels’ home on Coronado for marketing the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park, San Diego, California.

If the building appears familiar, that’s because much of it was incorporated into today’s Glorietta Bay Inn…

Coronado Historical Landmark – J.D. Spreckels House – 1908. Dedicated 1977 Coronado Historical Association.

When I visited Coronado a couple months ago, the friendly Glorietta Bay Inn receptionists behind the front counter allowed me to take a few interior photos. What I found most interesting was one framed image on a wall.

The following is described as: a photograph of an original 1911 postcard of the Spreckels home, just after completion and before the addition of the music room in 1913…

Here are two more outside photos taken by my camera for comparison…

To learn more about John D. Spreckels, one of early San Diego’s most influential entrepreneurs, developers and philanthropists, read his Wikipedia article here.

You’ll learn his Coronado mansion included six bedrooms, three baths, a parlor, dining room and library at the cost of $35,000. At that time, Spreckels’ Mansion featured a brass cage elevator, a marble staircase with leather-padded handrails, skylights, marble floors and some of the Island’s most spectacular gardens. The home was built with reinforced steel and concrete, an earthquake precaution Spreckels insisted upon after living through the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Spreckels lived in the Glorietta Boulevard mansion until his death in 1926.

…

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Hotel del Coronado’s Ice House Museum.

Last summer a new museum opened at the world-famous Hotel del Coronado.

Located in the hotel’s historic ice house, between the old power plant and laundry building, the Ice House Museum tells the story of the world-famous Victorian beach resort.

Fascinating displays filling several walls pay tribute to those who’ve worked at the Hotel del Coronado over the decades, and the numerous celebrities who’ve visited.

I headed to the museum a couple weekends ago to check it out!

It was an overcast day–not the ideal weather for sunbathing on the nearby beach–so quite a few hotel guests were enjoying this free museum, too!

The grand entrance to the iconic Hotel del Coronado can be viewed north of the Ice House Museum. The late 19th century beach resort is in the Queen Anne architectural style.
The old ice house was built for hotel founders Babcock and Story’s Coronado Ice Company. The enterprise provided ice to the entire island. The ice house now contains a fascinating historical museum.
Prominent display inside the museum shows timeline of the Hotel del Coronado’s history. Elisha Babcock, Jr. and Hampton L. Story, founders of the Coronado Beach Company and developers of Coronado, built the hotel in 1888. The hotel was purchased by San Diego entrepreneur John D. Spreckels about a year later.
One wall features photos of many celebrities who’ve stayed at the famous hotel.
Legendary guests are remembered. Names I saw include American presidents Harrison, Taft, Carter, Reagan, Clinton and Bush. Sports and entertainment celebrities include Frank Sinatra, Walt Disney, Carol Burnett, Cary Grant, Milton Berle, John Wayne, Peter O’Toole, Esther Williams, Babe Ruth, Kirk Douglas, Charlie Chaplin, Mickey Rooney, Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe…
Artifacts recall unique aspects of the hotel’s rich history.
The beach near the hotel once featured an ostrich farm! A year before the Hotel del Coronado opened, fourteen ostriches were on permanent exhibition near Tenth and D Streets. In 1905, the greatly expanded ostrich farm moved to Mission Cliffs.
Six copies of this Orientalist style painting, titled On the March, by Germain artist Adolf Schreyer, were ordered in 1905 to decorate the elegant hotel’s walls.
Commemorative dinnerware. Bone china with a gold-embossed rim made for the Hotel del Coronado’s centennial celebration in 1988.
Some of the faces of dedicated hotel employees over the decades. Heart of the House. People who deliver the Del experience.
Just south of the Ice House Museum is the Hotel del Coronado Laundry building.
One walking path, leading back to the Hotel del Coronado’s main entrance, passes near the old power plant, with its prominent smokestack.

…

This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!

Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts.  If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!

To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

A special song celebrates beautiful Coronado.

There’s a special, very beautifully written song that celebrates Coronado. The song, which has become beloved by many over the years, was written by composer and Coronado resident Joan Brown Goldberg, who passed away in early 2020.

I learned about The Coronado Song yesterday in Encinitas of all places. I was outside the old 19th century schoolhouse, lingering after a historical walking tour of Encinitas, when I approached a pianist who was playing among nearby vendors at a small crafts event.

The musician, whom you can see in my photos, is Famous Frank. He told me about Joan Brown Goldberg and how he’d played The Coronado Song during a music festival at the Emerald C Gallery a couple years ago. He described The Coronado Song as the unofficial theme song of Coronado.

I did a little searching, and discovered here that “…For a time the song with piano accompaniment was sold around town and at the Hotel del Coronado.”

I also found here that Joan Brown Goldberg “…was a talented composer, writing over 40 songs. Her most recognized work was ‘The Coronado Song,’ which won several international contests. The song was played before the annual Coronado July 4th Parade at the grandstand for 20 years.”

You can see some of the sheet music here.

I love the poetry and feeling in her lyrics. I’ve transcribed the words for the enjoyment of all.

THE CORONADO SONG

Music and Lyrics by Joan Brown Goldberg

Coronado, where the sun shines
Where the grand Hotel meets the sea
And the crashing waves
Will set you ablaze
And launch you into a dream.

Coronado, little island,
With skies as blue as can be
I long to walk on your tanned
California sand
And sit by your sparkling sea.

I miss your cold windy days
That grey winter haze
And fog horns blowin’ all night

Your summer perfume
Of jasmine in bloom
Your seaside seagulls in flight.

Coronado, on a sea breeze,
You know you’re haunting me so.
You are the Queen of the Coast
You’re the mariner’s host
And the most lovely Lady I know!

…

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!