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Rudy Flores · (619) 392-6714 · Personal Real Estate Liaison, Realtor® · CalDRE #02257808 · Responsible Broker CalDRE #01481919
A timeline of how a sandy peninsula became a Victorian resort, the birthplace of naval aviation and one of California's best-loved small towns.
Coronado's story is packed into a place you can bike across in minutes. Scroll through the timeline to see how the Hotel del, the Navy, the ferry and the bridge shaped the island you can visit and live in today.
Facts here come from public sources and local histories. For more, visit the Coronado Historical Association and the Coronado Museum of History and Art.
The Coronado peninsula lies within the traditional homeland of the Kumeyaay, who lived along San Diego Bay and the coast for thousands of years.
Spanish explorer Sebastian Vizcaino names the islands off the coast Los Coronados. The name later comes to the peninsula.
In November, five investors purchase Coronado and North Island, about 4,000 acres, for $110,000, with a vision of a seaside resort.
Coronado's first post office opens in February. In March, construction begins on a grand hotel on a sandspit once home to jackrabbits and coyotes.
On February 19 the Hotel del opens with 399 rooms, then the largest resort hotel in the world. Its Victorian silhouette and red conical roof are still the island's signature.
The community incorporates as a town on December 11.
John D. Spreckels creates Tent City south of the hotel, an affordable seaside vacation village that becomes a summer tradition.
Aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss founds the first flying school in the United States on the island's north end, the beginning of what becomes Naval Air Station North Island.
Congress appropriates the land and commissions two airfields on North Island's sandy flats.
On May 10, Charles Lindbergh departs in the Spirit of St. Louis on the first leg toward New York and his famous Atlantic crossing.
The Army departs and the Navy expands to cover the entire island.
Streetcars that had run on Orange Avenue since the 1910s are retired.
During World War II the channel between North and South Coronado is filled, joining the land into one island.
The hotel is featured in the comedy Some Like It Hot, filmed in 1958 and released in 1959.
On August 15, North Island is officially recognized as the Birthplace of Naval Aviation.
The ferry makes its last run on August 2, and the next day the 2.1-mile San Diego-Coronado Bridge opens to traffic, an architectural landmark that connects the island to downtown.
The hotel is added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977.
On June 20 a passenger ferry resumes service to downtown after 17 years, and the Ferry Landing area grows into a waterfront marketplace.
Tolls on the Coronado Bridge come to an end on June 27, making the trip to the island free.
The Village's compact street grid, the Victorian and bungalow architecture, the naval presence and the walkable waterfront all trace back to these chapters. Rudy can show you how each part of the island carries its own piece of the story.
Historical facts come from public sources and local histories and may be simplified. Rudy is not a historian, so for deeper research visit your local historical society.