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1 City of Coronado
Art Outside the Box – Take 3!
Recommended Wrap Images and Narratives
Third Street & Orange Avenue
Naval Air Station North Island (NASNI) was established in 1917, the same year the U.S. joined World War I. Today, it ranks as the second-largest naval base in the U.S., after Norfolk, VA. The first U.S. aircraft carrier, USS Langley, was commissioned in 1920, beginning the long history of carrier-based aviation that distinguishes North Island.
Today, NASNI is known for flying helicopters. The base expanded considerably during WWII, when the navy filled in the Spanish Bight separating it from South Island. Until 1969, when the San Diego-Coronado Bridge opened, access to North Island from the mainland was predominantly by boat across the bay. Today the intersections of Third and Fourth at Orange are the pathways between the bridge and the naval base. ● 1900.58.02-05 A Curtiss HS-2 single-engine flying boat provides seating for a number of navy personnel. N.d. Coronado Historical Association Collection.
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2 ● 1900.58.06-56 A Navy helicopter from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron Three is seen above the Coronado Bridge. 1976. Coronado Historical Association Collection.
Fourth Street & Orange Avenue
A Coronado institution for decades, Miss Bunny’s pre-school at 411 Orange was attended by multitudes of Coronado children. Miss Bunny (MacKenzie) also founded the Coronado Historical Association. Her civic work educating young children and preserving history have made her a truly noteworthy Coronadan. ● 1900.37.03-18 Miss Bunny’s class taking a ride on the ferry during its last day in service. August 1, 1969. Coronado Historic Association Collection. ● 1900.80.01-14 The trolley ran down the center of Orange Avenue from the ferry landing to Tent City, a significant part of island transport in the decades before the bridge was built. n.d. Coronado Historic Association Collection.
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3 Sixth Street & Orange Avenue
Sixth and Orange is a hub in Coronado, boasting Spreckels Park and the library, as well as the nearby fire station and high school. The original library was opened in 1890 and was located close to the Hotel Del Coronado. The library we know today was opened in 1909 and is located in what was then called West Plaza. Behind the library sits Coronado High School. Coronado earliest schoolhouse dates back to 1887, but the high school was permanently established in facilities with the grammar school, collectively called the Coronado School, in 1913. The grammar school was later renamed Central Elementary School. The upper grades remained at the Coronado School until a separate school building was constructed in 1923 as an independent high school. That building was renovated in 1961, and again in 2006.
Spreckels Park was originally called East Plaza. Elisha Babcock commissioned an adobe house there in 1887-88 to be used as a community building. The building, known as the Old Adobe, included roof tiles that were sourced from the old Mission Viejo and the mission at San Juan Capistrano. The building was used for a variety of City uses, Attachment 3
4 but one special event included when the Old Adobe housed Charles R. Orcutt’s collection of cacti. The collection, claimed to be the second largest cactus collection in the United States with over 500 specimens, was gathered by the naturalist from across Southern California and Baja California. Orcutt was later a founding member of San Diego’s Natural History Museum. The Old Adobe was sadly demolished in 1915. ● 1900.31.01-07B Junior Traffic Patrol boy's party hosted in Spreckels Park. 1939.
Coronado Historical Association Collection.
● 2011.13.01-35 The East Plaza’s Old Adobe featured two-foot-thick walls, a beam ceiling, and a corner fireplace. n.d. Coronado Historical Association Collection. ● 1900.68.02-92 Coronado High School football team. 1923. Coronado Historical Association Collection
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5 Eighth Street & Orange Avenue
The Village Theater is a classic movie theater that opened in 1947 and still caters to a variety of island audiences. It has hosted the Coronado Island Film Festival since its inception in 2016. This intersection was also once home to the magnificent house of renowned opera singer Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1861–1936) at 800 Orange Avenue, now occupied by the Union Bank. The house had been built for the lawyer H.L.
Titus, a business associate of J.D. Spreckels. Across Orange Avenue from this house and the Village Theater was the Texaco gas station, another bygone facet of daily life in Coronado’s history.
● 1900.81.01-12 Israeli actress Ziva Rodann and Don Larson, the festival's manager in draw attention to the second annual film festival. 1962. Coronado Historical Association.
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6 Tenth Street & Orange Avenue
After Tenth Street, Orange takes a slight left turn to head south toward the Hotel del Coronado. This intersection holds noteworthy buildings and businesses, as well as Rotary Plaza. Rotary Plaza is home to Coronado’s iconic star pine tree, which was planted in 1936 by the Rotary Club of Coronado. The city started lighting the tree during the holidays in about 1938.
One of the most notable historic businesses in the area was The Free Brothers Market, which was started by Charles Free. Mr. Free, after returning from WWII service in Europe and internment as a Prisoner of War in Poland, started the company in the late 1940s. He and his brothers ran the market for 22 years on the site where the Chase Bank now stands.
Across the street, Clayton’s started in 1942 as Gerry’s Coffee Shop. In 1947, Gerry started keeping it open around the clock, which proved so popular that the name was Attachment 3
7 changed to 24 Hr. Coffee Shop. New owner Clayton Rice changed it to Clayton’s in 1978, as it remains today.
■ 1900.42.02-74 Free Bros. Market at the corner of Tenth and Isabella. c.1960. Coronado Historical Association Collection. ■ 2009.25.01-112A Clayton’s during its previous iteration as 24 Hr.
Coffee Shop. c. 1950. Coronado Historical Association Collection. ■ Star-Pine Rotary The Coronado Rotary Club’s Star Pine being transplanted from Emily T. Thompson’s yard on Glorietta Blvd.
Mrs. Thompson donated it to the city in memory of her late husband, Charles. 1936. Coronado Historical Association Collection.
Adella Avenue & Orange Avenue
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8 La Avenida Cafe was established in 1938 at 1301 Orange Avenue, displaying an emphasis on Spanish-Revival architecture and enriched with murals created by Ramos Martinez, a trailblazer of Mexican Modernism. The murals were threatened in the 1990s by potential redevelopment of the building. In response, the Coronado Historical Association successfully advocated to protect Martinez’s murals, and they were moved in 1995 to the wall at the checkout desk of the Coronado Public Library. La Avenida Cafe was also renowned for its “Jack’s Salad,” the chef’s take on the Caesar salad created by Caesar Cardini in Tijuana.
Across B Avenue, the pioneering photographer Lou Goodale Bigelow (1884-1968) set up shop in the Carlton Hotel in 1915. Ms. Bigelow was known for producing distinctive portraits and artistic studies for over 30 years, living behind her studio at the site. The Carlton Hotel was designed by renowned architect Irving Gill. The building was demolished in the 1980s and today the Bank of America occupies the site.
Across Orange Avenue, the graceful landmark Spreckels Building gently curves along the entire block. This impressive building was commissioned by Coronado businessman and philanthropist John D. Spreckels and built by Harrison Albright in 1917. The building has had many commercial and residential tenants over the years including a tearoom, vaudeville theatre, movie theater, barber shop, produce stand, department stores, office suites, and apartments. The original bank to occupy the corner space was the Bank of Coronado, which was founded by Spreckels himself.
● 1900.118.02-01 Marie Titus Adams and “Smokey” photographed by Lou Goodale Bigelow. C.1920s. Coronado Historical Association Collection. ● 1900.13.01-115 La Avenida Cafe in its heyday. N.d. Coronado Historical Association Collection.
● 2016.38.01-29 The long, curving Spreckels Building as the backdrop for the 4th of July parade. 1991. Coronado Historical Association Collection.
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9 Pomona Avenue & Orange Avenue
Outdoor activities and entertainment have dominated this area of Coronado since the creation of the Hotel del Coronado. The Boat House was a prototype for the construction of the hotel itself and served the hotel with sailboats for guests to use. In 1903, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography was established in the Boat House, where it operated for two years before moving north to La Jolla. The building has hosted several Coronado restaurants over the decades, notably the Chart House (1968–2001) and, now, the Bluewater Boathouse Seafood Grill.
The Japanese Tea Garden in Coronado was another attraction created by Spreckels to enhance the experiences of his hotel guests on the island. Close to the hotel, it was popular with guests and locals alike, until its demise in the late 1930s and ultimate redevelopment for houses and businesses.
As with other activities on the island, golf was connected early on with the Hotel Del as part of its promotion as a resort. The first course was laid out in 1897 close to its current incarnation. However, by 1900, a new, 18-hole course was created on the grounds of the country club and its racetrack, where it remained until that area was taken over for Attachment 3
10 postwar housing. By 1957, the golf course returned as a municipal course to the other side of the island, enlarged by filling in part of the bay. ● 1900.20.01-06 The Hotel del Coronado Boat House perched on the edge of Glorietta Bay. n.d. Coronado Historical Association Collection. ● 1900.82.148 The Japanese Tea Garden was created by J.D. Spreckels on the property behind his house, which is now the Glorietta Bay Inn. c. 1920s.
Coronado Historical Association Collection.
● 1900.41.01-01 A woman golfer swings at her tee at the Coronado Country Club. 1922. Coronado Historical Association Collection.
Avenida del Sol Avenue & Orange Avenue
Where Orange Avenue becomes the Silver Strand, the Hotel del Coronado sits with its restored original entry across from the 1970s’ Coronado Shores condominiums. Also at this juncture is the island’s first hotel, the Oxford, built in 1888 as the Circle Bar Hotel.
The Circle Bar Hotel was originally located at Orange Avenue and First Street.
Renamed the Oxford Hotel in 1911 the building was moved to Ynez Place, where it Attachment 3
11 subsequently operated for 50 years as a dormitory for Hotel Del employees. In 1983 it was moved again to its present location at the Hotel Del for restoration.
The Grande Dame Hotel del Coronado has drawn visitors to the special island of Coronado for over 130 years to enjoy both the hotel’s amenities and the exceptional island community.
● 1900.44.07-23 A woman in an early fashion shoot, titled a “Style Show” in the courtyard of the Hotel del Coronado. N.d. Coronado Historical Association Collection.
● 1900.44.07-16 A hotel guest at the Hotel del Coronado leans over the balustrade on the second-story verandah overlooking the hotel’s interior courtyard. N.d.
Coronado Historical Association Collection.
● 1900.11.01-88 Moving the Oxford Hotel to the grounds of the Hotel Del Coronado. 1983. Coronado Historical Association Collection.
Avenida del Sol and Silver Strand (Camouflage Small box) This box was one of the two new boxes added to Phase 3 due to a new signal installed at Avenida del Sol. The recommended box wrap is to camouflage the box which is in front of the entry sign of the Shores. Cultural Arts has used this technique along the Strand in Phase II to have boxes that blend nicely with the surroundings and since there is a large box nearby the Commission recommends camouflaging this box.
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12 Avenida de Las Arenas & Silver Strand
The Hotel del Coronado’s Tent City opened in 1900 as a less expensive alternative to the Del and quickly became a vibrant community of its own as an early “glamping” locale. Tent City had shops and restaurants and multiple activities including a children’s pool, a dance pavilion, a cold water plunge, an arcade, and a boardwalk. It offered varied concerts and performances, its own newspaper, and even a police department.
Tent City closed in 1938.
■ 1900.78.07-04 Tent City Dance Pavilion. 1919. Coronado Historical Association Collection.
■ 1900.78.03-06 Playing on the beach at Tent City. 1925. Coronado Historical Association Collection.