Coronado (Spanish for “Crowned”) is a resort city located in San Diego County, California, United States, across the San Diego Bay from downtown San Diego. Take a look below for 20 awesome and fun facts about Coronado, California, United States.
1. It was founded in the 1880s and incorporated in 1890.
2. Its population was 24,697 at the 2010 census, up from 24,100 at the 2000 census.
3. Coronado is a tombolo connected to the mainland by an isthmus called the Silver Strand.
4. The explorer Sebastian Vizcaino gave Coronado its name and drew its first map in 1602.
5. Coronado is Spanish term for “crowned” and thus it is nicknamed The Crown City.
6. Its name is derived from the Coronado Islands, an offshore Mexican archipelago.
7. Three ships of the United States Navy have been named after the city, including USS Coronado.
8. Prior to European settlement, Coronado was inhabited by the Kumeyaay, who sustained fishing villages on the peninsula in North Island and on the Coronado Cays.
9. As American settlers moved into the area, the Kumeyaay were pushed out Coronado, with the last six Kumeyaay families deported to Mesa Grande Reservation in 1902.
10. Coronado was incorporated as a town on December 11, 1890. The community’s first post office predates Coronado’s incorporation, established on February 8, 1887, with Norbert Moser assigned as the first postmaster.
11. The land was purchased by Elisha Spurr Babcock, along with Hampton L. Story, and Jacob Gruendike.
12. Their intention was to create a resort community, and in 1886, the Coronado Beach Company was organized.
13. By 1888, they had built the Hotel del Coronado, and the city became a major resort destination. They also built a schoolhouse and formed athletic, boating, and baseball clubs.
14. In 1900, a tourist/vacation area just south of the Hotel del Coronado was established by John D. Spreckels and named Tent City. Spreckels also became the hotel’s owner.
15. Over the years, the tents gave way to cottages, the last of which was torn down in late 1940 or early 1941.
16. In the 1910s, Coronado had streetcars running on Orange Avenue. These streetcars became a fixture of the city until their retirement in 1939.
17. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Coronado has a semi-arid climate, abbreviated “BSk” on climate maps.
18. Coronado is home to the famous Hotel del Coronado, built in 1888 and long considered one of the world’s top resorts. It has been designated as a National Historic Landmark and has hosted many notable guests, including American presidents George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Gerald Ford, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and William Howard Taft, as well as sports, entertainment, and noted public figures: Muhammad Ali, Jack Dempsey, Thomas Edison, Magic Johnson, Charles Lindbergh, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Oprah Winfrey, and Robert Downey. Notable actresses Mary Pickford and Marilyn Monroe also stayed here.
19. “The Del” has appeared in numerous works of popular culture and was said to have inspired the Emerald City in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It is rumored that the city’s main street, Orange Avenue, was Baum’s inspiration for the yellow brick road. Other sources say Oz was inspired by the “White City” of the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893.
20. Because of the reported association with Oz, Coronado is often associated with the color green and is sometimes referred to as “The Emerald City”. The colors of Coronado High are green and white; the Coronado city flag is a tricolor of green-white-green, with a crown in the middle. The hotel is said to be haunted, with room 3372 being visited by the ghost of Kate Morgan.
