Hotel founders, Elisha Babcock, Jr., and Hampton L. Story, along with San Diego developer Alonzo Horton walked along the Coronado beach in 1886.
Although neither Babcock nor Story had experience in the hotel business, they were so inspired by the natural beauty of Coronado that they decided to buy the island and build a magnificent hotel, one that would be “the talk of the western world,” an iconic California destination where “people will continue to come long after we are gone.”
They subsequently purchased about 4,000 acres of land around the Coronado Peninsula and the neighboring North Island in order to create a resort community that would service the new hotel. (Historic Hotels)
They first created the Coronado Beach Company, after which they established a number of additional enterprises to support the development of the Coronado community (a ferry company, water company, railroad company and an electrical power plant).
As soon as a site was chosen for the historic Hotel Del Coronado, the men laid out Coronado’s parks, civic areas, commercial zones and streets (Isabella and Adella avenues were named for the founders’ wives).
Once the town of Coronado was established, it was time to attract residents, so Babcock and Story held a very well-publicized land auction, which attracted a reported 6,000 people. 350 lots were sold during the auction, raising about $100,000. By June 10, 1887, Coronado lot sales had reached the $1.5 million mark. The grand total would eventually reach $2.25 million. (Hotel Del Coronado)
“Orange avenue is the name of one of the wide and elegant thoroughfares at Coronado Beach, the ferry to which locality is now in operation. The sea beach is over there is very fine, in which surf bathers can dip for many miles … Lots, which are large, can be bought at reasonable rates now, and more houses will soon be under way.” (Daily San Diegan, Feb 22, 1886)
The Coronado Beach Company are about to erect a mammoth hotel of five hundred rooms, and on the mesa a palace hotel of some three hundred rooms is projected.” (Daily San Diegan, Jan 4, 1887)
“The first shovelful of earth for the excavation for the foundation of the Coronado hotel was cast by Mrs ES Babcock, yesterday. The work will now proceed as rapidly as possible.” (Daily San Diegan, Jan 13, 1887)
By May 1887, approximately 250 men were employed in the construction of the exciting new destination beach resort, and The San Diego Union reported: “A million feet of lumber is scattered about the yard, and more is coming all the time.”
The all-wooden Hotel del Coronado used a variety of lumber: Douglas fir for framing and California redwood for exterior siding; hemlock, cedar, white oak, and Oregon sugar pine were also used. (Hotel Del Coronado)
Although guests began arriving as early as late January 1888, Hotel del Coronado’s birthday has generally been celebrated on February 19 – the day the historic Southern California hotel served its first meal in the main dining room (today’s Crown Room).
Room rates – which included three meals a day – started at about $2.50 per day. The hotel was built at a cost of $600,000 and furnished for $400,000. (Hotel Del Coronado)
Known affectionately as “The Del” by its many countless guests, the legendary Hotel del Coronado harkens back to the height of America’s Gilded Age.
Hawai‘i Connection to the Hotel Del Coronado
In 1876, son of wealthy “Sugar King” Claus Spreckels, John Dietrich Spreckels (sometimes called the Sugar Prince) went to the Hawaiian Islands, where he worked in his father’s sugar business.
He loved sailing, and owned both personal shipliners and boats. Apart from being the Sugar Prince, Spreckels also became known as “Seadog.” In 1880, the Sugar Prince’s legacy grew to incorporate more than just the sugar industry.
Given his passion for sailing, Spreckels then established his own shipping enterprise in 1880, the Oceanic Steamship Company, operating a mail and passenger line to Hawaii and Australia.
In 1887, Spreckels visited San Diego on his yacht Lurline to stock up on supplies. (Nearly forty years earlier (1850,) Honolulu-born William Heath “Kanaka” Davis, Jr. (1822 – 1909) had arrived in this part of California.
Davis purchased 160-acres of land and, with four partners, laid out a new city (near what is now the foot of Market Street.) He built the first wharf there in 1850.) (Part of the interest in and growth of San Diego may also be attributed to when a terminus of a transcontinental line was made in 1885.)
When the Hotel Del Coronado was under construction; Spreckels, fell in love with it and provided generous loans and other assistance to the resort’s founders, Babcock and Story, in order to keep the dream alive.
“You have often heard the remark that San Diego is a one-man town. Personally, I feel proud to live in San Diego when it is referred to as a one-man town … this afternoon you can’t give our great leader enough glory.” (Mayor Wilde remarks of Spreckels, November 15, 1919; San Diego History))
Spreckels became an investor in the Coronado Beach Company in 1889, buying out Hampton L.Story’s one-third interest and over the next three years bought controlling interest in the company and became the sole proprietor of the Hotel del Coronado. (Coronado History)
He established Tent City, a large vacation campground that sprung up near Hotel del Coronado. Tent City grew quickly – from 300 tents in the first year to more than 1,000 three years later, and attracted visitors from across the nation as an affordable vacation alternative.
“To be candid, I did not entirely fancy the idea at first, and then for a time I was doubtful of the success of the place. I was somewhat of the opinion that it might detract from the popularity of the resort proper and the hotel,” Spreckels said in a 1903 interview. “But Tent City has … established itself as firmly in my favor as in that of the public.” (San Diego Union Tribune)
An early getaway brochure described the accommodations: “A furnished tent comprises electric lights, matting on boarded floor, comfortable beds and cots, bedding, wash-stand, mirror, tables, chairs, rockers, camp-chairs and stools, necessary cooking utensils, clean linen, daily care of tent, and laundry service of tent linen.”
Tent City also featured restaurants, a soda fountain, library, grocery store, shops, a small hotel (the Arcade), theatre, bandstand, dance pavilion, merry-go-round, shooting gallery, swimming floats (one with a high-diving board), its own police department, and daily newspaper. (Hotel Del Coronado)
In 1904, The Del – already considered a technological marvel – made history when it unveiled the world’s first electrically lit, outdoor, living Christmas tree. Holiday lights were strung from the hotel to a nearby Norfolk Island Pine. Although indoor trees were popular in America by this time, electric Christmas lights were a rarity (candles were still commonplace).
Spreckels died in San Diego on June 7, 1926. His biographer, Austin Adams, called him “one of America’s few great Empire Builders who invested millions to turn a struggling, bankrupt village into the beautiful and cosmopolitan city San Diego is today.” (San Diego History Center)
Coronado is also home to Naval Air Station North Island, Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, and Silver Strand Training Complex, supported by nearly 20,000 military and civilian personnel.
In 1969, the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge was completed and made Coronado Island and Hotel del Coronado much more accessible. (Lots of information here is from Hotel Del Coronado, San Diego History Center, Coronado CA, and Coronado History)
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