City, San Diego County
© McCormack's Guides
Zip Codes: 92178, 92118
Prestige
city. Located on a narrow peninsula bordered by the Pacific and by San Diego
Bay. Miles of beaches. www.mccormacks.com
School
rankings in the 70th to 90th percentile, and in some instances, the high 90s,
among the tops in the state. Local schools are always winning awards for
excellence. School bond, $17 million, passed in 1998. Money was used to
renovate science and technology buildings at the high school and to overhaul
Silver Strand Elementary and make other improvements. See Schools.
In 2001,
the district opened its first school in 10 years, a middle school with computer
and music rooms and a library stocked with books popular with adolescents. The
opening freed about 15 classrooms at the high school, which had been housing
the middle students.
Click for regional or detailed map
High
school runs a visual and performing arts school open to any student in county.
Two parochial schools.
One of
lowest crime rates in San Diego County. Zero homicides between 1998 and 2005,
one in 1997, two in 1996, zero in 1995 and 1994, three in 1993, zero in 1992,
one in 1991, zero each in 1990 and 1989, one in 1988. See Crime.
Main
portion of town is situated next to the U.S. Naval Air Station at North Island.
Jets take off, land and make noise, but residents appear to take it in stride.
The jets approach just off the shore. On the south side is a base where Navy
SEALS train. www.mccormacks.com
A
graceful, curving bridge connects Coronado to downtown San Diego. With bond
paid off, the $1 toll was eliminated.
One of the
best commutes in San Diego County. Once you drive the bridge, you are
practically in downtown San Diego.
Coronado,
with barriers, cones and one-way streets, is trying to detour vehicles away
from residential streets near the downtown. Ferry service from downtown San
Diego. Buses shuttle around town.
Coronado's
merits easily can be appreciated just by looking at a map. A narrow peninsula,
called The Strand, 14 square miles, widens into a small mass of land as it
nears the entrance to San Diego Bay. The main residential section runs about 12
blocks east to west and 18 blocks north to south.
About
halfway down the strand, Coronado Cays, a bay development with boat anchorages,
takes up about 10 small blocks. There are military housing and military
installations, and that’s about it. www.mccormacks.com
The 2000
census counted 24,100 residents, including about 6,000 Navy personnel based at
North Island and often at sea. North Island, the military base, is home to many
ships, including carriers. The 2008 population was estimated at 23,101.
Name,
bestowed by Spanish explorers, originally was Los Coronados, the “crowned
ones,” a reference to martyrs of ancient Rome. The modern translation has been
simplified to “The Crown City,” a bit of local puffery.
Coronado
has a large, grand edifice, Hotel Del Coronado, built in 1888, visited by
several presidents, striking in appearance with its turrets and Victorian
styling. It was used as the backdrop for “Some Like It Hot.”
The “Hotel
Del” shows up in almost all promotional literature and mistakenly gives the
impression that Coronado stepped out of a time warp. Old homes Coronado does
have. About 18 percent of the housing units were built before World War II. But
many of these residences were built in the 1920s and 1930s and have an art deco
look, upscale.
Between
1950 and 1990, Coronado added 1,000 to 2,700 housing units a decade and is
about built out. www.mccormacks.com
Many
people live in 10 condo towers (10 stories plus) on the Pacific. For the rest
of the town, mainly single homes, variety of styles, all well-cared-for. A
good-looking, clean town.
No more
high-rises. Anything new must be lower than 40 feet.
The state
in 2008 counted 9,611 housing units: 4,506 single-family detached, 868 single
attached, 4,214 multiples, 23 mobile homes.
In the
1990s, Coronado issued about 800 building permits and in some years, housing
starts number fewer than 20. The town owes some of its allure to the scarcity
of housing in a choice location. You can spend over $1 million on a condo.
If you’re
fond of water and sailing, take a look at Coronado Cays. One- and two-story
homes. Boat docks. www.mccormacks.com
Eighteen-hole
golf course (public). Driving range. Tennis courts. Bike paths. Playhouse with
amateur theatricals. Skate park. Library. Seventeen parks. Teen center. Beaches
galore. Kiddie sports, baseball, soccer, etc. Surfing, fishing, boating. Local
newspaper. Clubs, social activities, annual race of vintage cars.
In the
evening, residents drift over to the Pacific and watch the sun sink toward
China. City has spruced up the Silver Strand with nature observatories. A paved
path, about 11 miles long, runs down the Strand to Imperial Beach. On almost
any day, hundreds will be strolling, in-line skating or biking the strand.
Annual
walk-run cross the bridge; draws about 6,000. Civic group stages annual tour of
several beautiful homes to raise money for the arts school.
Opened in
2005: New city hall with community center that has or will include two swimming pools, a gym and a
fitness center.
Recently
renovated: the town library, which has about 150,000 books (a lot). The library
went out of its way to transplant historic murals from another site. www.mccormacks.com
A town
visited by many, including in 2005 President George W. Bush, who gave a speech
from a carrier deck. Restaurants, hotels, bars, small shops. City is
discouraging fast-food places. Occasional ocean pollution but coastal cities
are working to keep clean. Overall, lovely city.
Chamber of
commerce (619) 435-9260.
• City is
donating up to $10 million to Sharp Coronado Hospital to upgrade facilities and
expand emergency room (done in 2005). The hospital is small (204 beds) and were
it not for the city’s contribution might have closed. City leaders said because
Coronado was isolated it was important to have a local hospital.
• Ferries
to downtown San Diego and are used by some residents to commute. No charge;
state pays the fares, except on weekends.
• Old
animal shelter on Orange Avenue to be demolished for housing for elderly; new
shelter to rise at First Street and A Avenue. www.mccormacks.com
• Many
towns have planted median strips, few have planted median gardens. Coronado has
13, about 38 feet wide, with a few more on the way. Idea started small, then
caught the fancy of residents, who ponied up an average $15,000 to pay for each
garden. Shrubs, some shaped by topiary, flowers and trees, benches and paths.
City
web site: www.coronado.ca.us
