Coronado Historical Association

The Coronado Historical Association is located on Orange Avenue on Coronado Island, just a few blocks away from the famous Hotel del Coronado. The Coronado Historical Association can really bring a visitor a great deal of information regarding the interesting history of Coronado. They offer historical walking tours on a daily basis that point out many of the historical buildings in the center of Coronado. These cost about $10, depening on the tour, and cover a variety of themes from the history of Coronado to the Hotel del Coronado to the trees on the island. You can also purchase tickets to all teh major attractions in San Diego: the Zoo, Sea World, you name it!

The association is housed in an historical building (naturally!). There is a gift shop with some a unexpected surprises, including darling cards by artists. The artists are not local, which I think is a shame, but the gifts cards are adorable and some are very funny. They also offer charming collection of memorabelia as well as some typical trinkets and souveniers.

The Coronado Historical Association also offers a free art and history exhibit in the building. There is a permanent exhibit about Coronado’s history, but there is also a rotating exhibit that offers a broader context, though also relating back to Coronado, at least tangentially. The rotating exhibit has shown a photo exhibit of Marilyn Monroe, who filmed “Some Like it Hot” at the Hotel del Coronado.

Other exhibits include a history of the island itself, from the days as a grass patch where people hunted jackrabbits, to the purchase of the entire island in the late 1880’s for $110,000 by the developers of the Hotel del Coronado. There is also information about the military base there, and the history of women’s roles in the military. It is all very interesting.

The exhibit space is very small, but it allows visitors to spend quality time at each stop inside. Instead of whirling through, you could spend just a few minutes at each stop and really read and enjoy every portion, and still be done in an hour or so.

Coronado Historical Association
Coronado Visitor Center
1100 Orange Avenue
Coronado, CA 92118
619-437-8788