Coronado (Spanish for "Crowned") is a resort city in San Diego County, California, United States, across San Diego Bay from downtown San Diego. It was founded in the 1880s and incorporated in 1890. Its population was 20,192 in 2020.
Coronado is a tied island which is connected to the mainland by a tombolo (a sandy isthmus) called Silver Strand. Along the coast of Southern California lie four islands that were spotted by Sebastian Vizcaino and his crew. They named them "Los Coronados". In the mid-1880s, businessmen bought the peninsula near Los Coronados with hopes to turn it into a resort. Later in 1886, the owners of this peninsula hosted a naming contest with the people resulting in the name "Miramar" winning, which was soon overturned due to the public not being satisfied with the name, so they borrowed from their cousin islands "Los Coronados" and named it "Coronado". Coronado is the Spanish term for "crowned" and thus it is nicknamed The Crown City. Its name is derived from the Coronado Islands, an offshore Mexican archipelago.
History
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. As American settlers moved into the area, the Kumeyaay were pushed out of Coronado, with the last six Kumeyaay families deported to Mesa Grande Reservation in 1902.
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. Over the years, the tents gave way to cottages, the last of which was torn down in late 1940 or early 1941.
In the 1910s, Coronado had streetcars running on Orange Avenue. These streetcars became a fixture of the city until their retirement in 1939.
What is now the Naval Air Station North Island was the first US flying school, founded in 1911 by Glenn Curtiss. Curtiss was known for his
engines, which set records in distance and speed. He started with motorcycle engines, which led him to aviation. Coronado's weather and protected bay were attractive and he gained a three-year lease to train military pilots. During this time he created a new type of ship-launched seaplane and an amphibious aircraft.
On New Year's Day 1937, during the Great Depression, the gambling ship SS Monte Carlo, known for "drinks, dice, and dolls", was shipwrecked on the beach about a quarter mile (400 m) south of Hotel del Coronado.
In 1946, an African-American man from Coronado named Alton Collier was forced off of a San Diego and Coronado ferry by white sailors. The case was ruled a suicide until 2024, when the Equal Justice Initiative declared a lynching.
In 1969, the San Diego–Coronado Bridge was opened, allowing much faster transit between the cities than bay ferries or driving via State Route 75 along the Silver Strand. The bridge is made up of five lanes, one of which is controlled by a moveable barrier that allows for better traffic flow during rush hours. In the morning, the lane is moved to create three lanes going southbound towards Coronado, and in the evening it is moved again to create three lanes going northbound towards downtown San Diego.
In 2007, the Coronado Police Department and the city was sued in civil courts after a Coronado police officer in civilian clothes shot multiple times the professional football player Steve Foley.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of ; 7.9 square miles (20.5 km<sup>2</sup>) of the city is land and of it (75.72%) is water.
thumb|A view of San Diego from Coronado
Geographically, Coronado is a tied island connected to the mainland by a tombolo known as the Silver Strand. The Silver Strand, Coronado and North Island, form San Diego Bay. Since recorded history, Coronado was mostly separated from North Island by a shallow inlet of water called the Spanish Bight. The development of North Island by the United States Navy prior to and during World War II led to the filling of the bight by July 1944, combining the land areas into a single body. The Navy still operates Naval Air Station North Island (NASNI or "North Island") on Coronado. On the southern side of the town is Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, a training center for Navy SEALs and Special warfare combatant-craft crewmen (SWCC). Both facilities are part of the larger Naval Base Coronado complex. Coronado has increased in size due to dredge material being dumped on its shoreline and through the natural accumulation of sand. The "Country Club" area on the northwest side of Coronado, the "Glorietta" area and golf course on the southeast side of Coronado, most of the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, most of the Strand Naval Housing, and most of the Coronado Cays (all on the south side of Coronado) were built on dirt dredged from San Diego Bay.
Climate
According to the Köppen climate classification system, Coronado has a semi-arid climate, abbreviated BSk on climate maps.