Coronado Construction

Willis was feeling a little cooped up from a year of quarantine, so we went to Coronado Island yesterday for a stroll along the beach. It had been quite some time since I'd been to this area, and I was surprised to see quite a bit of construction at the entrace to the Hotel del Coronado, one of the historic landmarks of San Diego.

The beachside of the hotel also had some construction fences up, but that didn’t seem to deter tourists/guests who were enjoying the good weather.

This is the same hotel where Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Marilyn Monroe cavorted on the beach in the classic Billy Wilder comedy “Some Like It Hot” (1959).

The Hotel’s website has this information somewhat hidden at the bottom of the "what to expect" page:

• Fitness Center (opening early 2021, if health regulations allow)
• Windsor Lawn on the beach side of the Victorian building (opening July 2021)
• Ice House Museum (opening by summer 2021, if health regulations allow)
• Lower level retail shops (opening late spring 2021; The Signature Shop and Brady’s for Men are open off the Garden Patio)
• Victorian lobby, front porch, and south entrance drive and walking paths (opening by summer 2021)
• Ocean Towers guestrooms (reopening as The Views, July 2021)
• 142 new residential rooms and suites, and a conference center on the south end of the resort (opening summer 2022)

I’m most curious to see if they put the Victorian lobby back to its original splendor; currently owned by Hilton, the lobby has definitely been “dumbed down” over the years. Not surprisingly, they are doing lots of new construction (residential rooms and suites and the conference center) which might help them actually turn a profit.

Willis enjoyed the beach; it had been too long since his last dipping of the paw into the tide!

See more Coronado Island photos at my main website.