Glamour & Ghosts at the Hotel Del Coronado

I did it. It happened.

I flew for the first time since the pandemic hit. Never for one second did I forget how much I missed airports, flying, hotels, and every single thing about travel. Wanting to keep cautious for just a little longer but desperately needing to begin taking baby steps towards something that resembles a vacation, my memory led me to place I last stayed when I was 14 and my dad was on a work trip. This spot holds much intrigue to me 24 years later.

A Little History Lesson

The Hotel del Coronado is located on Coronado Island, just 5 miles by car from San Diego, California. The island and the city are attached by a thin strip of land called the Silver Strand, named for the shiny oyster shells dotting the beach and dunes. A bridge was constructed in the 1960s, making the island and resort all the more accessible, if you don’t mind feeling like you’re on a Coney Island coaster. 

The Hotel Del, as it’s known, was constructed in 1888 and was once the single largest resort hotel in the world and is one of precious few wooden Queen Anne style beach resorts remaining. Additions like the Beach Village, California Cabanas, and the Ocean Towers have been added over the years replacing amenities such as tennis courts, an Olympic-sized salt water pool, a Japanese tea garden, an ostrich farm, billiards, and bowling alleys. I wish they would have kept at least some of this stuff. We booked a king suite with an ocean view in the original structure, the Victorian.

Eleven US presidents, royalty, and countless celebrities have stayed here, including Marilyn Monroe and Danny Bonaduce, respectively. Charlie Chaplin, Mae West, Rudolph Valentino, Clark Gable, and Katherine Hepburn were just a few of the Hollywood crowd who liked to party here during prohibition. Author L. Frank Baum stayed at this hotel repeatedly between 1904 and 1910, during which he wrote three books from his Oz series. The Del is said to be the inspiration for Emerald City and Coronado’s main drag, Orange Street, for the Yellow Brick Road.

Last year, the hotel shuttered for the first time in 132 years due to covid. The ballrooms and original lobby are currently closed for renovations, making them all the more creepy, empty and dark, glimmering with hints of the life they once held. (I, of course, snuck in to look around.) “Coronado” means “crowned one,” so it is only suitable to have a Crown Room complete with sparkling crown chandeliers designed by the aforementioned author L. Frank Baum. Who knew he designed light fixtures? In recent years, this room played host to a legendary Sunday brunch. But if the wallpaper could talk, it would tell you about when Charles L. Lindberg was honored for his first trans-Atlantic flight or about the night Prince Edward may or may not have met Wallis Simpson for the first time.

Lights, Camera, Action

1959’s classic comedy Some Like It Hot starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and Marilyn Monroe was filmed at the Del. A cast and crew of 175 stormed Coronado in 1958, including Tony Curtis’ wife Janet Leigh who was pregnant with Jamie Lee Curtis at the time. Set in 1929 Chicago, the Del was transformed into Miami’s “Seminole Ritz.” Marilyn had a reputation of being difficult on-set and this production was no exception. Knee-deep in pills, she lacked focus. It took her a staggering 47 takes to deliver the line, “It’s me, Sugar.” 

Plot: Curtis and Lemmon play a couple of bootleggers who, after witnessing a mafia murder, dress in drag and join an all female jazz band. (Obviously.) Comedy ensues as Curtis falls for Monroe, one of the band members, and when he’s not pretending to be a woman, pretends to be a millionaire to impress her. Meanwhile, Lemmon is pursued by an actual (male) millionaire. Monroe and Curtis end up together even when he gives up the ruse and, in an envelope-pushing twist, when Lemmon confesses he is actually a man, his wealthy suitor is cool with it. #Pride 

Haunting at The Del

I knew there’s a haunted story or two about this place but didn’t really know much upon check in. I planned to look into it but went to bed before doing any research the first night. Danny and I were awoken several times around 3-4am to the loud, echoing sounds of children playing. I got up and looked down the hallway, which was completely empty and suddenly silent. I thought it was odd, but nothing special. It turns out this is one of the haunted things. I laid in wait the next two nights but ghosts don’t seem to come when you’re expecting them.

The most famous ghost of all is a woman named Kate Morgan. She checked in under a pseudonym in 1892 and informed staff that she was suffering from stomach cancer but that her brother, a doctor, would arrive soon with a cure. He never showed and five days later her body was found on a staircase leading to the beach with a single bullet wound to the head and a gun in her hand. The gift shop sells a morbid coloring book detailing this event.  

Over the years, many have claimed to have seen images of a woman dressed in black, others have witnessed items fall off shelves or have had their televisions mysteriously turned off and on. Despite Danny’s attempts at bribery, we were unable to get a glimpse inside her room, 3327.

Celebrities, Ghosts, & History

The Hotel del Coronado has it all.

Have you had any paranormal experiences at the Hotel Del Coronado?

Please comment below.