A Grand Comeback for a Grand Seaside Hotel

To the people who know it, the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego is not a page of history — it’s a chapter. Opened in 1888 by Elisha Babcock and Hampton Story, it was then the largest hotel in the world. The owners set out to create a resort that would “be the talk of the Western world” — a 750-room Victorian right on the edge of the Pacific.

Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garland, Babe Ruth, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford — they all came to the Del, as it is known. “Some Like It Hot,” was shot at the hotel. Just up the coast from the hotel is the Naval Air Station North Island (as in “Top Gun”), and during World War II, the hotel housed naval officers for $2 a day. “The manager was worried they would lose money renting it so cheap but the officers more than made up for it in the bar,” said Gina Petrone, the hotel’s heritage manager.

The hotel in about 1900 when most visitors did not swim but instead came for the sea air. Credit…The Print Collector/Getty Images

Since 2019, the hotel has been undergoing the largest, most ambitious renovation in its history. Meticulously, deliberately — and very expensively — it has been restored to its former glory, and next month, after six years and $550 million, the renovation will be complete. (It is currently owned by the New York-based Blackstone Group.) Construction crews have been pulling out drywall, removing layers and layers of paint, tearing out dropped ceilings and peeling back decades of previous renovations so the Del can reclaim its original grandeur.

Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis during the filming of the 1959 Billy Wilder comedy “Some Like it Hot.”Credit…Screen Archives/Getty Images

David Marshall, the president of Heritage Architecture & Planning, a San Diego-based firm specializing in historic renovation, oversaw the restoration project, with guidance from Ms. Petrone, using original photographs and the hotel’s first set of blueprints to inform as much of the renovation as possible. The elevator cage, the wood in the lobby, the railings on many of the balconies — all original. “We even kept the warping on some flooring,” he said, while standing on the undulating balcony overlooking the lobby. “We secured it so it’s structurally safe, but we wanted to keep that bit of history.” A bit of history that may make you feel drunk if you walk too fast.