Coronado, CA

Coronado sits across San Diego Bay from downtown, a flat island city tied to the mainland by the curving bridge over the bay and by the Silver Strand, a narrow seven-mile sandbar reaching south to Imperial Beach. The Navy holds much of the land, with Naval Air Station North Island at the top of the island and the Naval Amphibious Base along the Strand. Three Houseberry neighborhoods cover the residential city. The largest is Coronado Village, the old street grid around Orange Avenue, with Victorian and Craftsman houses beside newer builds and the shops within reach. South of the Hotel del, the Shores neighborhood is one complex of ten condominium towers on the beach, finished in the 1970s. The Cays lie well down the Strand, a gated community of canals and private boat slips that runs almost like a separate town. Housing across Coronado covers a wide span, from village houses with porches to high-rise condos with ocean views and bayfront homes with a dock out back. Almost every address sits near either the bay or the ocean. The beaches are what draw people over the bridge. The sand in front of the Hotel del is broad and flat, Silver Strand State Beach stretches along the ocean farther south, and the Bayshore Bikeway follows the bay the length of the Strand. Summer adds Movies at the Del on the lawn behind the hotel and the free Promenade Concerts, a Sunday tradition since 1970. Orange Avenue and the Ferry Landing hold most of the dining. La Corriente brought Tijuana-born seafood to 1100 Orange. Coronado Brewing Company pours its own beers near the landing, and Il Fornaio serves Italian food at the landing with the downtown skyline across the water. The bridge, toll-free since 2002, carries most trips to San Diego, a ferry runs from the landing to the Convention Center, and Highway 75 follows the sandbar south, turning inland at Imperial Beach toward the interstate. Base commuters crowd Third and Fourth streets at rush hour, and summer visitors fill the beaches and parking. Island life here runs on planning around the bridge and the base, and in return the ferry, the bike path and the beach handle much of what a car would elsewhere.