A Living Legend – The Hotel Del Coronado

by Mike Mitchell

In February, I stayed at the Hotel Del Coronado near San Diego California. Like the Jekyll Island Club, the Hotel Del (as it is called by the locals) is a historic landmark and worthy of the robber baron lifestyle. The hotel has been visited by ten U.S. presidents and numerous luminaries over the years including Marilyn Monroe, Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth and Charlie Chaplin. The Hotel Del also sports a colorful history including the ghost of Kate Morgan, who, according to Hotel Del legend, checked into the hotel on November 25, 1892 and never checked out. Interestingly, November 25th is our anniversary.

I stayed in an older room in the main building. It was nicely appointed with a high ceiling and a comfy bed. The bathroom was missing something important though – a bathtub – it only had a shower stall. The hallways of the Hotel Del have settled with age and are crooked, which is expected in a building over 100 years old. The Hotel Del has added Ocean Towers and California Cabanas down on the beach and adjacent to the main Victorian style building. The best thing about my stay was the weather, seventy degrees and sunny, while it was about five degrees and snowing back at home in New York.

The Hotel Del also has a full-service spa, although I didn’t take any treatments. The restaurants are wonderful, but pricey. In fact, the Hotel Del is quite pricey in general. I had to pay a “resort fee” (I think it was $29 per day, but I can’t remember exactly).

I was able to arrange a boat tour of the San Diego bay and it was quite interesting and informative.

The Hotel Del is situated on Coronado Island southwest of San Diego proper. The island itself is a very upscale community with the median house price above $1 million. It’s nice to walk around the island and see this beautiful community.

Hotel Del

Live like a Robber Baron

by Mike Mitchell

The names include J.P. Morgan, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller and Pulitzer… these families got together in 1886 and founded a hunting club on the Georgia’s faraway Jekyll Island. This club is the Jekyll Island club, on of the most prominent resorts on the barrier islands around Georgia and South Carolina. In the late 1800’s the club was an exclusive retreat for the nation’s most moneyed families. It was home to one of the nation’s first transcontinental phone calls, the richest of bankers and industrialists and can taut guests including presidents and senators.

In 1986, the club was renovated and became a hotel and resort. The resort now has 157 rooms in three buildings, a grand dining room, a lending library and numerous indoor and outdoor activities year-round.

When we went to the Jekyll Island club, we stayed in the Annex building rather than the main building (the Club itself). The club boasts beautiful Victorian architecture including a huge flag-crested turret. In the Annex we had arguably the world’s largest whirlpool bath – it was at least six feet across and was ours exclusively. We also had a fireplace; however, as Juliana and I liked to joke long afterwards, “due to the historic nature of the property”, the attendant had to maintain the fire. The stay of course included many calls to the attendant to stoke the fire.

The property itself is exquisite. Close to area beaches, the resort offers many packages including winter and summer packages, family getaways, a culinary school and golfing vacations. For a weekend away from the grind, the Jekyll Island club provides millionaire surrounding to the rest of us.