The striking red towers of San Diego’s Hotel Del Coronado.
Photographer: Joyce Lee for Bloomberg BusinessweekThe Grand American Resort Is Making a Comeback—Just in Time
From sea to shining sea, lavish renovations have brought historic hotels back to their former glory.
“That building you’re looking at right there? It’s the birthplace of the American beach vacation,” says Gina Petrone.
Petrone holds the unusual title of “heritage manager” at San Diego’s landmark Hotel del Coronado, and she and I are standing in the long driveway that leads up to the vast Queen Anne Victorian pile, whose distinctive ivory shingles and terracotta-red turrets captivate every arriving guest. A gilded plaque hints at the Del’s architectural significance, calling it “one of America’s largest wooden buildings” and among the “few seaside resort hotels of this style remaining in America.