Crown City History I N C O L L A B O R AT I O N W I T H H O T E L D E L C O R O N A D O & C O R O N A D O H I S T O R I C A L A S S O C I AT I O N CORONADO HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
Bunny MacKenzie: Champion Preservationist By M A RY G RAC E B RAU N
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ith Coronado Historical Association’s 50th anniversary this year, it seems fitting to highlight the founder and first president, Bunny MacKenzie (1912-2002). Bunny was born Alma Olson on Feb. 22, 1912 in Coronado to Cmdr. Allan Olson and his wife, Genevieve. “But, she said, she immediately got her nickname because she was told [she] looked like a little bunny,” wrote June Muller in a 1993 Coronado Eagle article. “She learned to swim at the Hotel Del Coronado’s ‘Bath House,’ a salt water plunge near Tent City” and she frequented town shops like Hardy’s Meat Market where “deliveries were made by horse and buggy.” Bunny established Miss Bunny’s Preschool in the garden of her family home in September 1935. It was moved to 411 Orange Ave. in June 1938 and for 40 years, the school was under Bunny’s direction. “I’ve [taught] children and their children’s children,” she declared. In October 1968, in an effort to preserve one of the Coronado ferryboats, Bunny organized a
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committee that sought to secure the boat as a local monument. Although the committee failed due to exorbitant costs, they succeeded in forming the Coronado Historical Association as a nonprofit corporation on March 20, 1969. As founding president from 1969 to 1972, and also in the years after, Bunny was “a tireless preservationist in the fight to protect Coronado’s architectural history,” according to her obituary in the Coronado Eagle and Journal. She helped save the Oxford Boarding House, Windsor Cottage and the Coronado Ferry Ticket Booth. Bunny was also the historical editor of the Bridge and Bay magazine. Her legacy lives on through fond memories of all who knew her, including her son Alec MacKenzie, daughter Cindy MacKenzie Murphy and six grandchildren.
