Crown City History

I N C O L L A B O RAT I O N WI T H H OT E L D E L C O RO N A D O & C O RO N A D O H I STO R I CA L A S S O C I AT I O N

Bunny MacKenzie: Champion Preservationist

B y MARY GRACE BRAUN W 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

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.

Launched on this auspicious day, the ferry Silver Gate was doomed from the beginning. It was poorly designed, too big and unwieldy, and it routinely damaged docks on both sides of San Diego Bay. Decommissioned after only two years, the ferry found a new life as a floating casino at Tent City until 1910, and later as a clubhouse for the San Diego Yacht Club. April 1, 1888

LESLIE CRAWFORD

April 7, 1886 Elisha Babcock, Hampton Story, Jacob Gruendike and two minority partners filed articles of incorporation for the Coronado Beach Company, putting up $100,000 in capital. Subsidiary companies under the umbrella of the Coronado Beach Company included the Coronado Beach Water Company, the Coronado Ferry Company, the Coronado Railroad Company, the Coronado Brick Company and the San Diego-Coronado Transfer Company.

Lt. John D. Price, piloting a VF-1 plane, made the first planned night landing on USS Langley (CV 1), at sea off San Diego and was followed on board by Lts. Delbert L. Conley, Aldolphus W. Gorton and Rossmore D. Lyon. Except for an accidental landing on the night of Feb. 5 when Lt. Harold J. Brow stalled while practicing night approaches, these were the first night landings made on board a U.S. Navy carrier. April 8, 1925

US NAVY; NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND

April 14, 1928 Coronado’s first horse show was held at the Coronado Country Club. More than 100 horses and their riders were entered, competing in a variety of classes and ages. Viewing boxes were filled with high-society names, including Spreckels, Marston, Scripps, Wegeforth, Fitch and Dupee.

April 15, 1893 The federal government condemned 18.05 acres on the southwestern corner of North Island to build a jetty in an effort to stop the flow of sand from the southern littoral current. A rail line was laid through Coronado so quarried rock could reach the construction site. Started in 1894, the jetty was built in three stages over 11 years at a cost of more than $550,000. Jutting out from the corner of North Island, it extends 7,500 feet into the ocean, parallel to Point Loma.

Col. Ira C. Copley purchased the Japanese Tea Garden adjoining the palatial Copley home (formerly the Spreckels Mansion, now Glorietta Bay Inn). The 1.18-acre property was purchased from the Spreckels companies. The plot had been leased to George T. Marsh, a noted dealer in ornamental shrubs, antiques and imported wares, who brought plants and buildings from Japan to the property. It contained some of the rarest horticultural specimens found on the West Coast. April 16, 1936

April 19, 1926 The Rotary Club of Coronado was presented with its charter to be an official club in Coronado during a celebration at San Diego Yacht Club (on Coronado). The new charter was presented by District Governor Tom Bridges of Oakland with 30 Rotarians from San Diego and other clubs in the county in attendance.

LESLIE CRAWFORD

Hotel del Coronado Botanical Garden

Babcock and Story’s Coronado Beach Company began growing plants, shrubs and trees right away for future use around their hotel and for street planting. They set up a nursery on the block bounded by D, E, Second and Third, which became known as the Hotel del Coronado Botanical Garden. Kate Sessions made selections for plantings in the courtyard of the hotel, which included bougainvillea, queen palms, kentia palms, sabal palms, stephanotis and bird of paradise. These first specimens of the bird of paradise had been obtained from the famous Woodward Garden’s conservatory in San Francisco. Weather conditions for the plant, a native of South Africa, were ideal, and it became a commercial success in Southern California as one of the most popular of winter cut flowers.

April 30, 1955

John Peck, 10, and Mike Samuelson, 8, were declared champions of the recreation department’s marble tournament. The next level of competition was the joint recreation department-VFW tournament whose winner would vie in the first stage of the national VFW marble tournament.