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

Man of Vision

B y L E S L I E C R AW F O R D

Gilbert Aubrey Davidson (1868-1957), better known as G. Aubrey Davidson, is a person whose name may not be familiar, but his legacy is as substantial as the most famous names in San Diego history.

On Oct. 2, 1886 at age 18, Davidson followed his parents and brother to San Diego from their home in Nova Scotia. Their reports of San Diego convinced him to head west, too, but his first impression of San Diego when he stepped off the train was not a good one. Dirty streets and a dusty town surrounded the depot, but he saw potential and stepped out to start a new life in a town with promise.

His first job was as paymaster at the Santa Fe headquarters in National City, and he was later transferred to Los Angeles. When John D. Spreckels proposed building the San Diego-Arizona Railroad, Davidson saw opportunities and moved back to San Diego permanently in 1907. He founded the Southern Trust and Savings Bank, which later became the present-day Bank of America, growing it to be the largest banking institution in San Diego with more than $1.25 million in capital and surplus. Headquartered in the U.S. Grant Hotel, there was a satellite office in Coronado in the building that is now home to Coronado Historical Association.

In 1909, as president of the chamber of commerce, Davidson first proposed an international exposition to promote San Diego in conjunction with the opening of the Panama Canal. He became president of the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition, meeting dignitaries from around the world and putting San Diego into the spotlight. He also served as chairman of the board of Balboa Park’s 1935-36 California Pacific International

G. Aubrey Davidson (left) with Henry Ford.

Exposition.

Davidson was a staunch supporter of the military and was instrumental in establishing the Navy in San Diego. In partnership with Col. Joseph Pendleton, he helped establish the Marine Corps Recruit Depot. Once that was completed, he led campaigns to raise funds to purchase 150 acres to establish the Naval Training Center and to build a 1,000-bed hospital, known as Balboa Naval Hospital. He was later recognized for his military advocacy, receiving the Navy’s highest honor, the Distin

guished Public Service award.

Davidson was a resident of Coronado for many years, living at the Hotel del Coronado for over 20 years with his wife, Rose, and son G. Aubrey Davidson, Jr. The Davidsons were prominent citizens of Coronado and living at The Del put them at the center of high-society. It was a comfortable life.

Although he was asked numerous times, Davidson never had a desire to run for public office, preferring to give his time in pursuits of improving life for San Diegans. He and city leader George Marston created the first master plan for the city and worked to get the Civic Center (now the County Administration Building) developed on Harbor Drive. He sat on numerous boards including the Armed Forces YMCA, the First Presbyterian Church of San Diego, which he also helped build, and Fredericka Homes for the Aged (now Fredricka Manor).

In addition to his banking career and civic involvement, Davidson was a real estate developer instrumental in building Kensington, Burlingame and Point Loma Highlands. A few years after his retirement, Davidson and his wife moved from The Del to a home in Kensington where they lived out their final years. At retirement, he was bestowed the honor of being San Diego’s First Citizen, the second person honored with the title. (George Marston was the first.)

When he retired from banking in 1946, he didn’t retire from his civic activism. Among his projects were pushing for the completion of Harbor Drive; beautifying Balboa Park; developing Mission Bay; building a war memorial; completing a highway to Imperial Valley and farther east; and getting a highway built to Ensenada and eventually the length of Baja. He was a man of vision and eternally optimistic about the possibilities of his adopted hometown.

Coronado had 450 residents living in little cottages with gardens, scattered around the South Island (Coronado). A street railway ran down the center of Orange Avenue from the ferry landing to the Hotel del Coronado. There was a racetrack, museum, an ostrich farm, bridal paths galore and horseback riding with hunting on North Island. Boating was also popular with 12 sailboats for Hotel Del guests at the boathouse and moonlit rowing parties with picnics. January 1890

SEAL Teams One and Two were established in response to President John F. Kennedy’s desire for military services to develop unconventional warfare capabilities. Formed entirely of personnel from Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT), the SEALs’ mission was to conduct counter-guerilla warfare and clandestine operations in maritime and riverine environments. Jan. 1, 1962

A devastating storm hit Coronado with heavy surf eroding Ocean Boulevard. Breakers splashed against the veranda windows of the Hotel del Coronado, alarming guests. Thirty thousand sandbags were placed on Ocean Boulevard and in front of the hotel but they proved useless when yet another storm hit Feb.18. It was estimated that more than 100 feet of frontage was washed away, eventually resulting in the rock wall along Ocean Boulevard. Jan. 4, 1905

The Coronado Journal-Compass reported that approximately two dozen slot machines in use at the Commissioned Officers Club on North Island were transported to the Eleventh Naval District where they were broken up with sledge hammers. All slot machines on military facilities were destroyed or removed in accordance with a new federal Anti-slot Machine Act, signed by President Harry Truman, prohibiting their use on federal property. Profits from the machines had made it possible for the commissioned and non-commissioned dining rooms to charge considerably less than public restaurants, so this loss of revenue sent managers scrambling to decide how to make up for the shortfall in their budgets. Jan. 11, 1951

Jan. 15, 1944

The Naval Amphibious Training Base was commissioned. Created in six months atop dredge material, it was the only amphibious base on the West Coast. The land was originally owned by the City of Coronado and was leased to the Navy. After lengthy legal negotiations, the Navy bought the land for $850,000 in 1954.

Jan. 19, 1920

Lillie Spreckels Holbrook and Dr. Paul Wegeforth, brother of San Diego Zoo founder Dr. Harry Wedgeforth, were wed in a small ceremony in the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John D. Spreckels. Lillie’s daughter, Harriett, from her first marriage, and her nephews, Junior and Frank, preceded the bride down the aisle. Dr. Humphrey Stewart, famed organist at Balboa Park and eventual mayor of Coronado, played the Mendelssohn Wedding March.

Early Del Dining

B y G I N A P E T R O N E , H E R I T A G E M A N A G E R HOTEL DEL CORONADO

When Hotel del Coronado opened in 1888, the peninsula was home to a variety of small game such as quail and rabbit, and the ocean and bay supported an array of edible sea life. But what really impressed the resort’s early guests was the availability of fresh produce.

Shortly after statehood in 1850, Southern California emerged as the premier provider of fruits, vegetables and other delicacies. Blessed with lots of open land and endless sunshine, the San Diego area revealed exceptionally rich farmland. The inland valleys were especially fertile, capable of growing a wide range of everyday and exotic produce – from olives and oranges to figs and nuts.

An early floor plan of the hotel indicates that the Garden Patio was to be planted with almonds, figs, loquat, limes, olives, bananas, guavas, lemons, oranges and

pomegranates, although it’s uncertain whether these plants actually made it into the final landscape.

A few blocks from the hotel, The Del established its own large fruit and vegetable garden, while small, independent farms provided the hotel with additional produce. Records from 1894 show that the hotel routinely bought modest amounts of vegetables and fruits from a variety of local vendors while San Diego dairy farms, and one in Coronado, supplied the resort’s milk.

Hotel founder Hampton Story had his own “small ranch” in Chollas Valley, which was near the eastern boundary of San Diego. An 1891 newspaper article speaks to the success of Story’s farming enterprise, which included “a fine young orange orchard and a large vineyard.” His partner, Elisha Babcock, Jr., also had a farming venture, growing many of the same items, as well as walnuts and blackberries. At one time, Babcock had explored the possibility of growing sugar beets and “cocoa nuts.”

Early Del menus showcased much of the area’s produce, which featured peas, celery, cucumbers, potatoes, string beans, lettuce, watercress, asparagus, spinach, cauliflower, radishes, pears and raisins. There was also homemade mint sauce, applesauce, maraschino punch, strawberry shortcake, apple pie and Neapolitan and tutti-frutti ice creams. And the menus also offered pickles, sweet pickled figs, dates, walnuts, pecans and filberts, as well as sliced and stewed tomatoes, “native olives,” “Julian apples” and “Paradise Valley oranges.”

The Victorian upper-class dining experience was very formal, unhurried and social at home and on holiday. Dining was at the center of The Del’s experience. Each meal required a different kind of resort attire, and guests spent a lot of time getting ready to dine.

All meals – including breakfast – consisted of many courses, served with great care and deference by male waiters. Guests made their choices from daily menus, which were extensive and often included many kinds of meat and fish, even for breakfast.

A typical dinner menu might also feature oysters on the half shell, caviar, pickled figs, potato croquettes, shrimp salad, English plum pudding, champagne jelly, “confectionery,” a variety of nuts and cheeses, along with wine and cocktails such as a “gin fizzy” or “gin flip.”

A live orchestra performed during lunch and dinner. The original orchestra balcony still graces the Crown Room’s most prominent wall.