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
All Kinds of Art in Coronado B y C A R O L PA S T O R , 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 V O L U N T E E R
If
you were to ask five people the meaning of art or what it meant to each of them, no doubt you would receive different answers. With that in mind, I turned to Webster’s Dictionary. The more complete version of the definition of “art” describes it as composition, performance, drama, sketching, painting, sculpting and on it goes. This brings me to the artists in Coronado over the years. If you have lived here for a number of years you, too, can probably name a few. If you are a visitor then perhaps we can bring you up to date. As I had mentioned in the February issue, one of our most famous pieces of art are the murals from La Avenida Restaurant which now hang in the Coronado Public Library, both painted by Alfredo Ramos Martinez. If you have not seen them or have never noticed them, it is certainly worthy of a moment of your time to observe the forty-eight-foot-long mural hung at the lobby entrance called El Dia del Mercado and the smaller piece further down the hall in the reading area, named the Canasta de Flores. Another noteworthy stop to view is the Legends of California piece by Donal Hord depicting Hord’s vision of the founding of California. The Legends of California are a series of seven Limestone panels on the exterior wall at Coronado High School, on the corner of 7th and D Avenue. This creative piece dates back to the early 20th century. It has been saved and nurtured to be kept as part of our town’s history. Our village has an abundance of artists in many fields. Some of our artists, mostly in paint, are private and never shown, other than to family and friends. However, many Coronado artists have explored and excelled in other artistic mediums such as writing. More wellknown over the 20th century is Frank Baum, none other than the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, who lived in the yellow house on Star Park Circle. His books were translated and published around the world, not to mention the The Wizard of Oz house on Star Park Circle. Date unknown. movie enjoyed by now generations Coronado Historical Association Collection. of viewers. Coronado also had Joe Wambaugh, a true crime author and novelist who lived here and was known to hang out with some of the police officers — maybe because of his past occupation as an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, or maybe
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CROWN CITY MAGAZINE
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MARCH 2021
