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ONE LAST RIDE Remembering the car ferries before service ended
One of the last ferries to transport automobiles crosses San Diego Bay, 1969.
When Coronado car ferry service ended in 1969, I had ridden the ferries for almost half my life.
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The smell of creosote on a hot day, the sound of creaking docks as the cars loaded onto the big boats and feeling the wind in my hair as we crossed the bay are vivid memories of my childhood.
While the San Diego-Coronado Bridge was under construction, I didn’t understand it meant the end of the beloved ferries until just before it happened. My parents took us on one last ferry ride the evening of Aug. 2, just hours before the service was ended. I was 10, my brother was 8 and my sister was 5. It was way past our bedtime and a big adventure!
We boarded the ferry on foot, rode across the bay to San Diego with hordes of other people and got off on the other side thinking we would get a return trip. So many people had the same idea, and the ferries were packed. We couldn’t get onto another ferry and found ourselves stranded across the bay at midnight. I’m sure my parents didn’t bargain on hauling three kids through sketchy areas of downtown San Diego, trying to figure out how to get us home again.
We ended up on a bus back to Coronado with lots of people who were in the same situation. The traffic crawled slowly up the newly opened bridge in the middle of the night. I have vivid memories of looking out of the bus window as we reached the top of the bridge, amazed at the twinkly lights below and the bird’s-eye view.
Coronado was forever changed. But after all these years and countless trips over the bridge, I still have that sense of wonderment as I head for home with The Del in the distance and beautiful Coronado spread out below.
