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Los Coronados, 1961 Image courtesy San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles magazine via San Diego History Center |
GUEST BLOG—By Brandon Machek--The 1961 photo (above) of the
northernmost of the four tiny Coronado Islands, 15 nautical miles from Pt. Loma
is basically what the Mexican-owned islands look like today. Only a lighthouse
keeper and a small garrison of Mexican Coast Guard troops are housed there now.
The Coronados are within the city limits of Tijuana and
currently the municipality declares the islands off limits to the world. A few exceptions are visiting scientists but
no fishermen, hikers, picnickers or sightseers period. Divers claim there is a
daredevil underwater passage between the south tip of the north island an
adjacent rock. Sportsfishing is good and
bird watching is better. Guides from
both countries provide seagoing tours but no landings.
In 1542, Juan Cabrillo dubbed the islands "islas desiertas."
Some things don’t change. By 1602, a
priest in explorer Sebastian Vizcaino’s command re-named them Los Cuatro
Coronados in honor of four martyrs to the Catholic Church. During the gold rush era, smugglers secreted
human contraband from Asia on the isles before shipping them to mining
camps. Also, Jose Arvaez a.k.a., the
19th century pirate of the Coronados used the islands as a base to plunder West
Coast shipping.
The Roaring 20s saw bootleggers use the islands as a base
and the Depression witnessed lumber baron Fred Hamilton and Tijuana tycoon
Mariano Escobeda glamorized the south island by investing a reported $35
million to create the Coronado Islands Yacht Club. Headlines of the day tell
the yacht club was a front for a gambling casino and upscale bed &
breakfast claiming a clientele including many Hollywood starlets, who were
there coincidentally with the likes of Al Capone, Errol Flynn and movie mogul
Jack Warner.
The island’s notoriety continued in mid-1943 when a junior
officer in command of subchaser USS PC-815 conducted gunnery practice on the
Coronados. As a result of the illegal
shelling, he was relieved of his command but not before claiming he did not
know the island belonged to Mexico or were inhabited by Mexican Marines. The young officer reappeared in history books
later as the founder of the Church of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard.
Today, the island’s brush with the salty side of the law
continues. U.S. Coast Guard reports tell
of cross border smugglers dumping their human cargo on the islands to avoid
capture. Even Hollywood added to the bad boy image by type casting the south
isle as Pitcairn Island, home to the mutineers on a remake of the film “Mutiny
on the Bounty.” And, if you’re waiting
for a condo complex to appear on the island soon don’t hold your breath. Development is stymied by zero water
availability, as the islands are solid granite throughout. In closing, there’s one saving grace aside
from its unspoiled fauna and flora and that’s the fact no one has built a prison
there, yet.
Reprinted from San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles magazine
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