We Visited Historic Tent City!

Todd Stands created this cool bit of public art composed of 500 photos arranged like a mosaic, embedded in ceramic tiles in 2005. 4 murals depict the historic Tent City, which was a popular tourist destination from 1900 – 1938 just south of the Hotel Del Coronado.

Coronado’s Tent City beach tents could only be reached by train or barge because there was no bridge then. The tents were right on the ocean’s edge and provided a lower-priced option to the Hotel del. The train started in San Diego going around the bay and up the narrow Silver Strand. The tracks have since been replaced by a very popular bike path that we visit on our Coronado Bike Tour.

Among the photos are the original boathouse and baths of Hotel del Coronado from 1888 – 1891; ferryboats from the late 1800s; golf in 1918; the Coronado High School football team from 1923; as well as an amphibious plane and the first hydroplane flown by Glenn Curtiss in 1911.