Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 32. Chapters: Hotel del Coronado, Sunset Tower, Mission Inn, The Hacienda, Wigwam Motel, Ahwahnee Hotel, Eureka Inn, Hotel Green, Claremont Resort, Hotel Charlotte, Cloyne Court Hotel, I-Hotel, Fairmont San Francisco, East Brother Island Light, Glen Tavern Inn, Hotel Woodland, Stagecoach Inn, Hayes Mansion, Deetjen's Big Sur Inn, De Anza Hotel, Hotel Sainte Claire, El Garces Hotel, Wawona Hotel, U.S. Grant Hotel, Culver Hotel, Hotel Montgomery, Balboa Inn, Aztec Hotel, National Exchange Hotel, Horton Grand Hotel, Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Murphys Hotel, Robinson Hotel, Hoover Hotel, The Town House, Venetian Court, Angels Hotel, Drakesbad Guest Ranch, Casa del Mar hotel, New Hotel Carquinez, Hotel Mac, Sovereign Hotel, Hotel Arcata, Southern Hotel. Excerpt: Hotel del Coronado (also known as The Del and Hotel del) is a beachfront luxury hotel in the city of Coronado, just across the San Diego Bay from San Diego, California. It is one of the few surviving examples of an American architectural genre: the wooden Victorian beach resort. It is one of the oldest and largest all-wooden buildings in California and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977, and is a designated California Historical Landmark. When it opened in 1888, it was the largest resort hotel in the world and the first to use electrical lighting. It has hosted presidents, royalty, and celebrities throughout the years. The hotel has been featured in numerous movies and books. The hotel received the Four Diamond rating from the American Automobile Association, and was once listed by USA Today as one of the "Top 10 Resorts In The World, " though it has since been removed from that list. In the mid-1880s, the San Diego region was in the midst of one of its first real estate booms. At that time, it was common for a developer to build a grand hotel as a draw for what would otherwise be a barren landscape. The Hollywood Hotel in Hollywood, California, the Raymond Hotel in Pasadena, the Del Monte in Monterey, and the Hotel Redondo in Redondo Beach California were similar grand hotels built as development enticements during this era. Main building of the Hotel del CoronadoOn December 19, 1885, Elisha S. Babcock, retired railroad executive from Evansville, Indiana, Hampton L. Story, of the Story and Clark Piano Company of Chicago, and Jacob Gruendike, president of the First National Bank of San Diego, bought all of Coronado and North Island for $110, 000. Restored photochrom print of Hotel del Coronado by William Henry Jackson, c. 1900A 24-page prospectus with the title Coronado Beach. San Diego, California, asserted that "The Coronado Beach Company has been organized with a capital of One Million Dollars ...." The officers were Babcock, Story, and Gruendike. Al