While it might be named after Spanish conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado (1510-1554), it’s much more likely that Coronado Street was inspired by the city of Coronado in San Diego County – specifically its world-famous Hotel del Coronado. The actual road was laid out in 1887 as Baronne Street, part of a Westlake trio, along with Carondelet and Rampart, named after matching streets in New Orleans. A “Mrs. O.T. Bridge” petitioned City Council to rename it Coronado Street in 1894. Since the posh Hotel del Coronado, which opened in 1888, was all the rage, one can guess that Mrs. Bridge and her status-conscious neighbors felt the association would enhance their property values. The city of Coronado takes its own name from the Coronado Islands off the Baja coast. It’s claimed that, in 1597, another explorer, Sebastián Vizcaíno, either dubbed the islands Los Cuatro Coronados – “The Four Crowned Ones” – or Los Cuatro Mártires Coronados – “The Four Crowned Martyrs”.
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