Where the Ancestors Lived

I was visiting my parents over New Years, and was lucky enough to tour around Coronado with my dad to look at some of the places where my Great-Great Grandparents and Great Aunts lived, as well as where my Grandmother Nadine Tilley Robinson lived -- all on Coronado.

Here is the house where his aunt, Lou Goodale Bigelow lived with her parents. Is was originally in another part of town and was moved to Soledad Street, lock, stock and barrel. 

In 1936 our dad, Patrick Crowley, lived with his mother Nadine and Aunt Kathleen in the Mission Apartments. He remembers a cupboard with drawers, and the bottom drawer has a mattress it in which served as his bed. We went in search of the apartments, designed by Architect Irving Gill. As we approach the building, discussing Mr. Gill, a fellow ambled up behind us and introduced himself as the owner of the building - for the past 46 years. A long conversation ensued, where dad and Mr. Sweet shared a lot of information on Irving Gill and his one-time associate William Hebbard. There a few remaining Gill buildings on Coronado, 4 of them residential.  Mr. Sweet also waxed poetic about his famous hamburgers at his restaurant, Danny's Bar & Grill on Orange Avenue.  We'll have to make it over there sometime.

At the end of the day, the jewel in the Crown, the Monterey Apartments where Grandmother Nadine lived while married to Carl Ince in the early 1960s.  Grandmother was a great hostess to her three granddaughters and we loved her 3rd story apartment with its large deck and high ceilings.  The place looks just as it did when we last saw it in the mid 1960s.

A great morning spent steeped in memories, especially for dad. He's been a part of Coronado since 1936 when, as a 4 year old lad, he was brought there by his grandparents to live with his mother.  For my sisters and me, seeing the Monterey apartments again, where so much fun happened, is a true delight.