My last year in the navy was perhaps the best year.
I was leaving the USS Enterprise and going back to the naval air station at North Island which is in Coronado, California.
I called Joyce from the Philippines and told her to pack what she could and head for Coronado. She was to get an apartment there for us to spend the last year of naval service living close to North Island. Joyce got to Coronado, found an apartment and moved into it.
The timing for this was good because California was still a wonderful place to be. That is no longer so.
The apartment Joyce got for us on Coronado was huge! I never measured the actual size but the bedroom, living room, dining room were more spacious than any other apartment we lived in. All of that for $200 per month.
Coronado proper is not very large. It has the Pacific ocean on one side and San Diego bay on the other side. We could walk to the ocean in 5 minutes or walk to the bay in less than 15 minutes. Glorietta bay was south of us less than 10 minutes away. Everywhere around us was wonderful. Homes there ranged from small bungalows to mansions. Joyce and I walked around the island every night and on our way back, a stop at Baskin Robbins was in order. Coronado was an idyllic place back then.
Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better, they did! I reached my last 90 days in the navy and my shop chief said, “You have to show up for muster every morning and after that you are free to go or do anything you want.” Those last days we spent at the beach or went to San Diego Old Town ( the original place where the city of San Diego began). We had time to go to Sea World, DisneyLand, Knotts Berry Farm, anywhere our hearts desired.
Coronado at that time was the best place anywhere I knew of and I’ve been to a lot of places. Sadly, Coronado today, 50 years later, is a tragedy. The developers have torn down homes to add evermore apartments and highrise condominiums to fill up all the rest of the island. That breaks my heart.
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