All-you-can-eat breakfast buffets remind me of being overzealous on family vacations, filling my plate with unlimited amounts of sugar: waffles with Nutella, Fruit Loops, cantaloupe, strawberry yogurt. Later, with a full belly, I’d grab a lounge chair and jump into a glassy pool or the fresh ocean in the late morning. Oftentimes we’d go to […]
Michelle Armas
Michelle Armas is a reporter for The Coronado News. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from San Diego State University, where she also studied French. She spent a year living in Tokyo, teaching English and contributing feature stories to Japan Today. In her free time, she enjoys making ceramics and creative writing. She can be reached at 661-972-6098.
Posted inLifestyle
103-year-old Peggy Price reflects on a life of courage
When Peggy Price greets me at her Coronado condo, she wears a matching set, her white bob perfectly styled and a huge smile on her face. “You would have had wild horses drag me out of California,” Price says. That strive for independence has followed her for more than a century. Born in December 1922, […]
Posted inNews
From Ground Zero to Coronado: A Chaplain lives out his calling to support those in crisis
Mickey Stonier stood before what was left of the World Trade Center, gazing up at a 17-foot intersecting steel beam that had collapsed in the form of a cross as rescue crews desperately searched for survivors amid smoking ruins. Stonier was praying for those grieving. “That’s where they lowered the bodies that were discovered from […]
Posted inOpinion
Review: Night Hawk is anything but lonely
When I first went to write about the opening of The Baby Grand, I tried to catch it all. But I knew it was efflorescent. To what extent, I didn’t realize until I sat at the table for hours and devoured it — not just visually, but gastronomically, too. This time, I indulged in the […]
Posted inOpinion
Review: A Mediterranean state of mind, in Coronado
By The Sea, a new coastal Mediterranean restaurant on Orange Avenue, feels like the next bait to lure outsiders to a vacation town like Coronado. With the Baby Grand opening right across the street just a few months ago, local restaurateurs Lara and Doug Hamm are adding to the downtown bustle. But, instead of loud […]
Posted inLifestyle
Marilyn Monroe’s later career takes center stage at Hotel Del exhibition
In 1958, rooms at the Hotel del Coronado cost roughly $20 to $50 a night. That same year, the hotel set aside more than 100 rooms for the cast and crew of “Some Like It Hot,” the iconic Hollywood film starring Marilyn Monroe, during its on-location filming. Now, for what would have been the 100th […]
Posted inLifestyle
New Coronado fishing camp is more than catching fish
Larsen Hill had spent years fishing in Hawaii, but on the second-to-last day of Coronado’s youth fishing camp, he hooked something he had never caught before: a stingray. The 12-year-old, who is entering sixth grade next year, reeled in the ray with a smile as he and another boy rushed down to the rocks to […]
Posted inOpinion
Review: The high price of feeling good
Just a couple of months ago, a silver Airstream glowing with a large pink lotus appeared near the boardwalk in front of the Hotel del Coronado. The new SunLife Organics smoothie bar peddles colorful, supplement-packed smoothies and smoothie bowls topped with nut butters and organic granola. SunLife Organics has built its brand around transformation and […]
Posted inOpinion
Review: Summertime sweetness at MooTime Creamery
An ice cream sundae is the pinnacle of gluttony and delight. And MooTime Creamery has the most decadent sundae to start this blistering summer — or the middle of summer, or even the end of summer. I ordered the Monkey Love sundae, a favorite of mine back when MooTime was still at the Hotel del […]
Posted inOpinion
Review: Craft meets creativity at Bay Books Coffee
At the entrance of Bay Books, craft coffee and trendy experimental recipes collide. From classic cappuccinos to Froot Loops matcha, this unassuming bookstore coffee shop is keeping pace with the modern evolution of coffee culture — and keeping up with fleeting trends. My coffee journey runs long and deep. As a little girl, I’d sip […]
Posted inOpinion
Review: A gas station taco shop brings the heat
Habaneros Mexican Food, tucked on the corner of the Shell gas station off Orange Avenue, is evidently on fire, but perhaps also boiling under pressure. On a Wednesday night at 6 p.m., 19-year-old Landon Sako bounced from the kitchen to the counter, taking orders in person and over the phone, checking in with the staff […]
Posted inLifestyle
Meet the winner of the Fourth of July t-shirt contest
The winner of the t-shirt contest is — drumroll, please — Maylen Nelson! Nelson is originally from Tijuana but grew up visiting Coronado. As a child, she would stop by the ice cream shop at the Hotel del Coronado, walk around town and eat at different restaurants with her family. After spending a few years […]
Posted inNews
Where every second counts: A look behind the scenes of a NASCAR pit crew
It is the 42nd lap of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race when driver Josh Berry radios that his Ford Mustang needs a pit stop. Moments later, the No. 21 car brakes into pit road, where tire changers, fuelers and jackmen spring into action, servicing the car in less than 10 seconds. Those 10 seconds may […]
Posted inNews
National identity on display as NASCAR takes over Naval Base Coronado
Naval aircrafts flew across a baby-blue sky, spectators pledged allegiance to the flag, a sailor led the crowd in prayer, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth waved the green flag — all just before NASCAR drivers raced across Naval Base Coronado on Sunday. The race marked the first time NASCAR’s Cup Series competed on an […]
Posted inOpinion
Review: Grandiose setting, familiar comforts
There’s something about the feeling one gets standing beneath an archway. It’s that sense of awe gazing up at a monument like the Arc de Triomphe or the Arch of Constantine. The semi-circular architecture makes something trivial, such as a “polished casual” Italian chain, seem grandiose, lofty and spacious enough to bestow gravitas. When I […]