7 Things to Know About Coronado Island

6. Culinary Hot Spot
The hip Leroy's (top) has a fantastically cultivated gastropub-inspired menu, while the Hotel Del's swanky 1500 Ocean (bottom) offers high-end farm-to-table dining headed by Chef de Cuisine Robert Hohmann. Il Fornaio is great for a delectable sweet treat, and Coronado Brewing Company's menu offers satisfying and delicious food like the Lobster Mac'n Cheese or Cilantro Chicken to go down with their suds.

7. The Baum House
If you're truly a Friend of Dorothy visiting this island, a trip would be incomplete without checking out the haunts of Dorothy's creator, L. Frank Baum. The writer often fled the Midwest for the Pacific coast, making the Hotel Del his residence of choice  in 1904, and became a frequent visitor through 1910. During that time, he published three books in the Oz series:  Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz (1908), The Road to Oz (1909), and The Emerald City (1910). He frequented the island so often that he eventually purchased a lovely blue and yellow home in Star Park Circle. The house is modest compared to some of the nearby estates, but as Dorothy said, "There's no place like home."