Stalking San Diego

Spent this past weekend in Coronado, a small island off the coast of San Diego, with my family to celebrate Father'”‘”‘s Day. My best friend, who lives nearby, came over to spend the day with me by the hotel pool and when she got there she mentioned that she was a “bit afraid” to tell me that a production crew was filming on the San Diego-Coronado Bridge. LOL While I didn'”‘”‘t drag her over to the bridge to do some stalking, I thought I'”‘”‘d do a post about past productions that took place there.

The Coronado Bridge, as it is more commonly referred to, is 11,288 feet long and 200 feet high – a height which permits Navy ships harbored at the nearby Naval Station San Diego to safely sail underneath. The Bridge was built in 1969 and connects the City of San Diego, via the 5 Freeway, to Coronado Island. It is the third most popular suicide bridge in America, following the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the Aurora Bridge in Seattle, Washington. My best friend also shared a very cool, little known bridge fact with me – it floats! Yes, you read that right! In the case of a disaster, natural or otherwise, if the Coronado Bridge is destroyed, pieces of it will actually float instead of sinking to the bottom. It was designed this way so that in the case of a disaster large pieces of the bridge can be towed out of the harbor so that the Naval Station and Navy ships are not blocked in.

The Coronado Bridge is an oft used filming location, mostly for commercials, but it has showed up in a few TV shows. The bridge was featured each week in the opening credits of the TV show Simon & Simon and it also showed up several times on Veronica Mars, where most notably it was the bridge where Logan'”‘”‘s mother jumped to her death. While it is sometimes referenced as the bridge used in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, even though that movie was supposed to take place in “Sun” Diego, it was actually filmed almost entirely in Long Beach. The scene where Will Ferrel and Jack Black get into a fist fight was actually filmed on the Queensway Bridge in Long Beach, not on the Coronado Bridge.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The San Diego-Coronado Bridge is located off the 5 Freeway in San Diego County, just past the Downtown San Diego exits. If you have time, spend the afternoon walking around Coronado – it is an adorable little town.