1-30-10 Alert: Wreckage is visible. See details: https://coronadotimes.com/profiles/blogs/swimmers-warned-away-from It was a novelty in 1936, the Monte Carlo, a ship the length of a football field anchored about 3 miles offshore. Outside the bounds of state and federal law, yet only a water taxi ride away, it offered what could not be had legally ashore: gambling and prostitution. Or as the offerings were known at the time, “Drinks, dice and dolls.” The enterprise was thought to be run by the mob, and local ministers railed against it. Law enforcement officials fumed at what they considered a flaunting of the law. But the whole enterprise came to a crashing end 70 years ago on New Year’s Day 1937. Closed the November before for the winter and with only two caretakers aboard, the Monte Carlo tore from its mooring during a storm and crashed onto the beach just after dawn a quarter-mile south of the Hotel del Coronado.
