UPDATE: The publication has been renamed The Coronado Times. Read more.
Coronado has been a popular tourist destination for over 100 years. Since 2002, people around the world have been able to visit the island without leaving home, thanks to a website called eCoronado.com, created and operated by Coronado resident Steve Johnson.
Born and raised in Orange County, Steve studied communications at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, where he met his wife Lisa. They married in 1996 and lived in New Jersey, Colorado and San Clemente before settling down in Coronado. They now live in the area we call Olive on our Coronado Neighborhoods print, with their kids Ellie, 6, and Luke, 4, and they all love Coronado. “It’s a playground for kids and adults,” notes Steve.
Steve has been a huge help to Orange & Park by allowing us to keep a blog on eCoronado.com, running parallel to our “official” blog at blog.orangeandpark.combut getting a lot more attention on his website because of its popularity! We caught up with Steve recently and he was kind enough to answer a few questions to shed some light on the man behind the curtain at eCoronado.com.
When did you first visit Coronado?
Steve: I first visited in 1999 when my wife was interviewing to become the associate pastor at Graham Memorial Presbyterian Church. Driving over the bridge felt like we were traveling to another world… it was an amazing feeling. I remember thinking, “This is the most beautiful place in the world and we are going to live here.”
How did eCoronado.com start?
When we first moved here, there wasn’t much online information for locals or visitors. Plus, the information that was online was not very updated, timely or interactive. My mom would call before her visit and ask me for things to do on Coronado and I would give her the information over the phone. I got tired of giving this to other family and friends, so I built a site called eNado which soon evolved into eCoronado.com. It’s been going strong since 2002.
What’s the future of eCoronado.com?
The growth continues with new members signing up each day for our email alerts and to provide feedback on the website. I envision every person here in town being a member as well as Coronado enthusiasts from all over the world. It will allow locals to connect with each other and for Coronado members and businesses to promote events, business and activities over the bridge to searchers looking for Coronado content from their computers, phones or tablets.
Do you have a favorite house on the island?
There are so many beautiful homes on Coronado that it’s hard to narrow it down to one. If I were to live near the beach, I would be happy with this one [above]. I never see anyone enjoying it, so if it’s available, I’d be happy to house-sit.
Imagining Coronado 100 years in the future, what’s the biggest change
that the island will see between now and then?
In 100 years, I think Coronado will be very much the sameand that’s a good thing. It was paradise 100 years ago and it’s paradise today. We are very blessed to live here. Perhaps the traffic and tunnel issue will finally be put to rest since residents will send their robots out to do errands or if they really must travel, they can just teleport to their destination.
All photos on this post were lifted from eCoronado.com. Thanks again to Steve for his support!
