Sunday, May 22, 2022

the historic, but forgotten way, the Coronado Bridge was dedicated in 1969, and it wasn't by the planning commission's scheduled appearance by Gov Reagan.


in August 1969 the then-governor of California arrived in San Diego to help dedicate the new bridge connecting the city and Coronado, the longest in Southern California, but he felt the value of the span had already been demonstrated, two days earlier, by a 21-year-old pregnant woman in Barrio Logan.

She’d gone into premature labor in her house near the corner of Crosby Street and National Avenue. A friend ran across the street to a fire station, where firefighters called for an ambulance. The baby girl came first.

After a successful delivery, they put mother and daughter in the ambulance. The driver could have taken the usual route and headed to Paradise Valley Hospital, 10 minutes away, but it dawned on him that there was now a closer emergency room.

He drove to Coronado, across the finished but not yet open bridge.

Two days later Reagan stood in front of a crowd of about 1,500 people gathered for a bridge celebration at the Hotel del Coronado. He was the featured speaker. Referring to the impromptu ambulance crossing, he said, “The bridge has already been dedicated far beyond anything I might do.”

No comments:

Post a Comment