For decades, if you wanted to see San Diego from above, there was one place that stood above the rest — literally.
Perched atop Cortez Hill, the El Cortez Hotel was once the city’s tallest building. When it opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1927, its 310-foot tower dominated the skyline, offering sweeping views of downtown, San Diego Bay, Coronado, Point Loma and the Pacific Ocean.
Today, surrounded by downtown high-rises, it can be difficult to imagine how imposing the building once appeared…