Tijuana Escorts: Tide, storms expose gaming ship that cashed in its chips
… I remember my dad telling me about a gambling ship off Coronado when he was a young boy,” said Jan Ronis, a second-generation native San Diegan.
Back in the dark and mostly dry early years of the Great Depression, the S.S. Monte Carlo was a controversial symbol that hope floats — as long as you played your cards right.
Launched in 1921 at Wilmington, N.C., the experimental, concrete-hulled ship was originally designed for military use as a tanker in World War I. In those days, it was called the McKittrick.
But the war ended before the vessel was finished, and it was converted to civilian use.
In 1936, the ship, renamed the S.S. Monte Carlo, turned up off San Diego. Its owners, alleged to have mob ties, anchored the vessel three miles off Point Loma, in international waters, and opened a floating casino and brothel. Ads touted “drinks, dice and dolls.”