Throughout the hotel's history, several minor fires caused damage, triggering temporary evacuations and it has been the location of numerous criminal incidents.

[12] In January 1920, the Industrial Welfare Commission held a meeting at the hotel, focusing on minimum wages for employed women in San Diego.

[13] That same month librarian Mary Elizabeth Downey stayed at the Polhemus while in town to speak at the San Diego Public Library.

[15] In 1929, Hotel del Coronado room clerk Edgar P. Schiller was hired as manager after the Polhemus was leased to George W.

[18][19] In 1998, the inn was damaged from a fire and 40 people were evacuated due to a cigarette igniting a mattress on the fourth floor.

[25][26] The city and attorney Mara Elliott said owner Jack Shah Rafiq and his company Jax Properties LLC[5][27][28] would be held responsible for covering the occupants' relocation costs that totaled $339,840.

[27] The basement of the building has entrances from the main lobby of the hotel and a stairway from a business entrance on Seventh Ave.[33] In the mid 2010s, the basement was used as a performance venue called Gray Area Multimedia,[34][35] formerly known as Rosewood Five Studios at 1150 Seventh Ave.[36][37][38] The San Diego International Fringe Festival occupied the space in 2017[36] and Luke Pensabene managed the location.

[35][39] Pensabene helped produce several independent films that recorded principal photography in the basement such as South of 8,[40] The Phantom Hour,[41] Friend of the World,[35] Hacksaw,[42] Touch,[43] and Everybody Dies by the End.

[44] In April 1916, after kicking several trash cans, Los Angeles resident William Haupt was arrested outside the building by Officer Tim Holcomb.

The thieves had previously made off with a suitcase with $150 in clothes from the nearby Panama Hotel,[51] and were already wanted by police in Long Beach, California[52] after robbing an apartment clerk of $45,[53] and stealing a car in Sacramento.

Detectives were alerted and questioned them in their room, but the men were able to mislead law enforcement that they were ranch owners traveling the country.

[63] In 1999, Lt. Ray Sigwalt said San Diego police homicide was called after a 66 year old man died from a sixth floor fall into the building's air shaft.

Police responded 190 times over a three year period since May 2019, spending 465 hours to address burglaries, public intoxication, and other nuisances.