Want to know where to find the best cinnamon rolls, a good dry cleaner and all that’s going on in Coronado this summer? If you are an Arizonan who summers in Coronado, chances are you’ll have all these questions answered in your copy of “The Other Red Book.”

That’s what Tammy Underwood and Kathy Ritt call the red folder that they update every year and give away to their Arizona/Coronado neighbors. That’s right – the Ultimate Insider’s Guide is a folder, filled with photocopied tidbits, and here in Coronado we’re not really clear on why it’s called the “other” Red Book. But, nevertheless, no self-respecting Zoni would dare leave home without it.

“Tammy is the inspiration,” says Ritt. “She’s the one who came up with the idea and I just help her along with it.”

Tammy Underwood and her family began “going to the beach,” in 1973 when her mother first moved to Coronado. “I watched Coronado grow and change so much over the years,” says Underwood. “Then, a lot of our friends started going over as well and I wanted their phone numbers in Coronado.” That’s what prompted Underwood to put out the first book in 1995. “It was a cover page and a copy of phone numbers.”

Now it’s phone numbers and cell numbers and much, much more for about 80 families, most of whom vacation each summer in Coronado, a few in La Jolla and Del Mar. “The rule is whoever has their number in the book has to contribute to the book,” says Underwood. “We expect them to be cub reporters.”

And that’s the only way a business will ever have its name in this valuable little folder — “It’s not commercial and we’d never ever let someone put an ad in it. It’s just our shared secrets.”

“Tammy keeps us informed on all the nurseries,” says Ritt, “Like Walter Anderson’s, Mission Hills Nursery and Cedros Nursery in Solana Beach.

“Our book contains information on 14 nurseries,” Underwood adds. “We Zonies spend lots of time working on our Coronado gardens.”

“We want everyone to connect so each family can get the most out of their Coronado experience,” says Ritt. “Now they can get in touch with anyone they’d like to invite to lunch, to play with the kids or to invite to parties.

Some of the families in the book are four generations — great grandparents, grandparents, parents and kids.”

And Zonies do know how to party!

Underwood and Ritt distribute the books at an annual May “Coffee and Conversation” party at Underwood’s house in Paradise Valley, a community of approximately 12,000 residents n the shadow of Camelback Mountain and surrounded by Scottsdale and Phoenix.

“We stay up late the night before assembling the books,” Underwood says. “We add a few new things, take out what’s no longer appropriate, put in the new Padres schedule, the 4th of July activities, the Humphreys Bayside concerts, and the Coronado Concert in the Park schedule.”

At this kick of party for the season, the other red book is Underwood and Ritts gift to their friends.

More parties follow in Coronado. Many Arizonans get together for allday 4th of July parties, and watch the parade together. Then there is the annual summer beach book exchange. “Everyone brings a book that they can read on the beach,” says Ritt. “It’s amazing that we seem to have such few duplicates.”

While the ladies hold their beach book party, the men have their own social network established. The guys have a breakfast club, explain the ladies. “You’ll find them at Clayton’s, or the Beach ’n Diner or sometimes at one of Tammy Underwood’s favorites, the Crown Bistro. Most of the guys play golf, or go boating or spend their day working through their “honey do” lists. “They really support us a lot,” says Ritt, wisely.

Arizonans — both second homeowners and renters — are proud of being a part of the Coronado community, Ritt says. “We take advantage of everything,” says Ritt, who, with husband Jerry, have owned their home on Alameda Boulevard since 1992. “Our grandchildren (The Ritts have six grandkids) go to the Rec Center, the library, and we all go to Farmer’s Market on Tuesday.“

We’ve rented the same house on J Avenue for many many years” says Underwood. Ritt says Underwood is one of the most organized summer travelers she’s ever met. “Ask her how she does it,” Ritt teases, and Underwood proudly rises to the occasion. “I have everything organized in totes that go into the garage – the tote for the 4th of July, the tote for the beach and then a few items for the kitchen.” Once here, her main mode of transportation is by bicycle. Her husband, John, commutes to Coronado via the “corporate jet” — Southwest Airlines.

Many “empty nester” Arizonans arrive on or before Memorial Day and stay through Labor Day. “Our numbers are very strong by the Fourth of July,” Underwood says. Parents with school-age children leave the first week of August because school starts the following week. “The Arizona school districts try to coordinate their schedules with the college schedules so that teachers can attend summer school,” she explains.

The Ritts are members of the Coronado Historical Association and have just joined the Coronado Yacht Club, “We don’t have a boat yet,” Ritt confides, “but there’s so much more to the yacht club.” Kathy Ritt usually participates in the annual Flower Show weekends, but not this year. That’s because Ritt and Underwood orchestrated a children’s fashion show and silent auction fundraiser for PANDA, which stands for “People Acting Now Discover Answers” back on their home turf. PANDA, now in its tenth year, has raised more than $1.6 million for the Steele Children’s Research Center at the University of Arizona.

In addition to participating in fundraisers for Arizona’s health care, other Red Book members realize the value of Sharp Coronado Hospital and two of the Arizona families have hosted events for the Coronado Hospital Foundation in their homes. “We’ve all visited the ER from time to time with our kids, and of course, my mother during her illness,” says Underwood. (Tammy’s mother passed away in November of 2007.) “Of course we need to help them be a great viable hospital.”

Ritt says that many of the second homeowners love to come to the island for Christmas. “We like to be here that first Friday for the parade and the open house and the snow at the Ferry Landing,” she says. “And the tree lighting at the Hotel Del and now the ice skating that overlooks the ocean. It’s wonderful.” Underwood and her husband have come for the holiday festivities on occasion, staying on a sailboat at Harbor Island.

And then there’s that big finale party of the year on New Year’s Eve. “We make it a Progressive Dinner,” says Ritt. “We start at one house with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, then we usually do the dinner at my house.” Last year, there were 22 participants on the dinner trek. “I took all the furniture out of my living room so we could sit at one long table,” she said. “And then we ended up at the Gunnings for dessert and coffee and we watch the fireworks! This has been our tradition for the past 10 years.

Kathy Ritt is “at home” now in Paradise Valley. “I still call Arizona home,” she says, “and we do spend more of our time in Arizona, because our grandkids live here.

“But they all follow me to the beach.”