Arriving in Catalina...

After a choppy boat ride, we spied the island of Catalina. It is about 30 miles off the coast of L.A. and is a part of a series of islands out there called the Channel Islands. It is the biggest of the islands and has two towns, a bigger one called Avalon and a smaller town called Two harbors. From what I can gather, Catalina was made famous back in the 20s when the Wrigley family (as in Wrigley gum and Wrigley field in Chicago) sort of bought half the island. Mr. Wrigley built a huge mansion, a country club where the Cubs had spring training for awhile and the most famous structure, the Casino. That is the round building in the picture. He wanted a place for people to come out to the island and go dancing. We took a tour of the casino and found out that it is not a gambling casino like many people think. The word casino is actually Italian for a social gathering place. So, Mr. Wrigley had this built in 1929. On the upper level is the largest circular dance floor that can hold like 6000 people. And on the lower level is a large movie theater that originally showed silent films with a "page organ" to accompany the movies. Then it became one of the first theaters to be able to show sound movies. Catalina remains a destination for the rich, as evident with the HUGE yachts in the harbor and the large houses built into the mountainside around Avalon. But, it is also a big hiker/camper destination as most of the island is uninhabited and full of hiking trails. We were not doing any camping however this weekend...we stayed in a beautiful hotel right in Avalon.