Santa Catalina Island, California

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Image:Santacatalinaisland.jpg Santa Catalina Island, often called simply Catalina Island, is a rocky island off the coast of the U.S. state of California.

The 76 mi²/48,000 acre (194 km²) island is located about 22 miles (35 km) south-southwest of San Pedro, Los Angeles, California and is part of Los Angeles County.

It is the only one of the Channel Islands chain to have a permanent civilian settlement and urbanization; most of the 3,000 residents live in the resort city of Avalon, California. Most of the island is owned by the Catalina Island Conservancy.

1 History
2 Wildlife
3 Tourism and attractions
4 Camps
5 Education
6 Pop culture and trivia
7 External links

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History

Prior to the modern era the island was inhabited by people of the Tongva tribe, who also lived in the area of Los Angeles, had villages near present day San Pedro and Playa del Rey, and who regularly traveled back and forth to Catalina for trade. The Tongva called the island Pimu or Pimungna.

The first European to ever set foot on the island was the Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. This happened on October 7, 1542. He claimed the island for Spain and christened it San Salvador. Another Spanish explorer, Sebastian Vizcaino, rediscovered the island on the eve of Saint Catherine's day (November 24) in 1602. He renamed it Santa Catalina.

Image:Avalonbaybig.jpg During the following 300 years, the island served as home or base of operation for all sorts of visitors, from Russian otter hunters to Spanish smugglers to Chinese pirates. Franciscan monks tried to build a mission there, but failed due to the lack of fresh water on the island. The native population was mostly wiped out during 19th century. Catalina Island experienced a brief period of gold rush in 1860s, but no gold was found, and ultimately those early mining attempts were abandoned. By the end of 19th century, the island was almost uninhabited except for a few cattle herders. At that time, its location just 20 miles from Los Angeles—the city that had reached the population of 50,000 in 1890 and was undergoing the period of enormous growth—was a major factor that contributed to the development of the island into a vacation destination.

The sons of Phineas Banning bought the island in 1891 and established the Santa Catalina Island Company to develop it as a resort. Their efforts were set back on November 29, 1915 when a fire burned half of Avalon's buildings, including six hotels and several clubs. World War I also hampered tourism, and the Banning brothers were forced to sell the island.

William Wrigley, Jr. bought Catalina Island in 1919 and devoted himself to preserving and promoting it. In 1921 he sold lots for building in the town of Avalon. The tourism industry was encouraged by the construction of a beautiful Art Deco dance hall, called the Casino, in 1929. Its upstairs dance floor has a capacity of over 6,000 dancers, and sits above the glamourous Avalon Theater, which seats 1,150. While the theater shows movies almost exclusively, it has the capabilities to host theatrical productions as well. The Casino's name derives from a more traditional Italian definition of casino, meaning social gathering place; the building has never served as a gambling establishment.

From 1927 through 1937 pottery and tile were made on the island, and these items are now collectible. The Chicago Cubs, also owned by Wrigley, used the island for the team's spring training.

During World War II, the island was closed to tourists and used as a military training facility. [1]

Catalina's airport, the "Airport in the Sky" (AVX), was completed in 1946. The 3,250-foot (990-meter) runway sits on a mountaintop, 1,602 feet (488 meters) above sea level. Up until the time of the airport's construction, the only air service to the island was provided by seaplanes.

In 1975, Philip Wrigley deeded the Wrigley shares in the Santa Catalina Island Company to the Catalina Island Conservancy that he had helped create. It now owns the vast majority of the island.

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Wildlife

Image:Lightmatter Avalon Bay.jpg A herd of American Bison roamed the island for many decades, supposedly first imported in 1924 for the silent film version of Zane Grey's Western tale "The Vanishing American." Boars, brought over as game, also ran free. The island also maintains a small population of Island Foxes, an endangered endemic species.

About 400 species of native plants grow on the island, including the endangered Santa Cruz Island Rock Cress (Sibara filifolia). Several species of plants are found only on Catalina Island, including: Cliff Spurge (Euphorbia misera), Island Cherry (Prunus ilicifolia ssp. lyonii) and Catalina Ironwood (Lyonothamnus floribundus ssp. floribundus). Some of these plants are protected in the island's Wrigley Botanical Gardens. In the waters surrounding the island, there are also lots of fish like garibaldi, blacksmiths, opal eyes and many more.

The Conservancy is tasked with the responsibility of maintaining the island's natural state. It is eradicating invasive weeds and removing non-native animals such as boars and goats[2]. Some bison are occasionally removed to control their population, as they have destroyed much of the original, native plant life on the island. During the past few years, most of the bison were relocated to the mainland. For example, in December 2004, the Morongo Band of Cahuilla/Mission Indians donated $75,000 to relocate 104 bison to South Dakota. As of September 2005, about 125 bison still remain, and this number is expected to stay unchanged, since they are a major tourist attraction.

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Tourism and attractions

About a million tourists visit the island every year; Catalina is serviced by ferries and the "Airport in the Sky". Ferries depart from Orange County in Newport Beach and Dana Point, while they depart from Los Angeles County in Long Beach, San Pedro, and Marina del Rey.

Most of the island is controlled by the Catalina Island Conservancy, a private nonprofit organization. Under an agreement with Los Angeles County, the Conservancy has granted an easement to allow day hiking and mountain biking, but visitors must first obtain a permit at the Conservancy's office (on which they declare the parts of the island they intend to visit). Hiking permits are free, whereas annual bicycle permits are available for a fee (as of 2005, $60 per person). Image:Twoharbors.jpg The use of motor vehicles on the island is restricted; there is limit on the number of registered cars, which translates into 10-year-long wait list to bring a car to the island. Most residents move around via golf cart. Bicycles are also a popular mode of transportation. There are a number of bicycle and golf cart rental agencies on the island. Only the city of Avalon is open to the public without restrictions.

Glass bottom boats tour the reefs and shipwrecks of the area, and scuba diving and snorkeling are popular in the clear water. The area is famous for the schools of flyingfish and the bright orange Garibaldi which teem in local waters. Bus tours are given of the interior.

While tourists rarely have an opportunity to surf, two beaches on the "backside" of Catalina offer good waves: Shark Harbor and Ben Weston Beach.

Two Harbors is the second, and much smaller, resort village on the island. Located at the isthmus of the island, north of Avalon, it is the primary landing spot for those who wish to tour the western half of the island. It is accessible by boat from San Pedro and by bus or boat from Avalon.

Art Good, host of the Jazztrax Showcase of the Absolute Newest, holds the Catalina Island Jazztrax Festival there each year.

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Camps

Two Boy Scouts of America councils in Los Angeles County have camps north of Two Harbors: Camp Cherry Valley, operated by the San Gabriel Valley Council, located two coves north of Two Harbors at Cherry Cove; and Camp Emerald Bay, operated by the Western Los Angeles County Council, further up the coast.

The island contains a YMCA summer camp named Camp Fox, operated by YMCA of Glendale, which holds several summer coed youth camps, a summer girl's camp, as well as a Christian leadership conference in spring. There is also Campus by the Sea, an intervarsity Christian camp on the island.

Guided Discoveries also runs several camps on Catalina Island providing hands on opportunities to learn marine science and environmental studies to school groups and community groups during school year and summer sea camps during the summer. Image:Santa-catalina-red-nasa.jpg

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Education

Children in Avalon attend schools in the Long Beach Unified School District.

There is one K-12 school on Catalina Island: Avalon Elementary School, Avalon Middle School and Avalon High School are all one big K-12 school on one campus. About 800 students attend Avalon schools each year. Thousands of school-age youths travel from the mainland to study at the Catalina Island Marine Institute every year.

The USC Wrigley Institute research and teaching facilites at Two Harbors, maintained by the University of Southern California and named for Philip K. Wrigley, consist of a 30,000 square-foot laboratory building, dormitory housing, cafeteria, a hyperbaric chamber, and a large waterfront staging area complete with dock, pier, helipad, and diving lockers. The facility was made possible by a generous donation from the Wrigley family.

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Pop culture and trivia

In 1936, a young radio announcer for WHO in Des Moines, Iowa traveled to Catalina to cover the Cubs during spring training. While there, he took a screen test and was offered an acting role. The actor's name was Ronald Reagan.

In 1958, the Four Preps recorded the hit song "26 Miles (Santa Catalina)."

The 1966 romantic comedy film The Glass Bottom Boat, starring Doris Day & Rod Taylor, was filmed on Catalina Island.

Marilyn Monroe briefly lived in Avalon as a young, married woman, and was a babysitter for neighborhood children.

Several scenes from the film Chinatown, starring Jack Nicholson, were filmed on Catalina, including one showing the Casino.

Actress Natalie Wood drowned off the coast of Catalina in 1981 while on a boating trip with husband Robert Wagner and actor Christopher Walken.

The 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit featured an oft-referenced vacation to Catalina Island as a subject in the failing relationship between Eddie Valiant and Dolores.

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