History of Catalina Island
The history of Catalina Island has a colorful and expansive one dating back 7,000 years to the occupation of Native Americans. Archeological evidence suggests that it was the Gabrielino/Tongva tribe that initially inhabited the island. The same tribe also inhabitant much of the Southern Coast in what is modern day Long Beach, San Pedro and Playa Del Rey areas. The tribe early on adapted transportation methods that would allow its members to travel between Catalina and the mainland. This flexibility in going between Catalina and the mainland opened the tribe up to numerous trading opportunities. The Tongva initially called themselves the Pimugnans and referred to the island as Pimu. The Pimugnans maintained settlements all over the island, with their biggest population center being in modern day Avalon. The Gabrielino/Tongva people (Pimugnans) were known for their skill in mining and trading soapstone which was in great supply all over the island. The Pimugnans were especially adapted at making bowls from the stone that could be used to cook and hold water. The bowls were shipped to the mainland where the Mojave Indians would act as middlemen and distribute the stone bowls all over Southern California and down the coast to Baja, Mexico.
The first non Native American people to discover the island were a group of Spanish explorers led by Don Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo who "discovered" the island in 1542. Cabrillo would set up a fort on Catalina Island from which he would set out on other expeditions to the other Channel Islands (near Ventura County). A year after landing on Catalina, Cabrillo broke his leg and died. It is unknown if his grave is on Catalina or another island off the coast of Southern California. Other Spanish explorers that came after Cabrillo to claim the island for Spain were Don Sebastian in 1602. It was Sebastian who named the island, "Santa Catalina Island".
The following 300 years a variety of explorers would land on Catalina Island and claim residence including Russian fisherman, Yankee smugglers and the Aleuts from the Russian Aleutian Islands near Alaska. During this time there was no formal ownership of the island other than Spain's claim from the original discovery. Although it was said these various explorers rounded up and removed the original al Pimugnans Native American tribe, recent compelling evidence suggest that these people were infected with various diseases brought over by the diverse travelers to which they had no immunity. During the turn of the 19th century pirates began to use the island for smuggling activities including using several coves to hide Chinese slaves captured from China en route to the mainland.
After its revolt from Spain, Mexico claimed ownership of the island in 1822. In 1846, Thomas Robbins became the first American owner of the island at the end of the Mexico-American War when governor Pio Pico granted him a land grant. Thomas Robbins maintained a ranch on the island until Jose Covarrubias purchased the island in 1850 and then sold the property to Albert Packard in 1853. In 1874 the trustees of James Lick acquired title to Catalina from a group of four men (James Ray, Walter Hawxhurst, Eugene Sullivan and Chas M. Hitchcock) who jointly held ownership stakes since 1854.
The island remained relatively sparse and uninhabited during the decades from the 1850s to the 1890s. During this time California's population was booming with the gold rush near San Francisco and an influx of settlers into the Los Angeles basin. Many business men had an eye for Catalina and its potential as a major tourist center. In 1887 George Shatto purchased the island from the trustees of James Lick. Shatto was a real estate developer from Michigan and had a vision of developing Avalon into a tourist destination. Shatto is credited with building the town's first hotel, the hotel Metropole as well as a pier. It was his sister in law who named the little settlement, Avalon where she drew inspiration from the poem Idylls of the King-a poem about King Arthur. George Shatto would go on to lay out the streets and formally introduced Avalon as a tourist destination to the public in August of 1887. Shatto purchased a steamer that would shuttle visitors daily from the mainland and by the summer of 1888 Avalon had become a booming tourist town. However within a few years, Shatto had defaulted on his loan and ownership of Catalina Island went back to the Lick Brothers.
In 1891 the Banning Brothers, J.B. Banning, William Banning and Hancock Banning bought the island from the Lick Brothers. They immediately proceeded to carry George Shatto's vision of developing the island into a major tourist destination by forming the Santa Catalina Island company. They positioned the Santa Catalina Island Company as development entity to further Avalon and Catalina as a tourist destination. The Santa Catalina Company is still in existence today by offering tours through a subsidiary called Discovery Tours of the ocean and Catalina interior. The Banning brothers further enhanced Avalon by making improvements to the Hotel Metropole, expanding the streets, building a dance hall, creating a steamer wharf and adding an aquarium. They Banning brothers also improved the quality of the beach by adding a seawall, adding frequent shuttle steamer services to attract more visitors and built tent cities throughout Avalon for those visitors who could not afford a hotel.
The Banning brothers took advantage of Catalina's sprawling land to add additional features and attractions for visitors beyond Avalon. This included paving roads through the rugged mountains and canyons, building hunting lounges and offering stage coach tours into the island's interior. The brothers furthered their ambitious expansion with plans for more hotels, including on Sugar Loaf point (home of the current Catalina Casino). In 1915 a major fire erupted in Avalon and burned over half the buildings. In addition World War I was diverting away tourists and finances to support the rebuilding and continuation of the island were short. The Banning brothers were forced to sale their holdings in the island in shares.
William Wrigley Jr., the chewing gum tycoon that founded Wrigley Gum was one of the first to buy a share. Wrigley was very interested in Catalina's potential as a major tourist destination. Upon traveling to the island with his wife Ada and son Phillip, he immediately fell in love and bought every share and soon owned the island. Like his entrepreneurial predecessors before him, Wrigley was very interested in continuing the efforts to build the island into a vacation destination and spent millions of his own dollars in further development.
One of the first initiatives Wrigley under took as new owner was to improve the transportation between the island and the mainland. When Wrigley first took control of Catalina, there were two steamer ships providing services between Avalon and the mainland. Wrigley increased this service to four steamer ships with the acquisition of the S.S. Virginia and S.S. Catalina. The S.S. Catalina, launched in 1924 and could carry up to 1,963 passengers and 73 crew. The ship was 308 long and had a beam of 52 feet making it the largest cross channel ship ever used. . The S.S. Catalina cost Wrigley over one million dollars and carried passengers between Avalon and Los Angeles all the way to 1975.
In addition to the steam boats and covered wagon rides to the top of Catalina's many peaks (which by the way took four hours to get to the top but only 17 minutes to get to the bottom) Wrigley had many other attractions and PR stunts. In 1927 Wrigley tried to persuade Gertrude Ederle (the first woman to ever swim the English Channel) to swim across the Pacific between the island and the mainland. She declined. Wrigley then launched the 1927 Wrigley Ocean Marathon offering $25,000 to the first person to cross the channel. Only one man, Canadian Swimmer George Young out of 102 hopefuls even made it across the channel to claim the prize, he finished his swim in 15 hours and 44 minutes.
After the PR stunt with the swimming competition, Wrigley's next move to increase tourism was to build an architecturally appealing structure on Sugar Loaf point (to the north of Descanso Beach and to the south of Avalon). The current building occupying the site was called the Catalina Casino-consisting of a ballroom and Avalon's first high school. In 1928 land on Sugar Loaf point was blasted away along with the existing building and with a $2 million dollar investment construction of the new casino began. The Catalina casino took 14 months to build and involved over 800 men. It was designed by Sumner A. Spaulding and Walter Weber and was designed with an Art Deco and Mediterranean Revival in mind. Its specific purpose was for movies with sound. The building never served as an actual gambling establishment and the word, "casino" comes from the term "social gathering place" in Italian.
From 1921 to 1950 the Chicago Cubs (as Wrigley owned the team) would come to Catalina for spring training with a break between 1942 and 1945 when World War II was at its height. It was also during World War II that the island was closed to tourists and the steam ships were reallocated to serve the military transport needs. From 1927 to 1937 pottery and tile were made on the island and distributed through the Catalina Clay Products Company. It is said that to this day, the tiles made from this era are highly prized and sought after.
The 1940s welcomed the home of Catalina's first airport, known as the "Airport in the Sky" the Catalina Airport is positioned over 1,000 feet above sea level in the mountains of the island. The airport consists of a single airstrip and once was served by United Airlines.
Over the years Catalina Island has been the home of several major celebrities, Hollywood producers and directors including Marilyn Monroe. John Wayne is said to have guided his boat from Newport Harbor to Catalina Island and Zane Grey, a famous movie write from the 1920s who the hotel on Avalon is named after spent many of his days on the island. Catalina Island was the home location where Natalie Wood perished in a boating accident and it is said that Lisa Marie Presley lost her engagement ring in Avalon Harbor after a fight aboard a yacht. From the 1970s through the 1980s, Catalina Island enjoyed a reputation with famous celebrities and rich moguls who would arrive in Los Angeles and continue their journey's to the island for relaxation and fun.
Today Catalina Island continues to undergo new development projects as up to a million people visit the island every year. The island is now a stop over point for some cruise lines and enjoys a laid back feel as both locals and visitors from LA and beyond take in its scenery, hiking and many activities around the ocean and interior.
