Back to Catalina, Pt. 4

Welcome back to my Catalina Island series; as you head towards the Casino/Theatre, you pass these really cool tiles. This particular one depicts the Casino:

I LOVE the colors of these Catalina Tiles! Created by Catalina Classic Tile, they are a signature of the Island.

The Catalina Casino opened on May 29, 1929. Its Art Deco/Mediterranean design was by Sumner Spaulding (designer of the famed Harold Lloyd estate, Greenacres) and Walter Weber. The casino's movie theater was the first to be designed specifically for films with sound. It received the Honor Award from the California Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, as “one of the outstanding architectural accomplishments.”

Although available for tours, the movie theatre has ceased to function due to low attendance.

It was closed during my visit, so the only interior shot I got was this one through the glass doors:

These interior shots were from 2004 when I saw a movie there:

Back to the present, and some incredible vintage light fixtures!

The tile in the entry:

One more installment left in my Catalina series!

See more Catalina photos at my main website.

Back to Catalina, Pt. 3

As I approached the Avalon Casino for the first time in sixteen years, a bit of a fog had descended on the Island. No problem here; I like to shoot in all kinds of weather! You might recognize the Catalina Island Yacht Club shown below from the classic film “Chinatown” (1974) with Jack Nicholson:

On this trip, I ventured further down the way to see the Descanso Beach Club:

As I was nosing around, I discovered this abandoned stone staircase behind the club.

While it was a little rough hiking up the hill to the top, the almost sunset views were worth it:

Afterwards, another hike towards the Chimes Tower provided more fantabulous views, including this one of the Casino from above:

In 1925, William Wrigley Jr. and his wife Ada purchased the Westminster chimes from Chicago’s J.C. Deagan Company and had them installed in this tower that was built for their use:

While there, a documentary about the chimes was being filmed, so I couldn't get inside.

Nearby is the Zane Grey Pueblo Hotel:

In 1926, American West author Zane Grey built a home on the hillside overlooking the Avalon Bay. After his death in 1939,  his pueblo was converted into a hotel. The South Building of the property houses rooms from the original estate. Until the next post, I’ll leave you at the Casino:

See more Catalina/Avalon Island photos at my main website.

Traveling Thursdays: Catalina Island

I have only been to Catalina Island once. When I stepped off the boat and looked around, I wished I had booked a longer weekend trip. By that very same evening, I was ready to go home. Overall, the island seemed somewhat touristy to me; too full of people and activity to relax, but not enough attractions that appealed to me to keep me busy. I played a lot of miniature golf.

Still, I was very impressed by the Avalon Theatre, shown in the first vintage image. The 12 story tall structure opened on May 29, 1929, ad has a movie theatre and museum on the first level and a dance hall on the top level. The theatre has one movie screen that shows first-run movies (you can watch "The Mysterious Island" if you happen to be on the island tonight!), and is so well-insulated that guests can't hear the noise from the dancehall above, yet the acoustics are so good that a speaker on the theatre stage can speak in a normal voice without a microphone and be heard clearly by all in attendance.

The theatre still has its original 4-manual, 16 rank theatre pipe organ built by the Page Pipe Organ Company of Lima, Ohio, which you can see in this clip showing Bob Salisbury playing (appropriately) the song "Avalon":




The photos shown here were taken from my June 2004 trip; I was still using a camera that took film, and I have to say my photography skills were not very advanced. Still, I think you can see what a historic gem this theatre is.

















See more vintage & current Catalina Island photos on my Catalina web page.