Santa Catalina Island (California)
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Santa Catalina Island ( xgf, Pimuu'nga or ; es, Isla Santa Catalina) is a rocky
island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...
off the coast of
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...
in the Gulf of Santa Catalina. The island name is often shortened to Catalina Island or just Catalina. The island is long and across at its greatest width. The island is located about south-southwest of
Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...
. The highest point on the island is Mount Orizaba (). Geologically, Santa Catalina is part of the Channel Islands of California archipelago and is the easternmost of the Channel Islands. Politically, Catalina Island is part of
Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...
in District 4. Most of the land on the island is unincorporated (governed by the county). Catalina was originally inhabited and used by many different Southern California Tribes, including the
Tongva The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . Some descendants of the people prefer Kizh as an endonym that, they argue, is more historically ...
, who called the island or and referred to themselves as or . The first Europeans to arrive on Catalina claimed it for the
Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
. Over the years, territorial claims to the island transferred it to
Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
and then to the United States. During this time, the island was sporadically used for smuggling, otter hunting, and gold digging, before successfully being developed into a tourist destination by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. beginning in the 1920s. Since the 1970s, most of the island has been administered by the
Catalina Island Conservancy The Catalina Island Conservancy is a nonprofit organization established to protect and restore Santa Catalina Island, California, United States. The Conservancy was established in 1972 through the efforts of the Wrigley and Offield families. Th ...
. Its total population in the 2010 census was 4,096 people, 90 percent of whom live in the island's only incorporated city, Avalon. The second center of population is the unincorporated village of Two Harbors at the island's isthmus. Development also occurs at the smaller settlements of Rancho Escondido and Middle Ranch. The remaining population is scattered over the island between the two population centers.


History

Archeological evidence shows Native American settlement beginning in 7000 BC. Prior to the modern era, the island was inhabited by the
Tongva The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . Some descendants of the people prefer Kizh as an endonym that, they argue, is more historically ...
, who, having had villages near present-day San Pedro and Playa del Rey, regularly traveled back and forth to Catalina for trade. The Tongva called the island or and referred to themselves as the or . The Pimugnans had settlements all over the island at one time or another, with their biggest villages being at the Isthmus and at present-day Avalon, Shark/Little Harbor, and Emerald Bay. The Pimugnans were renowned for their mining, working and trade of soapstone which was found in great quantities and varieties on the island. This material was in great demand and was traded along the California coast. The island was valued for its natural resources, but was also respected by the Tongva as an important "ceremonial center" with connections to the village of , located in present-day
Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporat ...
. The first European to set foot on the island was the explorer
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo ( pt, João Rodrigues Cabrilho; c. 1499 – January 3, 1543) was an Iberian maritime explorer best known for investigations of the West Coast of North America, undertaken on behalf of the Spanish Empire. He was the firs ...
, who sailed in the name of the Spanish crown. On October 7, 1542, he claimed the island for Spain and named it ''San Salvador'' after his ship. Over half a century later, another Spanish explorer, Sebastián Vizcaíno, arrived at the island on the eve of Saint Catherine's day (November 24) in 1602. Vizcaino renamed the island in the saint's honor. The colonization of California by the Spanish greatly contributed to the decline of the Pimugnans because of diseases brought by the Spanish from Europe. By the 1830s, the island's entire native population had been forced to the mainland on the Spanish missions or to work as ranch hands for the many private land owners.
Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...
friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ...
s considered building a mission on Catalina, but abandoned the idea because of the lack of fresh water on the island. While Spain maintained its claim on Catalina Island, foreigners were forbidden to trade with colonies. However, it lacked the ships to enforce this prohibition; also, many inhabitants of the colonies wanted to trade with other European powers by themselves, and the island served as home or base of operation for many visitors. Russian hunters from the
Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large v ...
, and America set up camps on Santa Catalina and the surrounding Channel Islands to hunt otters and seals around the island for their pelts. Pirates, of all countries, including Spain, also found that the island's abundance of hidden coves, as well as its short distance to the mainland and its small population, made it suitable for smuggling activities. In the 1850s and 1860s, Catalina was also home to gold miners as the result of a minor gold rush, though evidence that gold was ever on the island is inconclusive. In 1846, Governor
Pío Pico Don Pío de Jesús Pico (May 5, 1801 – September 11, 1894) was a Californio politician, ranchero, and entrepreneur, famous for serving as the last governor of California (present-day U.S. state of California) under Mexican rule. A member of t ...
made a Mexican land grant of the Island of Santa Catalina to Thomas M. Robbins, as Rancho Santa Catalina. Robbins established a small rancho on the island, but sold it in 1850 to José María Covarrubias. A claim was filed with the
Public Land Commission The California Land Act of 1851 (), enacted following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the admission of California as a state in 1850, established a three-member Public Land Commission to determine the validity of prior Spanish and Mexican ...
in 1853, and the grant was patented to José María Covarrubias in 1867. Covarrubias sold the island to Albert Packard of Santa Barbara in 1853. By 1864 the entire island was owned by James Lick, whose estate maintained control of the island for approximately the next 25 years. By the end of the 19th century, the island was almost uninhabited except for a few
cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...
herders. The first owner to try to develop Avalon into a resort destination was
George Shatto George Rufus Shatto (August 15, 1850 – May 30, 1893) was an American real estate developer. He was an early land investor in Los Angeles, California. In 1887 he purchased Santa Catalina Island, California and was the first person to attempt to ...
, a real estate speculator from
Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is th ...
. Shatto purchased the island for $200,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) from the Lick estate at the height of the
real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more genera ...
boom Boom may refer to: Objects * Boom (containment), a temporary floating barrier used to contain an oil spill * Boom (navigational barrier), an obstacle used to control or block marine navigation * Boom (sailing), a sailboat part * Boom (windsurfin ...
in
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...
in 1887.Jessica Gelt
A day in: 90704
, ''Los Angeles Times'', January 7, 2007
Shatto created the settlement that would become Avalon, and can be credited with building the town's first hotel, the original Hotel Metropole, and pier. Despite Shatto's efforts, he defaulted on his loan after only a few years and the island went back to the Lick estate. The sons of
Phineas Banning Phineas Banning (August 19, 1830 – March 8, 1885) was an American businessman, financier and entrepreneur. Known as "The Father of the Port of Los Angeles," he was one of the founders of the town of Wilmington, in Los Angeles County, Califor ...
bought the island in 1891 from the estate of James Lick. The Banning brothers fulfilled Shatto's dream of making Avalon a resort community with the construction of numerous tourist facilities. On November 29, 1915, a fire burned half of Avalon's buildings, including six hotels and several clubs. In the face of huge debt related to the fire and the subsequent decline in tourism due to
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, the Banning brothers were forced to sell the island in shares in 1919. On May 10, 1912 Glenn L. Martin flew a homemade seaplane in to Avalon, setting records for distance and time. In 1917 the Meteor Company purchased the Chinese pirate ship ''Ning Po'', the oldest pirate ship afloat, built in 1753, and towed her to the Isthmus of Catalina Island for use as a tourist attraction and restaurant, until destroyed there by fire in 1938. One of the main investors to purchase shares from the Bannings was chewing-gum magnate
William Wrigley, Jr. William Mills Wrigley Jr. (September 30, 1861 – January 26, 1932) was an American chewing gum industrialist. He was founder of the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in 1891. Biography William Mills Wrigley Jr. was born in Philadelphia, Penns ...
In 1919, Wrigley bought out nearly every share-holder until he owned controlling interest in the Santa Catalina Island Company. Wrigley invested millions in needed infrastructure and attractions to the island, including the construction of the Catalina Casino which opened on May 29, 1929. Wrigley also sought to bring publicity to the island through events and spectacles. Starting in 1921, the
Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...
, also owned by Wrigley, used the island for the team's
spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives estab ...
. The Cubs continued to use the island for spring training until 1951, except during the war years of 1942 to 1945. Following the death of Wrigley, Jr. in 1932, control of the Santa Catalina Island Company passed down to his son,
Philip K. Wrigley Philip Knight Wrigley (December 5, 1894 – April 12, 1977), often called P. K. Wrigley, was an American chewing gum manufacturer and a Major League Baseball executive, inheriting both of those roles as the quiet son of his much more flamboyant fa ...
, who continued his father's work improving the infrastructure of the island. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the island was closed to tourists and used for military training facilities. Catalina's steamships were expropriated for use as troop transports and a number of military camps were established. The U.S. Maritime Service set up a training facility in Avalon, the Coast Guard had training at Two Harbors, the Army Signal Corps maintained a radar station in the interior, the
Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...
did training at Toyon Bay, and the Navy did underwater demolition training at Emerald Bay. In 1972, the
Brown Berets The Brown Berets (Spanish: ''Los Boinas Cafés'') is a pro-Chicano paramilitary organization that emerged during the Chicano Movement in the late 1960s. David Sanchez and Carlos Montes co-founded the group modeled after the Black Panther Par ...
, a group of Latino activists, Chicanos and Mexican residents occupied Santa Catalina Island, invoking the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which has no mention of the islands. On February 15, 1975, Philip Wrigley deeded of the island from the Santa Catalina Island Company to the
Catalina Island Conservancy The Catalina Island Conservancy is a nonprofit organization established to protect and restore Santa Catalina Island, California, United States. The Conservancy was established in 1972 through the efforts of the Wrigley and Offield families. Th ...
that he had helped to establish in 1972. This gave the Conservancy control of nearly 90 percent of the island. The balance of the Santa Catalina Island Company that was not deeded to the Conservancy maintains control of much of its resort properties and operations on the island. Actress Natalie Wood drowned in the waters near the settlement of Two Harbors over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in 1981 in what was ruled an accidental death. Wood and her husband, Robert Wagner, were vacationing aboard their motor yacht, ''Splendour,'' along with their guest,
Christopher Walken Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. Prolific in film, television and on stage, Walken is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Awa ...
, and ''Splendour'' captain, Dennis Davern. As a result of statements by Davern, and other factors, Wood's death certificate was altered to indicate the cause was "drowning and other undetermined factors" In May 2007, Catalina experienced the Island Fire, a large wildfire. Largely due to the assistance of 200 Los Angeles County fire fighters transported by U.S. Marine Corps helicopters and U.S Navy hovercraft, only a few structures were destroyed, though of wildland were burned.Sahagun, L. and S. Quinones. 2007
Catalina fire lays siege to Avalon: Hundreds of residents and tourists are forced to flee the island
. ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
.'' 11 May.
In May 2011, another wildfire started near the Isthmus Yacht Club and was fought by 120 firefighters transported by barge from Los Angeles. It was extinguished the next day after burning .


Geology

Catalina is primarily composed of two distinct rock units: Catalina Schist from the Early
Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
(95 to 109 million years ago), and
Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...
volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plat ...
and intrusive
igneous rock Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma o ...
s. The island is rich in
quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical f ...
, to the extent that some beaches on the seaward side have silvery-grey sand.Rowland, Stephan M., ''Geology of Santa Catalina Island,'' California Geology, 1984 These formations originally occurred on the ocean floor and emerged from the ocean through tectonic activity. This means that the Santa Catalina Island land-mass was never directly connected to mainland California. Other geologic factors that contributed to the island topography include further geologic uplift and subsidence, tectonic plate movement, sedimentation, metamorphic activity, weathering, and erosion.


Climate

Santa Catalina Island has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
''Csb'') with very mild winters. The
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...
maintains cooperative weather records at the Santa Catalina airport. The average January temperatures are a maximum of and a minimum of . Average July temperatures are a maximum of and a minimum of . There are an average of 12.5 days with highs of or higher and an average of 0.3 days with lows of or lower. The record high temperature was on July 6, 2018, and the record low temperature was on January 11, 1949. Coastal high fog is common during summer, but usually burns off by the afternoon. Average annual precipitation at the airport is ; the highest mountain peaks get up to per year. There are an average of 45 days with measurable precipitation. The wettest year was 1952 with and the driest year was 1964 with . The most precipitation in one month was in January 1952. The most precipitation in 24 hours was on December 5, 1966. Snowfall is a rarity on the island, averaging only a year at the airport, but fell in 1949, including in January.


Wildlife

Since Catalina Island was never connected to mainland California, it originally lacked any terrestrial life. Any plants or animals that arrived on the island had to make their way across miles of open ocean. The original species to come to the island arrived by chance by blowing over on the wind, drifting or swimming over the ocean, or flown over by wing. Starting with the Native Americans and continuing today, animals and plants have also been introduced by humans, both intentionally or accidentally. Catalina is home to at least fifty
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
species and subspecies that occur naturally on the island and nowhere else in the world. This limited distribution of a species may result from the extinction of the original population on the mainland combined with its continued survival on the island where there may be fewer threats to its continued existence.


Flora

The most common native plant communities of Catalina Island are
chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranea ...
,
coastal sage scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is ...
, island oak-ironwood woodland and grassland. Eucalyptus trees are the most common introduced plant. About 400 species of native plants grow on the island. Six species, subspecies or varieties are endemic and can be found only on Catalina Island. These plants are: Catalina manzanita (''Arctostaphylos catalinae''); Catalina mahogany (''Cercocarpus traskiae''); Catalina dudleya (''Dudleya hassei''); St. Catherine's lace (''Eriogonum giganteum'' var. ''giganteum''); Santa Catalina bedstraw (''Galium catalinense'' ssp. ''catalinense''); and Santa Catalina Island ironwood (''Lyonothamnus floribundus'' ssp. ''floribundus''). A disjunctive population of toyon var. ''macrocarpa'' is also a Santa Catalina endemic. These plants may be seen at the island's Wrigley Memorial & Botanical Gardens.


Fauna

The island is home to five native land mammals: the island fox, the ''Spermophilus beecheyi nesioticus'' subspecies of
California ground squirrel The California ground squirrel (''Otospermophilus beecheyi''), also known as the Beechey ground squirrel, is a common and easily observed ground squirrel of the western United States and the Baja California Peninsula; it is common in Oregon and ...
, the Santa Catalina Island harvest mouse (''Reithrodontomys megalotis catalinae''), the Santa Catalina Island deer mouse (''Peromyscus maniculatus catalinae''), and the ornate shrew (''Sorex ornatus''). Only one ornate shrew was ever found, from a now-developed spring area above Avalon. Shrews are difficult to capture and may survive in wetter areas of the island. The Catalina orangetip
butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group compris ...
is a notable insect on the island. The
Southern Pacific rattlesnake ''Crotalus helleri'', known as the Southern Pacific rattlesnake, black diamond rattlesnake, Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). ''Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a division of Corn ...
(''Crotalus oreganus helleri'') is also present on the island. This species should not be confused for the Santa Catalina rattlesnake, found on Santa Catalina Island, Mexico. The Catalina Island bison herd consists of
American bison The American bison (''Bison bison'') is a species of bison native to North America. Sometimes colloquially referred to as American buffalo or simply buffalo (a different clade of bovine), it is one of two extant species of bison, alongside the ...
maintained and monitored by the Catalina Island Conservancy. In the 1920s to 1930s, several bison were brought onto Catalina Island for a movie. The bison are popular with the tourists and buildings have painted images of bison and bison weather vanes. Over the decades, the bison herd grew to as many as 600. The population currently numbers approximately 150. Other non-native animals currently living on the island include the blackbuck, bullfrog,
feral cat A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact: it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...
, mule deer, rat, and
common starling The common starling or European starling (''Sturnus vulgaris''), also known simply as the starling in Great Britain and Ireland, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is about long and has glossy black plumage ...
. Mule deer were introduced to the island in the 1920s and 30s, and currently have a population density roughly 10 times that of California generally. The island was also previously home to populations of
cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...
, feral goat, feral pig, and
sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticate ...
, but these animals are no longer present. According to the Catalina Island Conservancy, there are 37 resident bird species on the island. Considerably more marine, pelagic, and migrating birds frequent the island, and 127 species have been reported to the Cornell University eBird database from 10 different eBird hotspots. There are several live camera feeds showing bald eagle nests on the island; nests are active February–July. In the waters surrounding the island, there are schools of fish like
Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, pat ...
, California sheephead, leopard sharks, white seabass, yellowtail,
bat ray The bat ray (''Myliobatis californica'')Gill, T.N. (1865). "Note on the family of myliobatoids, and on a new species of ''Aetobatis''". ''Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N. Y.'' 8, 135–138. is an eagle ray found in muddy or sandy sloughs, estuaries an ...
s, giant sea bass, and many more.
Great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. It is nota ...
s are also occasionally found or caught off the coast of Catalina, though usually around seal rookeries and not around inhabited areas. Common marine mammals around Catalina include
California sea lion The California sea lion (''Zalophus californianus'') is a coastal eared seal native to western North America. It is one of six species of sea lions. Its natural habitat ranges from southeast Alaska to central Mexico, including the Gulf of Ca ...
s and
harbor seal The harbor (or harbour) seal (''Phoca vitulina''), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared se ...
s. The Catalina macaw, a type of hybrid parrot, was first bred at Catalina Bird Park in 1940 and is named after Santa Catalina Island.


Conservation

Most of the island is managed by the
Catalina Island Conservancy The Catalina Island Conservancy is a nonprofit organization established to protect and restore Santa Catalina Island, California, United States. The Conservancy was established in 1972 through the efforts of the Wrigley and Offield families. Th ...
, a private nonprofit organization. The mission of the Catalina Island Conservancy is to be a steward of its lands through a balance of conservation, education and recreation. The Conservancy protects the natural and cultural heritage of Santa Catalina Island, stewarding approximately of land (88 percent of the island), of shoreline, an airport, and more than of roads. One of the Conservancy's key goals is the conservation of the island fox, an endangered endemic species. In 1999, all but 100 out of 1,300 foxes on Catalina Island were wiped out because of a virulent strain of canine distemper. Following a successful recovery program which included captive breeding, distemper vaccinations and population monitoring, the Catalina fox community has been restored to more than 1570 in 2018. However, mysterious, usually fatal ear tumors continue to plague the Catalina fox. Three Catalina Island Conservancy wildlife biologists continue to monitor the population through pit tagging, trapping and inspection. The conservancy group vaccinates around 300 foxes every year and monitors 50 unvaccinated foxes via radio collar to watch for signs of new disease outbreaks. The current leading cause of death among Island Foxes is road strikes; to combat this, the Conservancy installed new signage about Island Foxes. The Conservancy also introduced wild-life proof trash cans to protect foxes from human garbage, informs boaters about the possibility and danger of wildlife stowaways, and asks dog owners to keep their animals leashed. The Institute for Wildlife Studies, a separate conservation organization, has worked to restore
bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...
s to the island on Conservancy land since the late 1970s. Bald eagles had been common on the island until the 1960s, when it is believed that the effects of dumping the pesticide DDT off the coast of Southern California made it impossible for eagles to successfully hatch their young. The reintroduction of the bald eagle to the island may also edge out an invasive
golden eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird ...
population that threatens the native island fox.


Tourism

Over one million people travel to Catalina Island every year, accounting for $166.7 million in annual direct spending on the Island.
Glass bottom boat A glass-bottom boat is a boat with sections of glass, panoramic bottom glass or other suitable transparent material, below the waterline allowing passengers to observe the underwater environment from within the boat. The view through the glass ...
s tour the
reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes—deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock ...
s and
shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...
s of the area, and
scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for " Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chr ...
and snorkeling are popular in the clear water. Lover's Cove, to the east of Avalon, and Descanso Beach, to the west of the Casino, are popular places to dive. At Casino Point is the Avalon Underwater Dive Park, which was the first non-profit underwater park in the United States. The area flying fish and the bright orange
Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, pat ...
are attractions.
Parasailing Parasailing, also known as parascending, paraskiing or parakiting, is a recreational kiting activity where a person is towed behind a vehicle while attached to a specially designed canopy wing that resembles a parachute, known as a parasail w ...
is also offered. Jeep and bus tours are given of the interior, which is a conservation area managed by the Catalina Island Conservancy. The Catalina Island Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau operates the official island visitor center and provides visitor services assists tourists with any information on how to get to Catalina Island. Two Harbors is the second, and much smaller, resort village on the island. Located at the isthmus of the island, northwest 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. While tourists rarely have an opportunity to surf, two beaches on the back side of Catalina offer good waves: Shark Harbor and Ben Weston Beach. There are also two camps, Camp Cherry Valley and Camp Emerald Bay, on the northeastern end of the island that offer summer camps for children and Boy Scouts. The Catalina Island Museum, formerly located in the historic Catalina Casino but since 2016 in a standalone building, is also an attraction as it is the keeper of the island's cultural heritage with collections numbering over 100,000 items and including over 8,000 years of Native American history, over 10,000 photographs and images, a large collection of Catalina-made
pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...
and
tile Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or ...
s, ship models, and much more. The museum features dynamic exhibits on this history, an art gallery, special exhibitions traveling from around the world, and a unique Museum Store. Programs include First Fridays at the Museum, an annual tour of the historic Tuna Club, a Holiday Symphony Concert, book signings, gallery talks, an annual
silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...
benefit and more. From 1927 until 1937, pottery and tiles were made on the island at the Catalina Clay Products Company, and these items are now highly sought-after collectibles.


Education

Children in Avalon attend schools in the
Long Beach Unified School District The Long Beach Unified School District is a school district headquartered in Long Beach, California, United States. Established in 1885, Long Beach Unified School District now educates 81,000 students in 84 public schools in the cities of Lon ...
. There were two schools on Catalina Island. Two Harbors was served by a one-room school house, but it closed down in 2014; students must now travel to Avalon for all grades K–12. Avalon schools are housed on one main campus that includes Avalon Elementary School, Avalon Middle School and Avalon High School. Thousands of school-age youths travel from the mainland to study at the Catalina Island Marine Institute every year. There is also a branch of the County of Los Angeles Public Library system in downtown Avalon, adjacent to the Sheriff's office. The USC Wrigley Marine Science Center houses research and teaching facilities at Big Fisherman's Cove, near Two Harbors, for the
USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies The USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies is an environmental research and education facility run by the University of Southern California. It is an organized research unit that encompasses a wide range of faculty and topics across the ...
. Maintained by the
University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...
and named for
Philip K. Wrigley Philip Knight Wrigley (December 5, 1894 – April 12, 1977), often called P. K. Wrigley, was an American chewing gum manufacturer and a Major League Baseball executive, inheriting both of those roles as the quiet son of his much more flamboyant fa ...
, it consists of a 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 expanded with a donation from the Wrigley family in 1995. The institute is open for public visits as part of its "Saturdays at the Lab" program.


Sports

Catalina is the starting point for the Catalina Channel swim, the second jewel in the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, along with the
English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Ka ...
, and
Manhattan Island Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...
. In 1927, a 17-year-old Canadian swimmer, George Young, became the first person to complete a crossing from Catalina Island to the mainland of California in a time of 15:44.30. Since then, over 500 men and women have completed the 20.1 mile swim from Doctor's Cove on Catalina to the mainland near Point Vicente Lighthouse and Rancho Palos Verdes.


Infrastructure


Transportation

Catalina is serviced by passenger ferries operated by Catalina Express, Catalina Classic Cruises, and
Catalina Flyer The ''Catalina Flyer'' is a 500-passenger catamaran ferry operated by Catalina Passenger Service. It has provided daily passenger service since 1988 from the Balboa Pavilion in Newport Beach, California to the city of Avalon located on Santa Cat ...
. Ferries depart from
Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporat ...
and San Pedro in
Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...
as well as Dana Point and
Newport Beach Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island draws ...
in Orange County. The crossing takes approximately an hour. Helicopter service is also available from Long Beach or San Pedro. Catalina has also been an active port of call for many cruise lines since the 1990s, with Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises, and
Carnival Cruise Lines Carnival Cruise Line is an international cruise line with headquarters in Doral, Florida. The company is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Its logo is a funnel shaped like a whale's tail, with a red, white, and blue color scheme. Thi ...
making the port a regular stop on Baja cruises. The ships anchor about 1,000 feet off Avalon Harbor. Passengers disembark through shore boat tendering services. The island is also home to the Catalina Airport (FAA Identifier: AVX), also known as Airport-in-the-Sky. The airport terminal was built in 1946 through the efforts of Dick Probert. The runway was built by Philip Wrigley in 1941, who leveled two adjacent hilltops and filled the canyon between them. It was called Buffalo Springs Airport, and was not opened for public use until 1946. By the 2000s the 3,000' (900m) runway was in serious disrepair, and arrangements were made in 2018 to have the
Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refl ...
replace it with a concrete runway. The work was performed in January 2019, and the airport was returned to service on 3 May. The airport is located northwest of Avalon. The runway is above sea level. Until the time of the airport's construction, the only scheduled passenger air service to the island was provided by
seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...
s and
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...
s at the Pebbly Beach Seaplane Base (FAA Identifier: L11). The use of motor vehicles on the island is restricted; there is a limit on the number of full-sized vehicles, which translates into a 14-year-long wait list to bring a private car to the island. Most residents use golf carts or mini cars for transportation. Because of these restrictions, there is no regularly scheduled vehicle ferry service. Tourists can hire a taxi from Catalina Transportation Services. 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. The only major road into the back country is Stage Road. Under an agreement with Los Angeles County, the Conservancy has granted an
easement An easement is a nonpossessory right to use and/or enter onto the real property of another without possessing it. It is "best typified in the right of way which one landowner, A, may enjoy over the land of another, B". An easement is a propert ...
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 bicycle permits are available for a fee.


Communication

Catalina's isolation offered good opportunities to experiment with new communication technologies throughout its history. The first of these communication innovations was the use of pigeons by Catalina's gold prospectors. Homing pigeons delivered messages to the mainland in 45 minutes, compared to 10 days to deliver mail from Isthmus to Wilmington by regular post in 1864. Even today, Avalon Post Office does not match the airmail service enjoyed by the miners. Pigeons were used to deliver messages for Catalina residents until 1899. By 1902, the first commercial wireless telegraph station was built in Avalon where the Chimes Tower now stands. On July 16, 1920, the world's first commercial wireless radiotelephone toll circuit was opened to the public between San Pedro and Avalon. Designed by and installed under the direction of
Western Electric Company The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ...
/
Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mul ...
engineer Lewis M. Clement (1892–1979), the system drew other engineers from all over the world to study it. The Avalon telephone directory in 1920 listed 52 subscribers serviced by a manual switchboard. People stood for hours to use this new technology, the only drawback of which was that all conversations could be monitored by anyone listening to their radio. Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. solved that problem with the installation of two submarine cables running 23 miles from Avalon to San Pedro in 1923. Another communication first touched Catalina when the world's first commercial microwave telephone system was installed in 1946. Although microwave telephones had been used for wartime applications, this was the first peacetime use of this technology. Catalina's isolation also left the island as the last central office in the US
Bell System The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America for over one hundr ...
to operate entirely using manual
switchboard operator In the early days of telephony, companies used manual telephone switchboards, and switchboard operators connected calls by inserting a pair of phone plugs into the appropriate jacks. They were gradually phased out and replaced by automated system ...
s. The Catalina Island exchange was converted to dial in 1978. The island shares area code 310 and overlay area code 424 with parts of Ventura and Los Angeles County.


Emergency services

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) operates the Avalon Station serving Santa Catalina Island. Fire Protection is provided by the Avalon Fire Department inside city limits, and by the Los Angeles County Fire Department in other areas of the island. Two county fire stations are located on Catalina Island: Station #55 is located just outside Avalon in Avalon Canyon and on-call firefighters staff Station #155 in Two Harbors. Paramedic and lifeguard services are provided by the County Fire Department's Lifeguard Division, also known as Baywatch. Catalina Island Medical Center, located in Avalon, is the island's only hospital/medical center. It operates around the clock. Baywatch operates Baywatch Rescue/Lifeguard Boats.


Utilities

For decades the water was supplied primarily by a reservoir. Forty percent of drinking water on the island is provided by a desalination plant that opened in Avalon in 2016. Avalon's sewer system was identified by researchers as the cause of ocean pollution in 2011. Many of the city's century-old clay and metal pipes had deteriorated to the point where they had vanished, allowing human sewage to enter the into the bay. From 2000 to 2013, 11 out of 13 annual reports released by the Natural Resources Defense Council listed Avalon as one of the 10 most chronically polluted beaches in the nation for failing state health tests as much as 73% of the time. In February 2012, a
cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent to an individual or business to stop alleged illegal activity. The phrase "cease and desist" is a legal doublet, made up of two near-synonyms. The letter may warn that, if the recipient does not disc ...
order was issued against the City for illegally discharging polluted water into the bay. The city invested $5.7 million on sewer main improvements and inspection and tracking systems. The 2014 report showed that water quality had improved, and Avalon Beach was removed from the list of the most polluted beaches.


In popular culture


Film and television

In its heyday in the 1930s, due to its proximity to Hollywood, Catalina Island was a favored getaway destination for Hollywood stars such as
Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...
. The island also served as a filming location for dozens of movies. The 2008 movie '' Step Brothers'' features a so-called Catalina Wine Mixer event. While the scene in the movie was filmed at the Trump National Golf Club in
Rancho Palos Verdes Rancho Palos Verdes (Spanish for "Green Sticks Ranch") is a coastal city located in Los Angeles County, California atop the bluffs of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, neighboring other cities in the Palos Verdes Hills, including Palos Verdes Esta ...
, the real island can be seen offshore in the background. The movie inspired a real-life Catalina Wine Mixer, hosted by the Catalina Island Company every year.


Video Games

The island is mentioned in the 2020 action-adventure game The Last of Us Part II, and the Catalina Casino building features as the backdrop of the loading screen after the game is completed.


Music

In 1920, the song "Avalon", which directly references the town of Avalon on the island, was popularized by Al Jolson. In 1958, The Four Preps released the song " 26 Miles (Santa Catalina)", which reached number two on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number six on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart. The 1982 Descendents album Milo Goes to College references a fishing trip to the island in a song named "Catalina".


Computing

Apple's desktop operating system,
macOS Catalina macOS Catalina (version 10.15) is the sixteenth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop operating system for Macintosh computers. It is the successor to macOS Mojave and was announced at WWDC 2019 on June 3, 2019 and released to the ...
, announced on June 3 2019 at WWDC, is named after this region.


Notable people

* Spencer Davis, musician. * Author Zane Grey built a home in Avalon, which once served as the Zane Grey Pueblo Hotel. * Gregory Harrison, actor, was born in Catalina Island. *
Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
lived with her first husband, James Dougherty, in the town of Avalon for several months in 1943.


See also

* *


References


External links

*
Catalina Island Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau

Catalina Island Conservancy

Catalina Island Museum

Catalina Island Views, California, ca. 1900–1909
The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...
{{authority control Car-free zones in the United States Islands of California Islands of Los Angeles County, California Islands of Southern California Islands of the Channel Islands of California Los Angeles Harbor Region Populated places in Los Angeles County, California Ranchos of Los Angeles County, California Tourist attractions in Los Angeles County, California