Catalina Island
Santa Catalina Island is a rocky island off the coast of Southern California in the Gulf of Santa Catalina. The island name is often shortened to Catalina Island or just Catalina. The island is 22 mi (35 km) long and 8 mi (13 km) across at its greatest width. The island is located about 29 mi (47 km) south-southwest of Long Beach, California. The highest point on the island is Mount Orizaba (2,097 ft or 639 m). Santa Catalina is part of the Channel Islands of California archipelago and lies within Los Angeles County. Catalina Island is the easternmost of the Channel Islands.
History
Archeological evidence shows Native American settlement beginning in 7000 BC. Prior to the modern era, the island was inhabited by the Tongva, 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 Pimu or Pimugna and referred to themselves as the Pimugnans or Pimuvit. 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 Povuu'nga, located in present-day Long Beach.
The first European to set foot on the island was the explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, 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 to be enslaved in the missions or to work as ranch hands for the many private landowners.
Franciscan friars 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, 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 made a Mexican land grant of the Island of Santa Catalina to Thomas M. Robbins, like 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 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 herders. The first owner to try to develop Avalon into a resort destination was George Shatto, a real estate speculator from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Shatto purchased the island for $200,000 (equivalent to $5.1 million in 2019) from the Lick estate at the height of the real estate boom in Southern California in 1887. 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 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, the Banning brothers were forced to sell the island in shares in 1919. On May 10, 1912, Glenn L. Martin flew a homemade seaplane into Avalon, setting records for distance and time.
One of the main investors to purchase shares from the Bannings was chewing-gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr. In 1919, Wrigley bought out nearly every share-holder until he owned a 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, also owned by Wrigley, used the island for the team's spring training. 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, who continued his father's work improving the infrastructure of the island.
During World War II, 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 did training at Toyon Bay, and the Navy did underwater demolition training at Emerald Bay.
In 1972, the Brown Berets, a group of Latino activists, Chicanos, and Mexican residents took the Santa Catalina Island, invoking the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which has no mention of the islands. On February 15, 1975, Philip Wrigley deeded 42,135 acres (17,051 hectares) of the island from the Santa Catalina Island Company to the Catalina Island Conservancy 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, and Splendour's 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 firefighters transported by U.S. Marine Corps helicopters and U.S Navy hovercraft, only a few structures were destroyed, though 4,750 acres (1,922 hectares) of wildland were burned. 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 117 acres (47 ha).