Santa Catalina Island—more commonly known among Angelenos as Catalina Island, or simply ‘Catalina’—is a picturesque island 22 miles off Long Beach. For Southern Californians, Catalina is chiefly a weekend getaway destination where you can enjoy the beach, the diving, hiking, and shopping. I’ve been there several times, but never seen it quite like this, glowing in the night. Much of the Catalina we know today — including the gorgeous Catalina Casino which opened on May 29, 1929 — was brought about by chewing-gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr. The Casino is that circular building in the top right of this photo, taken in 1957.
Here’s a view of Avalon’s main shopping street taken about the same time.
And Catalina Airport (you wouldn’t want to overrun the landing strip!)
It was kind of hard to overshoot the runway since those were all amphibious planes using the water to take off and land. The strip was just a taxiway to that hangar area. The old early Western Air Express under Pop Hanshue controlled Catalina Airways at one time.
Santa Catalina Island—more commonly known among Angelenos as Catalina Island, or simply ‘Catalina’—is a picturesque island 22 miles off Long Beach. For Southern Californians, Catalina is chiefly a weekend getaway destination where you can enjoy the beach, the diving, hiking, and shopping. I’ve been there several times, but never seen it quite like this, glowing in the night. Much of the Catalina we know today — including the gorgeous Catalina Casino which opened on May 29, 1929 — was brought about by chewing-gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr. The Casino is that circular building in the top right of this photo, taken in 1957.
And Catalina Airport (you wouldn’t want to overrun the landing strip!)
It was kind of hard to overshoot the runway since those were all amphibious planes using the water to take off and land. The strip was just a taxiway to that hangar area. The old early Western Air Express under Pop Hanshue controlled Catalina Airways at one time.