Although the Chaplin name is synonymous with Hollywood, Angelenos of the early 1920s also associated it with aviation. Charlie’s half-brother, Syd, was also an aviator who had his own airfield (on the northwest corner of Wilshire and Fairfax) and commercial airline. In 1919, he started the first regularly scheduled seaplane service from Wilmington on the mainland to Santa Catalina Island, famously “26 miles across the sea.” By this stage, there was regular and comfortable steamship service out to Catalina, so frankly, I don’t know that I could be in enough of a rush to take my chances on an aircraft like that. Apparently most people agreed with me—the service only lasted a couple of years.

John W. says: “On July 4th 1919, the Syd Chaplin Aircraft Corporation began flights to Santa Catalina Island.”

Weekly schedule of Chaplin Air Line between San Pedro and Catalina Island: