Santa Catalina Island , often called Catalina Island , or just Catalina , is a rocky island off the coast of the U.S. state of California. The island is 22 miles (35 km) long and eight miles (13 km) across at its greatest width. The island is located about 22 miles (35 km) south-southwest of Los Angeles, California. The highest point on the island is 2097 ft (639 m) Mt. Orizaba, at 33°22′29.7″N 118°25′11.6″W / 33.374917°N 118.419889°W / 33.374917; -118.419889 .
Part of the Channel Islands of California archipelago, Catalina falls under the jurisdiction of Los Angeles County. Most of the island is owned by the Catalina Island Conservancy.
The total population as of the 2000 census was 3,696 persons, with almost 85 percent living in its only city of Avalon (pop. 3,127, with another 195 south of the city outside of the city limits). The second center of population is the unincorporated town of Two Harbors, in the north, with a population of 298. Development occurs also at the smaller settlements Rancho Escondido and Middle Ranch . The remaining population is scattered over the island between the two population centers. The island has an overall population density of 49.29/mi² (19.03/km²).
History
Early History
Prior to the modern era, the island was inhabited by people of the Gabrielino/Tongva tribe, 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 Pimungna and referred to themselves as the Pimugnans . Archeological evidence shows Tongva settlement beginning in 7000 BC. Chief Torqua was probably the last chief of the people of Santa Catalina for whom "Torqua Springs" is named. These Pimugnans had settlements all over the island at one time or another, with their biggest villages, most likely, being at the Isthmus and at present-day Avalon and Emerald Bay. The Gabrielino/Tongva are 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 and as far south as Baja California.
The first European to set foot on the island was Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, sailing for Spain. On October 7, 1542, he claimed the island for Spain and christened it San Salvador after his ship (Catalina has also been identified as one of the many possible burial sites for Cabrillo). Over half a century later, another Spanish explorer, Sebastian Vizcaino, rediscovered the island on the eve of Saint Catherine's day (November 24) in 1602. He renamed it Santa Catalina to honor the feast day of St. Catherine of Alexandria.
During the next 300 years, the island served as home or base of operation for many visitors, including Russian otter hunters, Yankee smugglers and itinerant fishermen. Among these visitors, the Aleuts of Russian Alaska probably had the largest effect on the island and its people. These otter-hunters from the Aleutian Islands set up camps on Santa Catalina, and the surrounding Channel Islands, trading with the native peoples in exchange for permission to hunt otters and seals around the island for their pelts. The Aleuts brought diseases to the natives of Santa Catalina Island, for which they had no immunity. This, ultimately, led to the demise of the Pimugnan people. Although these hunters had been known to lead attacks on the native people of surrounding islands, such as the massacre that took place on San Nicolas Island, there is no evidence of such an event on Santa Catalina. (See Nicoleno). Smuggling also took place on the island for a long period of time. Pirates 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. Once used by smugglers of illegal Chinese immigrants, China Point, located on the south western end of Catalina, still bears its namesake.
Franciscan monks considered building a mission there, but abandoned the idea because of the lack of fresh water on the island. By the 1830s, the entire island's native population were either dead, or had migrated to the mainland to work in the missions or as ranch hands for the many private land owners.
Mexican land grant
Governor Pío Pico made a Mexican land grant of the Island of Santa Catalina to Thomas M. Robbins in 1846. Thomas M. Robbins (1801 - 1854) a sea captain who came to California in 1823, married the daughter of Carlos Antonio Carrillo. Robbins established a small rancho on the Island, but sold it in 1850 to José Maria Covarrubias. A claim was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1853 and the grant was patented to José Maria Covarrubias in 1867. Covarrubias sold the island to Albert Packard of Santa Barbara in 1853, and by 1864 the entire island was owned by James Lick.
The island experienced a brief gold rush in 1860s, but very little gold was actually found. In 1864, the federal government, fearing attempts to outfit privateers by Confederate sympathizers in the American Civil War, put an end to the mining by ordering everyone off the island. A small garrison of Union troops were stationed at the Isthmus on the island's west end for about nine months. Their barracks stand as the oldest structure on the island and is currently the home of the Isthmus Yacht Club.
Developers
By the end of the 19th century, the island was almost uninhabited except for a few cattle herders. At that time, its location just 20 miles (30 km) from Los Angeles—a city that had reached the population of 50,000 in 1890 and was undergoing a period of enormous growth—was a major factor that contributed to the development of the island into a vacation destination.
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 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. His sister-in-law Etta Whitney came up with the name Avalon , which was taken from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "Idylls of the King," about the legend of King Arthur. He laid out Avalon's streets, and introduced it as a vacation destination to the general public. He did this by hosting a real estate auction in Avalon in 1887, and purchasing a steamer ship for daily access to the island. In the summer of 1888, the small pioneer village kicked off its opening season as a booming little resort town. 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 and established the Santa Catalina Island Company to develop it as a resort. The Banning brothers fulfilled Shatto's dream of making Avalon a resort community. They built a dance pavilion in the center of town, made additions to the Hotel Metropole and steamer-wharf, built an aquarium, created the Pilgrim Club (a gambling club for men only), improved the standard of Avalon's beach by erecting a sea-wall and adding covered benches or "spoonholders", building a bath house, adding new steamships to the run, and setting up close to one hundred tents throughout Avalon's canyon (often called "tent cities"). These tents were created so that, if the expense of a hotel was too much, a visitor could rent out a tent for as little as $7.50 per week, which was quite a bargain at the time. To this day, many homes in Avalon are still in possession of the same tents that stood in that spot over a century ago. Although the Banning's main focus was in Avalon, they also showed great interest in the rest of the island and wanted to introduce other parts of Catalina to the general public. They did this by paving the first dirt roads into the island's interior where they built hunting lodges and lead stagecoach tours, and by making Avalon's surrounding areas (Lovers Cove, Sugarloaf Point and Descanso Beach) accessible to tourists. They built two homes, one in Descanso Canyon and the other in what is now Two Harbors, the later now being that village's only hotel. Just as the Bannings were anticipating construction of the new Hotel Saint Catherine, their efforts were set back on November 29, 1915, when a fire burned half of Avalon's buildings, including six hotels and several clubs. The Bannings refused to sell the island in hopes of rebuilding the town, starting with the Hotel Saint Catherine. The hotel would be located on Sugarloaf Point, the unique, picturesque, cliff-bound peninsula at the north end of Avalon's harbor. It was blasted away to begin the construction of the hotel with its annex being in Descanso Canyon. These plans failed because of lack of funding and, in the end, the entire hotel was built i
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