Southern California #6, Catalina Island: A Search for Seclusion

Story and photography by
Nancy & Eric Anderson 

 

Every tourist place has its other face, the one less known to visitors. Maybe its most interesting side. In Orlando, Florida it’s not the home of the mouse but the town to the north, the elegant Winter Park. On Cape Cod, it’s not the busy south shore but the King’s Highway, Route 6A, on the north side. In Tucson, Arizona it’s not the magnificent destination resorts there but the modest hotels in Bisbee 94 miles distant.

And on mystical, magical Santa Catalina Island it may well be not the seaside city of Avalon, fun place though it is, but the tiny, exquisitely remote hamlet of Two Harbors on the northwest side of the island.

Two Harbors, Serenity and Seclusion

“The West End is the best end,” says Scott A. Panzer who, amongst other things, is the author of Catalina Island Adventure Guide, and also Catalina Island in Bloom, both handy guides for any hiker or nature lover on Catalina. Panzer is a handy person himself. People on the island get to know him whether they are simply summer tourists or one of the 80 to 150 year-round residents of Two Harbors. He and his wife, Kate, are local firefighters and also run the Craftsman -style Banning House Lodge, the B & B on the slight hill above the harbor and the only lodging in the village. Overnight visitors to Two Harbors are either camping, living on a boat or staying at the 12-room lodge. Scott and Kate met as paramedics yachting in Antarctica. They came up to the USC base in Catalina for training in the use of the diving hyperbaric chamber, found you didn’t have to shovel sunshine and stayed on as firefighters.

Scott and Kate are sitting down us talking about Two Harbors over a coffee. It’s clearly a place they love. Two Harbors has no street lights or traffic lights or traffic, they say. It has no schedules, no crime and no secrets. “Everyone knows everything – even what toilet paper we use,” says Scott. Everyone here is on the same footing, he points out. The label you carry in the outside world doesn’t identify you in Two Harbors, wealth is irrelevant. Indeed, one of the locals who encouraged the Panzers to stay in 1997 was an ex-admiral, Jimmy Walker, who worked as the local bartender when he wasn’t water skiing, riding his desert motorbike or playing his ukulele

“Most people have nicknames here,” he says. “This is a town of characters. When a character disappears, another fills his role. We don’t have a town drunk – everyone takes turns!”

Kate and Scott see some of Two Harbors’ tranquility rubbing off on guests. “They come in from running with the bulls, sometimes at each other’s throats. Saturday morning they are lost without a schedule, unsure what to do with themselves. Saturday night they’ve mellowed. Sunday they’ve taken off their watches and don’t want to leave.”

Most guests at the Banning House Lodge are return visitors. An entry in the guest book emphasizes that, saying: “6-3-06 Proposed here. 5-6-07 Married here. Today, 1-year anniversary.”

It’s easy to sit on the patio of the lodge, gaze out at the Isthmus Cove to the north or Catalina Harbor to the southwest and imagine it’s 1910 when the lodge was built by the Banning Brothers. They were the three sons of the celebrated Phineas Banning, whose paternity claims also include his being regarded as “the Father of Los Angeles Harbor.” Phineas arrived in San Pedro in a clipper ship from Panama in 1851. He was aged 21 – and penniless – but he was diligent, hard working and ambitious, a combination almost guaranteed to bring him great wealth. If you have money you can surely buy stuff – like islands, for example.

When California was under Spanish domination (a situation cynics might say exists today) Governor Pio Rico gave Catalina in a land grant to Thomas Robbins in 1846. It passed through two more owners till a Los Angeles real estate speculator, George Shatto bought it for $200,000 in 1887. When Shatto’s plans failed he sold out to the Banning Brothers in 1892 for $128,740, a significant loss at a time when a dollar was a dollar. The Bannings put their mark on the island especially in Two Harbors. The Lodge was their family home but an extensive fire in Avalon destroyed much of their real estate. Furthermore, tourism fell off during the Great War so the Bannings were ready to sell the island when William Wrigley, Jr., the chewing gum king came on the scene around 1919.

A guide at the Arizona Biltmore once told us that Wrigley, who owned that hotel, wanted to use special tiles he’d seen somewhere for the hotel swimming pool. He was told he would have to go to Catalina Island to see the tile company because it was located there. “He went, saw tiles, liked the tile company, loved the island, bought both!” He paid $3 million for his new acquisition. His son, Philip K. Wrigley, in the mid-1970s created the Catalina Island Conservancy and gave it 88% of the Island to protect it from overdevelopment. This protection is obvious and tourists have learned to respect this special place as they come in search of fun or seclusion.

On Catalina fun has different definitions. In Two Harbors it’s enjoying the absence of TV and telephone in the Banning House Lodge although 300 yards down the hill we found a flat screen TV in the bar and free WiFi coverage on the patio of the Harbor Reef Restaurant. We also found bartender Jason Lynch, formerly from Crescent Butte, Colorado, pulling pints of huge selections of beers for customers. He works here most summers, he says.

What does he think of Two Harbors? “Love it,” he says, “I drive from Colorado, have to go through LA, park in San Pedro, get on the Catalina Express and immediately feel the world off my shoulders.” He loves to kayak and visit beaches only accessible from the sea. He enjoys the atmosphere here, the people and the nature experience. “It all comes together so well here, “ he says.

We smile then act like typical tourists. We’d like that famous Buffalo Milk, we say. He mixes the drink fast and recites its composition: Vodka, crème de cacao, banana, milk ice blend, kahlua, cream and nutmeg on top.

The pleasing observation about this small cluster of one B & B, one store, one bar and one restaurant in Two Harbors is that, though they have a monopoly, they don’t gouge visitors. Charges are very reasonable especially considering everything has to come from the mainland. Most of the store charges compare with any costs in California.

Our waiter, Deon Hallun, originally from Oahu, is another local booster. Catalina, he thinks -- when it rains -- is like his native Hawaii. So what’s special about Two Harbors? we ask him. Everything, he replies. “We have a wine fest, a beer fest, a lobster fest, an arts and crafts fest, a kids’ fair, a dog show. We have a Cruisers’ Day; a Treasure Hunt on the Beach arranged by Becky Mucha, this restaurant owner’s wife; we dress up as pilgrims or Indians for Thanksgiving; we have Buccaneers’ Days for a week in September when we all dress up as pirates. This is a great town. Avalon comes here for its fun!”

And what should we do for fun? Relax, he says. Go kayaking, try cliff jumping into our quarries, go on a hike, take a Hummer ride into the West End.

We pass on the quarry cliff jumping, take a hike (literally) then go looking for Rod Jackson, the celebrated Hummer guide at Safari Tours. Surprise! Another contented local. He seems to know everything about Catalina and yes, he has an opinion. “Catalina is special. We are 24 miles from the mainland where it’s chaos. Here is beauty, serenity. You can’t beat it. We have 25 bald eagles, 250 bison and 2,000 island mule deer. And we are on their side. We’re all trying to get away from the rat race.”

We jump into the Hummer, a vehicle that makes Jeeps look like cars for sissies. It can do anything, go anywhere but it doesn’t exactly have Cadillac suspension. We are going to explore the West End and start by gliding past what was an army barracks in 1864 and is now the Isthmus Yacht Club: 28 rooms for 28 members and, like everything on Catalina, possessing a wait list. For example, the wait list just to sublease a mooring in the coves around this the quieter part of the island currently says the 2008 Boater’s Guide to Two Harbors is “the fastest at Catalina Harbor with an average wait of 8 -10 years.…Cherry Cove has the slowest turn over with a wait in excess of 30 years.” A year’s rate at this time would be $1,450 to moor a 30 foot-boat. Clearly yachting is not an impulse pastime. It reminds us of the cliché: “The happiest moment was when I bought my boat. The second happiest was when I sold it!”

The Hummer then starts climbing above Two Harbors heading northwest hugging the coastline. Rod points out the coves as we twist and turn above them. Each cove has a significance from the USC Wrigley Marine Science Center and its eight laboratories that we can see off to the East to the Fourth of July Cove where in years gone by the Banning families celebrated the holiday. Our panorama takes us from the hazy outline of Palos Verdes on the mainland faraway to a fleet of Boy Scout kayaks encircling Indian Rock in Emerald Bay.

Now the adventure starts, a cross between a roller coaster and an Indiana Jones escapade. We thump up the Boushay Trail, glad we’re climbing in the Hummer and not on foot and finally reach Silver Peak at an elevation of 1802 feet, the highest point in the West End, third after Mt. Orizaba which rises 2097 feet high halfway to Avalon and Mt. Black Jack, its neighbor. (We’ll catch a glimpse of Orizaba again tomorrow on the bus to Avalon.)

Rod points out a mine head where the washings from a silver mine had torn the terrain open. Hopeful individuals came to Catalina at the time of the California Gold Rush and a mine was opened in 1860 but not enough ore was found to justify the expense. That Mineral Hills Mine closed in 1874. Another attempt was made in the 1920s on Mount Black Jack but the so-called Renton Mine folded two years later. We head back along Silver Peak Trail towards Wells Beach and Catalina Harbor, the south side of Two Harbors, as a tiny Catalina Island Fox, all four pounds of him, scurries in front of us across the dirt road, harder to photograph than the contented bison we’d seen earlier grazing in the Californian sun.

It’s not just the wild life that seems contented. The people are too. In the town office, we asked how many year-round residents they had.

“Well,” said Jenn. “Count the mail boxes on the left wall: 30! But there are 7 Netflix envelopes. So, say, 50 year-round. Or maybe 100. Maybe 120 with kids” And the children seemed happy. We passed some teenagers, the boys, understandably, with fishing rods and the girls, maybe understandably too, in Ugg boot. They were laughing. Why not? They live on a Treasure Island.

Avalon, a Mediterranean Village

For most visitors, the treasured experience, of course, is coming to Avalon. This little town, once a tent city, really rocks. It has about 3,500 all year residents and, on summer weekends, a population of about 10,000. It’s very accessible. The song said 26 Miles but it’s really 22 though every resident will give you a variation on that number when you ask. The favored way to come is by Catalina Express in its fleet of sleek catamarans designed for comfort. Passengers can leave from Dana Point, Long Beach and San Pedro -- and once on board, passengers snuggle into roomy airline-style seats (but with a lot more comfort than in today’s air travel) as they speed to the Island in one hour. Our cruise direct to Two Harbors from San Pedro took 75 minutes. Parking was across the street from the terminal and we were met at the dock in Two Harbors by the Banning House Lodge van. It’s all painless travel, a rare commodity in today’s world.

Even in the off season you should book your hotel before leaving the mainland whether you are staying in Two Harbors or Avalon. We had noticed the Avalon hotel we wanted on this trip on one of our previous visits, the oceanfront Hotel Villa Portofino at 111 Crescent Avenue (Toll free 888-510-0555; in Calif. 800-34-OCEAN). It’s the old story: location, location, location. That’s particularly important in Avalon as it’s easy to wheel your luggage from the harbor to the oceanfront but if you choose a hotel up one of the numerous hills you may need another vacation when it’s all over. The Villa Portofino has small tables and chairs outside the rooms where guests can bring their simple breakfast from downstairs or they can go up on the sundeck and view the ocean while they read the morning paper or catch email on their laptop. Breakfast, WiFi and the daily paper is complimentary. Free pre-check in and post-check out baggage storage is offered, a nice touch for those wanting to steal extra time from those travel days. The front office staff is helpful and the comfortable rooms have air-conditioning, telephone, color cable television with two movie channels, coffee maker, refrigerator, hairdryers, irons and ironing boards.

We are heading for Avalon now in the Safari Bus that links the village of Two Harbors with the City of Avalon, with stops at Little Harbor and the Airport in the Sky. It’s a quick and easy way to navigate Santa Catalina Island and our trip took only two hours including a 45 minute stop at the airport. There’s an interesting natural museum display at the airport, so time is not wasted.

As we come down the hill to Avalon, our driver tells us about this city of two square miles. Visitors can’t rent cars though they can golf carts. Avalon has 1400 golf carts but intends to reduce that number to 700 by a process of attrition. “This is a small place,” he says. “So small the police dog is a Chihuahua and the police car a high speed pursuit golf cart. Avalon has a Casino with no gambling, a private beach club open to the public, and a Bird Park without birds.” (It was the world’s largest bird park when it opened in 1929 but it closed in 1966 and now the “World’s Largest Birdcage” is used as a safe playground for children.) He’s warming up and continues: “We have a Roses Garden without roses (named after a family, Roses), a mausoleum without bodies, a board walk made of concrete, an arcade without games, a post office that doesn’t deliver the mail and a gas company that sells water. And we have Third Street; it’s the second street up from the beach but there’s no Second Street, nor First Street, nor Fourth , Fifth or Sixth.”

You may hear those comments on other excursions. It’s clear the locals don’t take themselves too seriously. The Avalon Scenic Tour, one tour provided by the long-established company Discovery Tours, journeys along the beachfront, up the hillsides and through the heart of this friendly town. The guide points out the former Wrigley Mansion and, a few houses away, the one with the doors that are 400 years old, by chance at #400. He points to the school – 52 graduated from high school this year – and the oldest house in Avalon, built in 1888. The bus swings past the Zane Grey Pueblo, the former home of the famous author of popular Western novels. It is now a hotel and has one of the best views in Avalon.

You don’t need to take an organized tour, you can rent a golf cart. There are three locations with the most convenient at 301 Crescent Avenue at the corner of Metropole. It has largest golf cart selection on the island including 6-seat carts that cost only $20 an hour more than the 4-seaters. Golf cart driving in Avalon is not as dangerous as, say, riding a scooter or motor bike in Bermuda, but listen to the directions and study the map before you head off. Some streets are off limits to cart renters and you don’t want the police chasing you in that “high-speed pursuit cart” do you?

Another tour leads you to the elegant Avalon Theatre and Casino, one of America’s best examples of Art Deco. The Casino is the signature building, the most photographed logo of Catalina. It has a long history of the Big Bands and special events. Its celebrated dances and featured movies were a focal point of Avalon and Southern California life in the 1930s. On your way along Casino Way notice the Catalina Tuna Club building on the waterfront. That’s where our son-in-law Chris Torre holds two all-time records for big fish caught on a flimsy 8# Dacron line. We’ve seen the formal inscribed plaques so we know it’s not just a fisherman’s tale.

The Casino was built in 1929 by 500 workers who put it up in 14 months at a cost of $2 million. The murals and tiles were created by John Gabriel Beckman who had achieved earlier recognition by his work at Mann’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The organ that accompanied silent movies in the old days is one of the only four working Page Theatre Organs to have survived the silent film era. Says our guide, “In the old days 35 cents got you admission to a movie and that price included a beverage. We still get a new first run movie every week in Avalon. We have two choices with the movie – take it or leave it!”

The Casino tour includes admission to the Catalina Museum, the main repository of Santa Catalina Island’s history. Give yourself time for the Museum; the artifacts on display reveal a fascinating glimpse of an era that will never return, an age when life was simpler and one’s existence more dignified yet still exciting.

But when the tours are over, you are left with the memories you made on foot. This is a walking town even with its hills. You will be thrilled particularly with the architecture, both the Victorian splendor of some of the classic homes and the cheerful paint colors that make you think of Coney Island in the old days. And you’ll be pleased with the people you meet. The regulars not the tourists are worth talking to. They have a lot of insight into what’s important in life. Tony and his wife Lynette,, for example, for five years have run the Casino Way Showers “between the Tuna club and the Catalina Yacht Club” although across the street. They do a booming business selling fresh water hot showers to yacht people who come ashore -- and he sells a cup of coffee for a dollar. Why? “Because it’s the best and the cheapest in town” and that’s all the money he wants to make on the deal.

Tony is a former high school teacher who taught in the Long Beach school district for 33 years. Used to teenagers and their issues he can easily handle the problem of a woman who is stuck in the shower and has forgotten her towel. “This job is easier than teaching high school kids every day, “ he says, “because you don’t have to see’ em every day.”

So if his coffee is a bargain, are there any other great buys in town? Well, he says, you can save money on hotel packages that include aqua sports. And Descanso Beach is a great location tourists sometimes never get to. It has early bird specials for kayaking for example if you get there before 10AM and great BBQs under the stars.

Hey! Walk about, move around, find your own favorites, he says.

So we did just that. And found our own. Most of our favorites seem to love their own version of what is art. And they seem to embrace the 1950s, a time our grandchildren wish they had experienced.

At the east end of Crescent, the main drag, we found C. C. Gallagher’s Espresso Bar where a half salad cost $8, a pretty good buy for high season Avalon. There Ruth White who has worked at this “Mediterranean café” for five years showed us the art of Fernando Lozano that graces her walls. The tiles above the front door are the original tiles of 1913.This is a great place to sit at the counter, drink your coffee and watch the world go by. Shopkeepers on Crescent claim they see uptight tourists dragging their wheeled luggage past their doors as they stumble along to the hotels on this main street that faces the beach – and days later, usually on the Sunday, see the same people bouncing back to Catalina Express with a spring in their step, such is the impact of a Catalina escape. Well, we bounced later in the day to Eat at Joe’s which we found sound advice. We paid $8 for a BLT and enjoyed the Norman Rockwell-like mural paintings including one that recalled the great days of the clipper airplanes. Actually art is all around in Avalon. Just keep looking. Al Jolson (in the early 20th century, the “Word’s Greatest Entertainer”) may have found his love in Avalon but we found the camp art of the 1950s.

We found more at Antonio’s Pizza Deli. As well as a 10 inch pizza for about $10 big enough for two senior-style eaters. We found plastic red and white checkered tablecloths, Mexican-tiled floors scattered with peanut shells. We found more than 80 black and white 8 by 10s of Hollywood celebrity patrons plus a signed photo of Old Blue Eyes himself. There were posters for Casablanca, Wizard of Oz and Viva Las Vegas. And tin plate advertisements for US 66 “The Mother Road,” Popeye’s Spinach “Strong to the Finish,” and Volkswagen “The Cal Look.” And we found 1950s music, juke boxes at the tables with great choices: Whole Lotta Shakin’ Jerry Lee Lewis; Are You Lonesome tonight Elvis; El Paso Marty Robbins; and, of course, 26 Miles The Four Props; and Avalon Al Jolson. One of the last choices on the juke box seemed perfect for a stay on Catalina Island, Louis Armstrong singing “What a Wonderful World.” 

Where would you go for an elegant last dinner? For us, the Catalina Country Club. It was originally built in 1921 as part of the training facilities of Wrigley’s baseball team, the beloved Chicago Cubs who came here for 20 years for their spring training. The dining room has been lovingly restored although memories of the baseball years are easily found. One of the rookies at that time was Chuck Connors who chose to ride a horse for the first time while on the island as he tried out for the team. He showed more promise on a horse than on the baseball field and ended up as the celebrated TV actor in The Rifleman. 

That TV series was long-lasting. Most visitors find similar benefits from a Catalina Island vacation. People come back often. They use their first visit to decide where they will stay and what they will do next time. Like Al Jolson’s song: “They found their love in Avalon, beside the bay…”  Who wouldn’t?