Neighborhood Spotlight: Catalina Island
For more than 7,000 years, humans have been enjoying the cool breezes, clear blue water and great fishing of Santa Catalina Island, one of the eight rocky islands that wreath the coast of Southern California from Santa Barbara to La Jolla.
The Pimungan group of the Gabrielino people were the first Southern Californians to undertake the 22-mile journey from the mainland to the island, and for thousands of years made their home there, trading fish and soapstone with other groups throughout the region.
The coming of the Spanish explorer Juan Cabrillo in 1542 marked the beginning of the end for their way of life, although it would be 60 years before the island was visited again by Europeans, when it was rediscovered by the explorer Sebastian Viscaino. He gave the island its current name, dubbing it Santa Catalina Island, and had the first Mass said on its shores.
European diseases and the mission system had devastating effects on the Pimungans, and by the mid-1880s they had largely disappeared from the island. It was now mostly home to ranchers and passing fishermen, but the land boom on the mainland soon had speculators eyeing Catalina as a potential resort location.
The first to try his hand at turning Catalina’s scenic coves into a vacation destination was George Shatto, who founded the town of Avalon before financial difficulties led him to sell the island to the Banning family. The industrious clan modernized Avalon and its environs, building new roads and utilities and creating a complex of attractions including a dance hall, a golf course and an aquarium.
When the Wrigleys of Chicago bought the island in 1919, they doubled down on the project begun by the Bannings. Hotels were built on the slopes above Avalon’s bay, the Chicago Cubs moved their spring training facilities to the islands, and in 1929 Catalina’s most famous building, the Casino, opened.
Catalina became a popular getaway for the Hollywood elite, many of whom visited the island for the first time for work because the island played locations from Africa to the South Pacific in a number of early films. John Wayne, James Cagney and Cecil B. DeMille were just some of the luminaries who regularly sailed their private yachts over from the mainland to get away from it all.
Visitors to today’s Catalina are still drawn by the laid-back pace of island life and its scenic beauty, a natural heritage that will be protected in perpetuity by a trust the Wrigleys set up in the 1970s to ensure the preservation of the island’s open spaces.
Neighborhood highlights
Coastal living: Boating, fishing, sunbathing, swimming, scuba diving — the list of outdoor activities on Catalina is nearly endless.
Rest and relaxation: After a long day of boating, there are plenty of places to kick back with a cold one and linger over dinner with your friends and family.
Away from it all: Leave your worries on the mainland and embrace the small-town pace of life in Avalon.
Neighborhood challenges
An ocean away: The blissful isolation of Catalina cuts both ways. You can’t just pop down to Target for your daily necessities, so planning ahead for everything is key.
Parched place: Catalina’s water comes from reservoirs, so the area relies on rain. That means water rationing is sometimes a reality for the island community.
Expert insight
Limited inventory is typical for the area, according to Earl Schrader, broker and owner of Catalina Realtors, but a rise in rental properties also contributed to the scarcity.
But that could be changing.
“Now you need to get a conditional use permit from the city, which costs $3,000 to apply, with no guarantee that one will be issued,” he said.
Despite a lack of homes for sale, Schrader describes the current market as “very stable.”
“Just be ready to move quickly,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of people who lost places because they didn’t have the cash ready or they weren’t ready to move.”
Market snapshot
In April, there were 24 homes for sale in the 90704 ZIP Code, with a median list price of $919,000, according to Redfin. That was a 32.2% increase in median price compared with the same month the previous year.
Report card
Part of the Long Beach Unified School District, Avalon has one school campus consisting of Avalon Elementary, Avalon Middle and Avalon High. In 2013, the campus scored 782 out of 1,000 in the Academic Performance Index.
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