Notable Fun Facts About Catalina Island

Catalina Island belongs to Los Angeles County, and Avalon, incorporated in 1913, became the county’s 13th city.
From 1921 to 1951, the Chicago Cubs used Catalina Island as a training location.
Avalon's golf course was first built in 1892 and is the oldest course in southern California.
Avalon Bay once had two piers: the Steamer Pier and the Pleasure Pier. The Pleasure Pier, first built in 1909, is the one that still stands today.
Catalina Island was visited by former U. S. Presidents Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Ronald Reagan, and Richard Nixon. President Warren G. Harding died just one week before he was scheduled to visit the island.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the fictional character Sherlock Holmes, came to the island in 1923.
Whittley Avenue was once home to an exclusive gambling establishment known as the Pilgrim Club. Built in 1902, it was destroyed in the Avalon fire of 1915, along with about a third of the town.
In 1929, Winston Churchill spent only enough time on the island to catch a marlin in record time.
The M. V. Phoenix, the final vessel in the island’s paddlewheel glass-bottom boat fleet, was originally built in 1931 and was retired from service in 1991.
William Wrigley, Jr., known for chewing gum, bought controlling interest in Catalina Island in 1919. The Catalina Island Company remains owned by members of his family.