Where Catalina Island Hotel and Avalon Street Names Began

When Santa Catalina Island became part of the United States in 1846, ownership changed hands many times, including to people who never visited the island. In 1887, George Rufus Shatto, originally from Ohio and the owner of a Grand Rapids, Michigan department store, bought the island from the Trustees of the James Lick Estate. He was the first owner to see tourism as a real future for the island.

George Rufus Shatto came to the island with his real estate agent, Charles Sumner. Together, they selected the location for the first Hotel Metropole. In that same year, Pillsbury & Cleveland surveyed the town, which had previously been called Johnston’s Harbor and later Timm’s Landing. Those names were beginning to shift toward Shattoville, Shatto Harbor, Town of Shatto, Shatto City, and similar versions.

George Cleveland, one of the surveyors, prepared the first map and labeled the town as Shatto and the bay as Shatto Harbor. George Shatto objected, telling Mr. Cleveland that he did not want the town to carry his name. At the time, Shatto’s sister-in-law, Etta Whitney, was reading Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem Idylls of the King, which retells the legend of King Arthur. In the poem, King Arthur, injured in battle, travels to the Isle of Avalon, spelled Avilion in the poem, and describes an ideal island where he will recover.

Etta Whitney proposed Avalon as the town’s name, and Shatto accepted the suggestion. George Cleveland revised the map to read Town of Avalon. Avalon was not incorporated as the City of Avalon until 1913.

Hotel names

The island’s first hotel was The Metropole, a name meaning center of hospitality, dating to 1888.

Hotel Atwater opened July 1, 1920, and was among William Wrigley Jr.’s earliest island projects. Atwater came from the maiden name of Helen, Wrigley’s daughter-in-law. Helen’s father served as a vice president with the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company.

Mt. Ada was named for Ada Wrigley, the wife of William Wrigley Jr., and served as their island residence until 1958.

The Pavilion Lodge was constructed in the 1950’s on the former location of a dance pavilion built by the Banning Brothers, who owned the island before the Wrigley’s. The Lodge later became the Pavilion Hotel. It looks onto Crescent Avenue, which Philip Wrigley directed to be transformed in the 1930’s into Avenida de Crescenta with a Spanish Colonial style.

The Serpentine Wall, El Encanto, now Island Spa Catalina, Sombrero Fountain, Wrigley Fountain, the Via Casino Archway, and extensive Catalina Tile all belonged to the redesigned look created by artists Otis and Dorothy Shepard.

Street names

George Rufus Shatto sold lots through Charles Sumner, while requiring each sale to sit at least ten feet behind the bay’s high tide mark so he could maintain control of the waterfront.

Sumner Avenue was one of the earliest named streets, honoring Shatto’s realtor, Charles Sumner, who also carried the title Island Manager.

Claressa Avenue took its name from Shatto’s wife, Clara. Claressa was her affectionate Spanish nickname.

Clara Shatto’s brother and wife, Edwin John Whitney and Etta Marilla Tichnor Whitney, relocated to the island to manage the construction of Avalon for Shatto. Edwin served as Island Superintendent. Marilla Avenue came from Etta’s middle name, and Etta was also the person who suggested the name Avalon for the town.

Whittley and East Whittley were named for Frank Whittley, Jr., a sheep and cattle baron with a strong presence on the island. The Whittley family first arrived on the island in 1850, and Frank Whittley, Jr. held island leases from the James Lick Trust. He had been an important supporter when Shatto first bought the island and later became a close friend.

Hiawatha was named for the chief of the Osceola tribe in Michigan. As a Michigan resident, Shatto admired Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Song of Hiawatha and chose the street name in the chief’s honor.

Vieudelou is French for view of the ocean.

Boston was Shatto’s favorite city, and he honored it by naming two streets for well-known Boston streets: Beacon Street and Tremont Street.

Maiden Lane recognized San Francisco’s famous Maiden Lane near Union Square.

Third Street, despite there being no First or Second Street, was probably named because it marked the third row of tents from the time when Shatto first reached the island and Avalon was still a tent city.

Several streets appeared on the survey map but were never built: Osceola Avenue, Minnehaha, Elisabeth, Irvin, and Templeton.

Islanders have also long enjoyed describing the island’s distinctive contradictions: a Casino without gambling, a mausoleum where no one is buried, a Bird Park without birds, Three Palms with no palm trees, a Rose Garden without roses, army barracks without soldiers, and a Post Office without mail delivery. Catalina Island also has fish that fly and birds that swim. Few places are quite as singular.