It is only an hour by ferry from Long Beach, but the “ruggedly beautiful” island of Santa Catalina is a world apart from that traffic-choked megalopolis, says Jonathan Thompson in The Times.
Recently, it has enjoyed something of an “A-list renaissance”, with stars including Taylor Swift and Katy Perry holidaying here. But it retains its wild charm, and still has one real town, pretty little Avalon. Deer and bison roam its mountainous interior, and its waters offer some of the best diving and snorkelling in the region.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Wanting Santa Catalina to be a “playground for all”, Wrigley constructed roads and the 12-storey Catalina Casino in Avalon, whose vast ballroom is still in use as an arts venue. Perched on a bluff with a superb view over the town, his own mansion, Mt. Ada, is now a stylish boutique hotel.
Another survival from those early days is Lloyd’s, a sweet shop where you can buy “old-time favourites” such as saltwater taffy, and where Marilyn Monroe – before she even became Marilyn Monroe – worked shifts in 1943 and 1944. An aspiring model at the time, she lived here with her first husband, James Dougherty, for a year that her biographers agree was one of the happiest of her troubled life.
Avalon is “reminiscent of the Côte d’Azur”, with its colourful houses tumbling down a steep hillside to a “perfect”, crescent-shaped harbour. It has some good restaurants, and a peaceful air: most residents get about in electric golf carts thanks to strict limits on car numbers. Vehicle tours are available even so, and on them you can look out for the herd of bison, originally brought over to film The Vanishing American in 1925, that now roam the island’s 75 square miles.
For more information, visit visitcatalinaisland.com
-
Political cartoons for December 13Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include saving healthcare, the affordability crisis, and more
-
Farage’s £9m windfall: will it smooth his path to power?In Depth The record donation has come amidst rumours of collaboration with the Conservatives and allegations of racism in Farage's school days
-
The issue dividing Israel: ultra-Orthodox draft dodgersIn the Spotlight A new bill has solidified the community’s ‘draft evasion’ stance, with this issue becoming the country’s ‘greatest internal security threat’
-
It Was Just an Accident: a ‘striking’ attack on the Iranian regimeThe Week Recommends Jafar Panahi’s furious Palme d’Or-winning revenge thriller was made in secret
-
Singin’ in the Rain: fun Christmas show is ‘pure bottled sunshine’The Week Recommends Raz Shaw’s take on the classic musical is ‘gloriously cheering’
-
Holbein: ‘a superb and groundbreaking biography’The Week Recommends Elizabeth Goldring’s ‘definitive account’ brings the German artist ‘vividly to life’
-
The Sound of Music: a ‘richly entertaining’ festive treatThe Week Recommends Nikolai Foster’s captivating and beautifully designed revival ‘ripples with feeling’
-
‘Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right’ by Laura K. Field and ‘The Dream Factory: London’s First Playhouse and the Making of William Shakespeare’ by Daniel SwiftFeature An insider’s POV on the GOP and the untold story of Shakespeare’s first theater
-
Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secretsfeature Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, through Feb. 22
-
Homes with great fireplacesFeature Featuring a suspended fireplace in Washington and two-sided Parisian fireplace in Florida
-
Film reviews: ‘The Secret Agent’ and ‘Zootopia 2’Feature A Brazilian man living in a brutal era seeks answers and survival and Judy and Nick fight again for animal justice
