Santa Catalina

In 1919, chewing gum giant William Wrigley, Jr. bought Catalina Island and had a mansion built atop one of its highest hills, providing a stunning view of the Pacific Ocean. This was the Californian island I travelled to for the Catalina Film Festival. The Wrigley Mansion still stands with its magnificent view but is now a bed and breakfast.

Wrigley was also the man behind what are now called the Wrigley Lofts on Carlaw Ave. in Toronto. In the early 20th century, he commissioned the building of two beautiful Beaux Arts buildings just south of my place. And since The Canadian Chewing Gum Co. Ltd. was located nearby, Leslieville became known as the “Chewing Gum Capitol of Canada”.

But long before the duelling gums of Leslieville, Catalina was inhabited by Native Americans who called the island Pimu. Spain claimed it in the 16th century. Later, it was transferred to Mexico then finally to the US. While the Pimuvit mined and traded the island’s vast soapstone supply, the territory was later used for smuggling, gold-digging and otter-hunting.

Wrigley made its primary trade tourism. Since the 70s, the island has been administered by the Catalina Island Conservancy. As mentioned in my article Hollywood! (Part 1 of my LA Adventures), bison roam the hills of the island because in the 1920s, some movie director had herds brought over for his shoot. When the crew packed up, they left the bison behind.

There are also deer that are like big friendly dogs. They come right up to you, very often wanting food. We wanted to feed and pat them but a local warned us of ticks. So we admired them from afar, and then hopped on one of the golf carts that fly around the island roads. There are no actual cars, only a few service vehicles and a bunch of privately-owned golf carts.

The film festival was held in an art deco jewel of a building which Wrigley had built in 1929. Called the Catalina Casino, it houses a theatre and a ballroom but no slot machines or roulette wheels: “Casino” is Italian for “gathering place” and that’s the meaning of its name.

If you want a nice glimpse of its circular exterior – surrounded on almost all sides by the sea - watch “Chinatown”: there it is when Jake Gittes arrives on the dock for his visit to the Albacore Club. The film festival awards ceremony and many screenings were held in the Avalon Theatre in the Casino, amidst beautiful wall and ceiling murals.

I imagine that island resident Norma Jeane Dougherty would have taken in a few flicks there when she lived on the island in the 1940s. By the 50s, she’d escaped that life and become Marilyn Monroe.

Meanwhile, Catalina had become popularized in a song called “26 Miles” (its distance from the mainland). From 1921 to 51, the Chicago Cubs (Wrigley’s team) went for spring training there, except during the war years when their ballpark became a simulated warzone for training marines and other war personal.

Here's me on the beach not far from where MM stood in the above shot -

Back at the Casino, Richard Dreyfuss was presented with the Stanley Kramer Social Artist Award. Walking the red carpet, I couldn’t help feeling like I was in the presence of a fellow Canuck - all because Dreyfuss rose to stardom in that quintessential Canadian feature "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" (74).

Tune in next time for the last installment of my LA Adventures! We'll visit some fascinating places like Venice Beach, where I found the last remaining building from that amazing opening shot in "Touch of Evil" (58).