Catalina Casino | |
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![]() Catalina Casino, from outside Avalon Harbor | |
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General information | |
Type | Ballroom and movie theater |
Architectural style | Art Deco, Mediterranean Revival |
Town or city | Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, California |
Country | United States |
Coordinates | 33°20′56″N118°19′34″W / 33.34887°N 118.32601°W |
Construction started | February 1928 |
Opened | May 29, 1929 |
Cost | $2 million |
Owner | Santa Catalina Island Company |
Technical details | |
Structural system | round, cantilevered reinforced concrete column |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Walter Webber and Sumner Spaulding |
The Catalina Casino is an entertainment facility in Avalon on Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of Los Angeles in California, US. It is the largest building on the island and the most visible landmark in Avalon Bay when approaching the island from the mainland.
The large building contains a movie theater, ballroom, and formerly an island art and history museum. [1] The Catalina Casino gets its name from the Spanish term casino, meaning a "gathering place" or establishment used for social interactions and sometimes shows and dances. Contrary to the common English usage of the word casino , this has never been a facility for gambling. [2]
The Catalina Casino was built on a site formerly known as Sugarloaf Point. The site was graded for the planned construction of the Hotel St. Catherine, which was instead eventually built in Descanso Canyon. When chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. bought the controlling stake in Catalina Island in 1919, he used this cleared site to build a dance hall he named Sugarloaf Casino. It served as a ballroom and Avalon's first high school, until it became too small for Avalon's growing population. In 1928, the Sugarloaf was razed to make room for a newer casino building. Sugarloaf Rock was further blasted away to enhance the Casino's ocean view. [1] [2]
On May 29, 1929, the new Catalina Casino was completed under the direction of Wrigley and David M. Renton, at a cost of $2 million. [3] Its design, by Sumner Spaulding and Walter Weber, is in the Art Deco and Mediterranean Revival styles. The casino's movie theater was the first to be designed specifically for films with sound ("talkies"). It received the Honor Award from the California Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, as "one of the outstanding architectural accomplishments".
With a height equal to a 12-story building, it was built to serve as a theater on the main floor and a ballroom and promenade on the upper level. [1] [2] Movie studio moguls, such as Cecil B. DeMille, Louis B. Mayer, and Samuel Goldwyn, frequently came by yacht to the Casino to preview their newest cinema productions. It also serves as the island's civil defense shelter, large enough to accommodate Catalina's entire year-round population. Within its walls is stored enough food and water for all Avalon's residents for two weeks. [4]
The steel structure of the predecessor Sugarloaf Casino can still be found in Avalon's abandoned bird park. The bird park was conceived by Mrs. Wrigley in the 1930s, and at the time it was one of the largest aviaries in the world.
In 1993, the movie theater was photographed by Hiroshi Sugimoto for his art series "Theatres". [5]
In 1994, the theater underwent a $750,000 restoration that reupholstered all of its seats and cleaned its murals. [3]
In September 2008, the Catalina Casino had the first live full production of a musical on its stage, when the Santa Catalina Island Company presented Grease!.
In December 2019, The Catalina Island Company stopped screening first run showings of movies, essentially ceasing its function as a traditional film venue. [3] They cite the rise of streaming services and large use of satellite television in the small town of 4000 as contributing factors to the theater's low attendance. [3] [6] The theater remains available for daily tours and special events such as the Catalina Film Festival and Silent Film Benefit. [7] [3]
Surrounded by sea on three sides, the circular structure of the Catalina Casino is the equivalent of 12 stories tall. It has a movie theater on the first level and a ballroom on the top level. The building interiors were decorated in the Art Deco style, including with sterling silver and gold-leaf accents.
The Avalon Theatre is a movie theater on the first level, with a seating capacity of 1,154. [8] It has a single massive screen. [9] The theater has its original 4-manual, 16 rank pipe organ built by the Page Organ Company of Lima, Ohio. [8]
The theater is sound insulated so that patrons do not hear the band or up to 3,000 dancers in the ballroom above. The circular domed ceiling has notable acoustics and has been studied by acoustical designers, due to its repute. A speaker on the theater stage can speak in a normal voice without a microphone and be heard clearly by all in attendance.
The theater's interior walls retain the original Art Deco murals by John Gabriel Beckman. The theater's entrance loggia, located between the two wings housing the ramps, feature nine mural panels of an Art Deco-style underwater world scene. In 1986, the center mural, depicting a mermaid, was restored using hand-painted tiles as originally envisioned. The restoration was with replications of Beckman's design created in Catalina Pottery-style tiles. [10] The lobby has walnut wood paneling.
The upper-level houses the 20,000-square-foot Catalina Casino Ballroom. It is the world's largest circular ballroom, with a 180-foot (55 m) diameter dance floor that can accommodate 3,000 dancers. [1] French doors encircle the room connecting the dance floor with the Romance Promenade, an open balcony that runs around the building.
To reach the ballroom on the top level, the Casino building has two ramped walkways, both in enclosed towers that extend out from the circular building. Wrigley took the idea to use ramps instead of stairs from Wrigley Field, his Chicago Cubs stadium. The ramps allowed the large numbers of people using the ballroom to quickly move to and from their destinations. They each have a small lobby area just below the dance floor level.
In 1953, Philip K. Wrigley established the Catalina Island Museum on the first level, to preserve the history of the island from the pre-Columbian indigenous Tongva (Gabrielino) peoples through the pre-war 20th-century development by his father. The museum featured a large and comprehensive collection of original Catalina Pottery ceramics, produced by Catalina Clay Products between 1927 and 1937. [1]
On June 18, 2016, the museum relocated to a new building, located approximately one half mile from its original location in the Catalina Casino. The Ada Blanche Wrigley Schreiner Building is located at 217 Metropole Avenue. [1]
The museum continues documenting Catalina Island history, adding from World War II to the present day, and a research institute. It is the repository for all archeological digs on the island, and has one of the largest collections of Tongva artifacts in the world. There are now more than 10,000 photographs and negatives documenting island life from the early 1880s until the present day in the museum's photography collection. [1]
Avalon is the only incorporated city on Santa Catalina Island, in the California Channel Islands, and the southernmost city in Los Angeles County. The city is a resort community with the waterfront dominated by tourism-oriented businesses. The older parts of the town on the valley floor consist primarily of small houses and two and three-story buildings in various traditional architectural styles.
The Palacio de Bellas Artes is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. This hosts performing arts events, literature events and plastic arts galleries and exhibitions. "Bellas Artes" for short, has been called the "art cathedral of Mexico", and is located on the western side of the historic center of Mexico City which is close to the Alameda Central park.
William Mills Wrigley Jr. was an American chewing gum industrialist. He founded the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in 1891.
The Wrigley Memorial & Botanic Garden is a botanic garden on Santa Catalina Island, California, operated by the Catalina Island Conservancy. It also contains a memorial to William Wrigley Jr.
Two Harbors, colloquially known as "The Isthmus", is a small unincorporated community island village on the island of Santa Catalina Island, California, United States, with a population of 298. It is the second center of population on the island, besides the city of Avalon. It is mainly a resort village. It has only one restaurant, one hotel and one general store. The village has about 150 permanent residents who live on the isthmus year-round. One notable feature was the one-room schoolhouse which closed in 2014.
The Pellissier Building and adjoining Wiltern Theatre is a 12-story, 155-foot (47 m) Art Deco landmark at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue in Los Angeles, California. The entire complex is commonly referred to as the Wiltern Center. Clad in a blue-green glazed architectural terra-cotta tile and situated diagonal to the street corner, the complex is considered one of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in the United States. The Wiltern building is owned privately, and the Wiltern Theatre is operated by Live Nation's Los Angeles division.
The Avalon Theatre is a historic theater located in downtown Easton, Maryland. Originally built as a cinema in 1921, The Avalon was billed as the "Showplace of the Eastern Shore." Today serves as the prime venue of the Mid-Shore area for performing arts, nationally and locally.
The Arcata Theatre Lounge is a historic structure located in the city of Arcata in Humboldt County, California.
Avalon is a historic nightclub in Hollywood, California, located near the intersection of Hollywood and Vine, at 1735 N. Vine Street. It has previously been known as The Hollywood Playhouse, The WPA Federal Theatre, El Capitan Theatre, The Jerry Lewis Theatre, The Hollywood Palace and The Palace. It has a capacity of 1,500, and is located across the street from the Capitol Records Building.
The Madam C. J. Walker Building, which houses the Madam Walker Legacy Center, was built in 1927 in the city of Indianapolis, in the U.S. state of Indiana, and as Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991. The four-story, multi-purpose Walker Building was named in honor of Madam C. J. Walker, the African American hair care and beauty products entrepreneur who founded the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, and designed by the Indianapolis architectural firm of Rubush & Hunter. The building served as the world headquarters for Walker's company, as well as entertainment, business, and commercial hub along Indiana Avenue for the city's African American community from the 1920s to the 1950s. The historic gathering place and venue for community events and arts and cultural programs were saved from demolition in the 1970s. The restored building, which includes African, Egyptian, and Moorish designs, is one of the few remaining African-Art Deco buildings in the United States. The Walker Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
SS Catalina, also known as The Great White Steamer, was a 301-foot steamship built in 1924 that provided passenger service on the 26-mile passage between Los Angeles and Santa Catalina Island from 1924 to 1975. According to the Steamship Historical Society of America, Catalina has carried more passengers than any other vessel anywhere. From August 25, 1942, until April 22, 1946, the ship served as the Army troop ferry U.S. Army FS-99 at the San Francisco Port of Embarkation transporting more than 800,000 troops and other military personnel between embarkation camps and the departure piers. After a period of service as a floating discothèque, the ship ran aground on a sandbar in Ensenada Harbor in 1997 and partially sank on the spot. It was scrapped in 2009.
Santa Catalina Island is a rocky island off the coast of Southern California in the Gulf of Santa Catalina. The island covers an area of about 75 square miles. It features a diverse and rugged landscape, including rolling hills, canyons, coastal cliffs, and sandy beaches. The island's highest peak is Mount Orizaba, rising to an elevation of 2,097 feet. The island is 22 mi long and 8 mi across at its largest width. The island is situated in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 29 mi south-southwest of Long Beach, California. Politically, Catalina Island is part of Los Angeles County in District 4. Most of the island's land is unincorporated and is thus governed by the county.
David Malcolm Renton, known as "DM", was a builder and business executive in southern California. He is best known for his Craftsman style homes in Pasadena and for the construction of the Casino Ballroom and other homes on Catalina Island in the early 1900s. Renton was influential in the development of Catalina Island under William Wrigley Jr., serving as vice-president of the Santa Catalina Island Company and the Wilmington Transportation Company from 1919 to his retirement in 1936. He also served as president of the Wilmington Catalina Airlines from 1931 to 1942.
The Catalina Film Festival is an annual event that takes place at the end of September on Catalina Island, situated in Los Angeles County within the city of Avalon, California.
The history of human activity on Santa Catalina Island, California begins with the Native Americans who called the island Pimugna or Pimu and referred to themselves as Pimugnans or Pimuvit. The first Europeans to arrive on Catalina claimed it for the Spanish Empire. Over the years, territorial claims to the island transferred to Mexico and then to the United States. During this time, the island was sporadically used for smuggling, otter hunting, and gold-digging. Catalina was successfully developed into a tourist destination by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr. beginning in the 1920s, with most of the activity centered around the only incorporated city of Avalon, California. Since the 1970s, most of the island has been administered by the Catalina Island Conservancy.
The Art Deco style, which originated in France just before World War I, had an important impact on architecture and design in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. The most notable examples are the skyscrapers of New York City, including the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and Rockefeller Center. It combined modern aesthetics, fine craftsmanship, and expensive materials, and became the symbol of luxury and modernity. While rarely used in residences, it was frequently used for office buildings, government buildings, train stations, movie theaters, diners and department stores. It also was frequently used in furniture, and in the design of automobiles, ocean liners, and everyday objects such as toasters and radio sets.
Catalina Bird Park, or Wrigley Bird Park, was a 20th-century collection of exotic birds and game fowl kept on Santa Catalina Island, California, United States, under the sponsorship of the island's owner William Wrigley Jr. The Bird Park was located in Avalon Canyon along the Avalon municipal boundary.