| Wrigley Botanical Gardens | |
|---|---|
 Wrigley Memorial from the front | |
  Wrigley Botanical Gardens  Wrigley Botanical Gardens | |
| Type | Botanical garden |
| Location | Santa Catalina Island, California |
| Coordinates | 33°19′44″N118°20′26″W / 33.32889°N 118.34056°W |
| Area | 38 acres (15 ha) |
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. [1]
The botanic garden covers 38 acres (154,000 m2) near the town of Avalon on Catalina, off the shore from Los Angeles, California, US. [2] The garden places a special emphasis on California island endemic plants, i.e., plants that grow naturally on one or more of the Channel Islands of California but nowhere else in the world. [1]
William Wrigley Jr. (1861–1932) bought most of Catalina Island in 1919 with proceeds from his chewing gum empire. When he died on January 26, 1932, at age 70, he was interred near his Catalina home, in a tower in the botanical gardens. [3] The tower stands 130 feet high and is primarily built with local materials. [4] Wrigley's body has been moved to Forest Lawn in Glendale, [1] but his original grave memorial marker still adorns the tower site.
The botanic gardens were featured by Huell Howser in California's Golden Parks Episode 139. [5]
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.
Huell Burnley Howser was an American television personality, actor, producer, writer, singer, and voice artist, best known for hosting, producing, and writing California's Gold and his human interest show Visiting... with Huell Howser, produced by KCET in Los Angeles for California PBS stations. The archive of his video chronicles offers an enhanced understanding of the history, culture, and people of California. He also voiced the Backson in Winnie the Pooh (2011).
William Mills Wrigley Jr. was an American chewing gum industrialist. He founded the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in 1891.
Philip Knight Wrigley was an American chewing gum manufacturer and a Major League Baseball executive, inheriting both of those roles as the quiet son of his much more flamboyant father, William Wrigley Jr.
Catalina Airport is a privately owned airport located 6.4 miles (10.2 km) northwest of the central business district of Avalon, California, United States, in the middle of Catalina Island. The airport is open to the public and allows general aviation aircraft to land there. The only requirement is that inbound pilots state their intention to land and that they pay a $35 landing fee. The airport is primarily used for general aviation. The airport is also used for airfreight from the mainland. Supplies for the island are delivered daily.
The Catalina Casino is a large gathering facility located in Avalon on Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of Los Angeles in California. It is the largest building on the island and the most visible landmark in Avalon Bay when approaching the island from the mainland.
The Catalina Island Conservancy is a nonprofit organization established to protect and restore Santa Catalina Island, California, United States. The Conservancy was established in 1972 through the efforts of the Wrigley and Offield families. The Conservancy was created when both families deeded 42,135 acres (170.51 km2) of the island over to the organization—88% of the Island.
Queen Anne Cottage and Coach Barn is a Victorian style pair of buildings at Baldwin Lake, on the grounds of the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, located in Arcadia and the San Gabriel Valley of southern California.
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. Santa Catalina is the southernmost island of the Channel Islands of 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.
The Catalina Island bison herd is a small group of introduced American bison living on Catalina Island off the coast of Southern California. In 1924, several bison were acquired and, before the end of 1925, brought to Catalina. The bison are now quite popular with the tourists. Some buildings have been painted with images of bison and decorated with bison weather vanes. Over the decades, the bison herd numbered as many as 600. The population currently numbers approximately 100.
The LA84 Foundation/John C. Argue Swim Stadium is an aquatics center that was originally constructed for the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. Located near the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the venue hosted the diving, swimming, water polo, and the swimming part of the modern pentathlon events.
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.
Pershing Square is a small public park in Downtown Los Angeles, California, one square block in size, bounded by 5th Street to the north, 6th Street to the south, Hill Street to the east, and Olive Street to the west. Originally dedicated in 1866 by Mayor Cristóbal Aguilar as La Plaza Abaja, the square has had numerous names over the years until it was finally dedicated in honor of General John J. Pershing in 1918.
Catalina Pottery is the commonly used name for Catalina Clay Products, a division of the Santa Catalina Island Company, which produced brick, tile, tableware and decorative pottery on Santa Catalina Island, California. Catalina Clay Products was founded in 1927. Gladding, McBean & Co. acquired all of the assets of the company in 1937 and moved all production to its Franciscan dinnerware division in Los Angeles.
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 William Wrigley Jr. Summer Cottage, or "Mount Ada", is a historic residence located at 76 Wrigley Road in Avalon, on Santa Catalina Island, California. It was the former summer mansion and gardens of William Wrigley Jr. (1861–1932), the founder of the Wrigley Company. It is on a hill, overlooking the town and Avalon Bay.
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.
Catalina Bird Park, or Wrigley Bird Park, was a 20th-century collection of exotic birds and game fowl kept on Santa Catalina Island, California under the sponsorship of the island's owner William Wrigley Jr. The Bird Park was located in Avalon Canyon along the Avalon municipal boundary.
