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from the Queen Mary (Long Beach, CA) to Avalon. The boat ride between Queen Mary and Avalon takes about 1 hour 10 min. |
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Crescent Ave. |
You'll notice that many golf carts line the streets of Avalon. The golf cart is the most preferred mode of transportation on the island. |
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It should be noted that the Casino is not a place for gambling. Actually, it houses an art gallery, museum, movie theater, and a dance hall. |
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Real estate on the island is exclusive and expensive. The 3 of us stopped by a real estate office on the island. Posted on the window was a flyer listing several available units. A 2br2ba 860sqft place was going for around $900k. |
camera to take a picture from the tour bus. The town of Avalon is so small that it only takes a couple of hours to explore every corner of the downtown area. The best time-consuming thing to do there is to take an island tour. |
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Cruise ships often stop here, so sometimes the island can get PACKED!!! |
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Much of the island is not developed because they're trying to conserve its natural environment as much as possible... Honestly, the ride on that tour bus was so bumpy, I can't really remember everything the tour guide was telling us. All I remember is that the Santa Catalina Co. owns most of the town of Avalon, and the rest of the island is owned by the Santa Catalina Conservancy, but BOTH organizations are led by the Wrigley Family (of the chewing gum and Chicago baseball field fame). And apparently, Ol' Grandpapa Wrigley (who was in love with this island) was quite the environmentalist. |
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As a filmmaker, it's interesting to note that the island's wild buffalo population isn't native to it. According to our tour guide, some filmmakers brought over a few buffaloes (14, to be exact) for a film they were trying to shoot on the island, The Vanishing American. As soon as filming was done (or perhaps even before it), the buffaloes went loose onto the island at large and multiplied. The Wrigleys later brought over some new buffaloes for breeding, to water down the intensely inbred herd. |
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Now a B&B, this used to be the Wrigleys' place. Ada was ol' Gramma Wrigley. |
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