Fornasiere continues while taking me on a tour of the museum, pointing out how Wrigley was a master marketer about how to attract visitors year-round. He invited his hometown Chicago Cubs—which he would soon own—to the island in 1920, kicking off what would be the team’s new spring training location from 1921 to 1951. Wrigley built new hotels and attractions, including a cage for exotic birds from all over the world. He built two steamships to help bring tourists to Catalina. And in 1929, his new art deco Casino opened with its huge domed ballroom and cinema, one of the first to accommodate sound movies. The museum highlights how Hollywood soon came to Catalina Island, its seaside setting and hilly and mountainous landscape a perfect backdrop for the 300 or so movies filmed there, including classics Mutiny on the Bounty with Clark Gable in 1935, and Chinatown and Jaws filmed in 1974. “Hollywood used Catalina to be whatever they wanted, so they turned us into Tahiti, the American frontier, and everything in between,” says Fornasiere.
Avalon was also home to a 16-year-old Marilyn Monroe for just six months after marrying her first husband, a merchant marine who was stationed on the island during World War II. “We think this was a pivotal time for her because she found herself not in a bad home situation anymore,” notes Fornasiere. “She kind of figured out her ‘Marilyn walk’ and was surrounded by soldiers.” To see some of the rugged interior of this island, 22 miles long and eight miles wide, I hop on a driving tour along the dusty and winding roads. “We’re looking for some four-legged locals,” announces tour guide Reyna Fino in reference to the 150 or so bison that roam there. It all started when 14 animals were brought for the filming of the silent Western movie The Vanishing American in 1924. “When ready to film a bison stampede, they opened the corral and the bison took off in 14 different directions,” explains Fino. “They never got their shot of the stampeding bison. They tried to round them up but couldn’t find them.”
Catalina Casino up close.
Catalina Island Museum for Art and History.
Buffalo still roam in the hills around Avalon. Photo courtesy of Visit Catalina Island.
THE MAGIC ISLE
COAST TO COAST MAGAZINE SUMMER 2023 | 16
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