The Catalina Casino is the most famous structure on Catalina Island, a great, round, 12-story layered wedding cake of a building that commands Avalon Harbor. For generations, it has announced to island visitors that they have arrived at a place very different from the one they just left behind.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Despite its name, the casino wasn't built for gambling; swing was king here, with the circular ballroom hosting Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and other big band-era legends. On guided tours, you can see the ballroom--still the largest of its type in the world--and the Catalina Island Museum on the bottom floor.
The Avalon Theater features daily movie showings, but its design is the real show. I once paid good money for a ticket to the movie The Real Inspector Gadget, just so I could see the theater's interior before the lights dimmed.
Beneath the theater's enormous domed ceiling, elaborate art deco murals created by John Gabriel Beckman portray island and early California scenes, while the main drape depicts surfers on a breaking wave. Idealized and idyllic though they may be, the murals do have a way of conjuring the unspoiled spirit of Catalina itself.
INFO: Casino tours are offered daily through Discovery Tours ($14, including museum admission; www.catalinachamber.com or 800/626-1496). In September, the Catalina Island Museum ($3; 310/510-2414) will feature the annual Catalina Tile & Pottery Extravaganza. Call the Avalon Theater (310/510-0179) for showtimes.
PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT HOLMES
COPYRIGHT 2004 Sunset Publishing Corp.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
