Avalon: a walking guide to the town

Avalon is Catalina’s only city: a crescent of beach and pier with hills climbing behind it, home to about 3,500 people and incorporated in 1913. Its land covers just under three square miles, and everything a visitor needs is within walking distance. Visitors can’t bring cars, so the streets belong to people, bikes and golf carts. This walk runs from the ferry along the water to the Casino, then up into the hills and the canyon.

The waterfront

The ferries land at the Cabrillo Mole, at the south end of the bay. Walk north along Crescent Avenue, the waterfront street everyone calls Front Street, past shops, restaurants and the town beaches: South, Middle and Step Beach, with lifeguards and a swim line in summer. The Green Pleasure Pier sticks out into the middle of the bay, lined with tour booths and food windows; the visitor center is at its foot, and it’s the place to ask what’s on.

Look for the Serpentine Wall, the curving tiled seawall along the beach, part of the 1930s redesign that gave the waterfront its look, and the Tuna Club, founded in 1898 and recognized by the state as the birthplace of modern big-game sportfishing.

The Catalina Casino

The round white building at the end of the bay opened in 1929. It was never a gambling hall: casino is the Italian word for a gathering place. Upstairs is the circular ballroom, where the big bands of the 1930s and ’40s played and where the New Year’s Eve gala and JazzTrax still fill the floor. Downstairs, the art deco Avalon Theatre has murals by John Gabriel Beckman and a pipe organ, and it was among the first theaters built for talking pictures. Guided tours run most days. Catalina Casino →

Next to the Casino, Casino Point is a protected underwater park, set aside in 1965 and now a state marine reserve where nothing may be taken. It is one of the most famous shore dives in California, and snorkelers see bright orange garibaldi a few feet from the steps. Past the Casino, Descanso Beach is a private beach club with a small entry fee, cabanas, a bar and the zip line above.

Catalina tile

In 1927 William Wrigley Jr. started a factory to make brick and tile for Avalon from island clay, and for about a decade it turned out glazed tile and pottery in cobalt, turquoise, yellow and orange. Look for it on fountains, benches, house numbers and walls all over town, and on the Wrigley Memorial’s roof. The Catalina Museum for Art & History on Metropole Avenue, which moved out of the Casino into its own building in 2016, has the best collection.

Up the hills

• Chimes Tower (1925): a gift to the town from Ada Wrigley, still playing Westminster chimes every quarter hour from 8am to 8pm.
• Mt. Ada (1921): the Wrigley family’s Georgian Colonial mansion on the hill above the bay, now a small inn.
• Holly Hill House: a Victorian landmark from the 1890s, on the hill above the ferry landing.
• Zane Grey Pueblo: the Western novelist’s Hopi-style home above the Casino, now a hotel.

Avalon Canyon

Follow Avalon Canyon Road inland. You pass the Catalina Island Country Club, built as the Chicago Cubs’ spring-training clubhouse, and the golf course, laid out in 1892 and one of the oldest in the West. The Conservancy’s Trailheadvisitor center, back on Crescent Avenue, issues free hiking permits and runs a free shuttle up the canyon. At the top is the Wrigley Memorial & Botanic Garden: a 1930s monument faced in Catalina tile, 38 acres of plants from the islands and deserts, and a view back over the bay. It is about 1.7 miles from the ferry, a 45-minute walk uphill.

iPhoto: Justin Ennis, CC BY 2.0

Beaches and coves

• The town beaches along Crescent Avenue: sand, lifeguards in summer, and the easiest swim in Avalon.
• Lover’s Cove, past the ferry landing: a rocky marine reserve and the classic snorkel spot.
• Pebbly Beach, farther along the same road by the heliport: rocky, quiet, no services.
• Descanso Beach, past the Casino: the beach club.

Town rules worth knowing

• No alcohol, smoking or animals on the public beaches. A picnic is fine. Descanso Beach Club serves drinks on its own beach.
• Drinking in public is generally not allowed.
• Dogs aren’t allowed on the main stretch of Crescent Avenue, the public beaches, the Green Pleasure Pier or the Cabrillo Mole; dogs passing through must be leashed and muzzled.
• Golf carts are rented by the hour and must stay inside the city limits.
• Public restrooms are at the foot of the Green Pleasure Pier, the ferry terminal and along the Casino walkway; there are lockers at the ferry terminal.