The Catalina Island Company: A Rich History of Enhancing Island Beauty and Tourism

By: KATHERINE M. CLEMENTS

CATALINA ISLAND — Three brothers, Willian, Hancock, and Joseph Banning, whose father, Phineas, was one of Southern California’s pioneering legends, had purchased Catalina in 1892 and placed the island and other assets into their new corporation to make Avalon an exciting and sustainable resort destination. It was in 1894 that the brothers incorporated the Catalina Island Company (then Santa Catalina Island Company).

Like previous owners of Catalina Island, including the founder of Avalon, George Shatto, the Banning’s were rather successful in their endeavors. Over the next two decades, they built roads, hotels, and several tourist attractions. However, a 1915 fire consumed half of Avalon’s structures, including six hotels, bringing their company to the brink of bankruptcy. The brothers attempted to rebuild, opening Hotel St. Catherine in 1918 in Descanso Canyon. Still, mounting debt forced them to sell a large number of shares of their company a year later to a real estate development firm.

In 1921, one of those share owners, William Wrigley Jr, the chewing gum magnate who purchased his interest in the Island sight unseen, acquired most of the Banning’s share in the Catalina Island Company and began changing Island routines to move in a direction that would permanently preserve all of Santa Catalina Island’s natural state. The island’s beauty enchanted Wrigley and his family, who became determined to make the island an enduring part of their family’s legacy. Over the next 56 years, various conservation projects were ignited by the Wrigley-run Catalina Island Company, including animal controls, watershed protection, and overgrazed landscape reseeding.

In 1921, he brought his beloved Chicago Cubs to Avalon, where they would hold spring training for the next 30 years. Wrigley also welcomed Hollywood to Catalina, which was often altered into a backdrop for many movies of the 1920s and 30s, including “Mutiny on the Bounty,” which won the Oscar for best picture in 1932. Eventually, more than 500 movies, TV shows, documentaries, and commercials were filmed on and around the island throughout those years.

Please see ISLAND COMPANY, PAGE 8