Avalon Theatre

1 Casino Way, Avalon, Catalina Island, CA 90704 | map |

The news: The theatre reopened June 2022 with operation on the weekends plus occasional special events. It's a mix of classics, new films and occasional live shows. The theatre's website: www.theavalontheatre.com

Opened: May 29, 1929 with the Douglas Fairbanks film "The Iron Mask." Thanks to Nile Hight for the 2016 photo of the Casino Building, one of eight appearing in a post on the Belle Epoque to Art Deco Facebook page. He notes: "That's Los Angeles rising in the background."

Website: www.theavalontheatre.com | www.visitcatalinaisland.com | photo gallery |

Phone: 424-226-2537   Email: info@theavalontheatre.com

Tours: The theatre can be visited during the day on Thursdays, Fridays or Saturdays as part of the Catalina Island Company's Behind the Scenes Casino Tour. 

Architects: Sumner M. Spaulding and Walter I. Webber. John Gabriel Beckman did the murals. The site Ask Art has a bit about Mr. Beckman and notes that the Avalon murals were evidently completed in a three month period. Beckman also worked on the Fox Fullerton and the Chinese. The architects and Mr. Beckman were noted in "Dance Hall Nears Completion," an article Mike Hume located in the February 24, 1929 issue of the L.A. Times:

 Seating: 1,184. Not the 2,500 noted in the Times article above.

This underwater deco confection is on the ground floor of William Wrigley Jr.'s monumental Casino Building -- with the ballroom above it. It's still owned by the Wrigley family and operated by their Santa Catalina Island Co. Construction was managed by David M. Renton, who did many other projects for Mr. Wrigley.

The building, which originally cost $2 million, received a restoration in 1994. The Casino was built to replace an earlier dance pavilion on the site, the Sugarloaf Casino, named for the Sugarloaf rock formation it sat on. Much of that rock was removed for construction of the new building. There's never been a gambling operation in the building. In Italian the word Casino means gathering place.

 

 

 

An article about the new "Pleasure Palace" that appeared in the L.A. Times on May 19, 1929.

 

 

An ad appearing in the Times on May 25, 1929 - four days before the grand opening. Mike Hume has pointed out that at this point they're just calling it the Casino Theatre, not the Avalon. 

 

 

"...The Casino also contains a mammoth motion picture theatre, equipped for sound pictures, with a seating capacity of 2,500 people." It's an ad that ran in the Times on May 26. 

 

 

 

An article appearing in the L.A. Times on May 26, 1929. No mention of the designer of the murals.

 

 

An ad appearing in the Times on May 27.

 

On the Cinema Treasures page for another theatre in the town of Avalon, the Riviera, Ken Roe noted: "Tom White, a Hollywood promoter who held the lease on Avalon’s Riviera Theater, leased the new Avalon Theater in 1929 and also signed on as general manager of the Casino operation. His lifestyle proved too flamboyant, and his association with the Casino ended in December 1929." 

 

Listings for the Avalon that appeared in the January 15, 1930 issue of the Catalina Islander. 

Tom Reid had taken over as manager after Tom White was no longer involved. He only stayed until March 1930. A March 12, 1930 item in Variety spotted by Mike Hume advised: "A. La Shelle succeeds Tom Reid, resigned as manager Avalon theater, Avalon, Catalina Island." Ken Roe notes that Art La Shelle had managed the Riviera and Avalon theaters for White and, after getting re-hired at the Avalon, stayed on to manage both buildings until 1939.

The theatre was profiled in a May 10, 1930 article in the trade magazine Exhibitors Herald-World: 

 

“Overlooking the bay of romantic Avalon, metropolis (for it is that) of Santa Catalina Island stands the latest of William Wrigley Jr.’s magnificent gestures to wholesome pleasures, a building of steel and stone which yet has all the gossamer unreality of a fairy queen’s palace. It is called the Casino and it houses a fully equipped motion picture theatre and ballroom. The architecture of the exterior is of a Mediterranean pattern, a style that is followed throughout the foyers and corridors inside. It is within the theatre itself that all traditional manners are flung aside to create an original environment in the essential Catalinian spirit-that of make-believe.

"The walls of the theatre, which is located on the first floor, start converging toward the center of the ceiling and stage, almost but a few feet from the floor, and upon them is painted an impressionistic representation of Man unfettered amid a boundless Nature. It is allegory. It is history. And it may be hope. One assumes that it is also Catalina. The auditorium, thus brightly painted in an original allegory and of atmospheric design, is broad and long, but it contains no pillars.

"There are about 1,300 seats, over 200 of them being luxurious three-wing back loge chairs. Seating is by the American Seating Company. The lighting is indirect, being projected upward from a false half-wall just inside the wall bearing the murals, which are thus illuminated. The ballroom is located above the theatre. It is estimated that 2,000 couples can dance there at the same time. The Casino cost $2,000,000. The architects were Webber and Spaulding." 

Thanks to theatre historian Cezar Del Valle for the find. He included the piece in a Theatre Talks post about the Avalon. Ken Roe notes: 

"Western Amusement Company, which operated a number of theaters on the mainland, obtained a lease on both the Avalon and Riviera theatres in 1949. The company closed the Avalon Theater during the winter but kept the Riviera Theatre open all year until it was converted into a bowling alley in 1961."

Stage: Yes, it's not just a film house. There's a stage with full fly capability. The dimmer system is a Frank Adam / Major installation with house lights on a board in the booth and stage lights on the board backstage. The master on the booth board can be controlled by a motor allowing operation at the booth front wall or from backstage. 

The proscenium is 44' wide and 24' high at the center, according to data in "Windle's History of Catalina Island," a chapter of which appeared on page 4 of the September 2, 1931 Catalina Islander.

Pipe organ: Still in place and playable but badly in need of restoration. It's a Page 4 manual 16 rank instrument. A page about it is on the Los Angeles Theatre Organ Society website. Thanks to Mike Hume for spotting it.

 

 A console photo by Richard Neidich appearing on the LATOS page.

Booth: Projection is now digital but the theatre retains 35mm capability for special events. Scroll down the page for lots of booth photos.  

The 2019 closing: The Catalina Island Co. ceased regular operations as a first-run film house on December 31, 2019. The theatre had been a year-round daily operation. In a November 2019 post on the Catalina Discussion Facebook page they cited increased costs and declining patronage. Variety had a November 12 story about the closing: "Avalon Theatre Owner Blames Streaming Services..." Thanks to Gary Meyer for spotting it. Following the closing the house was used for occasional special events.

The reopening: The theatre reopened in June 2022 as a weekend operation plus occasional special events. New lessee actor-producer Wesley Alfvin offers a mix of classics, new films and occasional live shows. His vision was outlined in "The Avalon Theatre To Reopen June 16," a 2022 story on the site Love Catalina Island. Thanks to Sandi Hemmerlein for spotting the news.


The entrance:

The boxoffice in 1929. It's a photo in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.  

The view south along the entrance colonnade. It's a photo that appeared in the May 10, 1930 issue of Exhibitors Herald-World with this caption:  "A corridor of the Casino leading to the theatre, which is located on the main floor of the building. The design here is of Mediterranean motifs, in common with the exterior, but unlike the auditorium."

The west side of the building with entrances to the theatre and ballroom. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

 

 

A fine view of the boxoffice posted by Tim Miller on the Theatre Architecture Facebook page. 

Another boxoffice view. The theatre entrances are on either side of the boxoffice. The doors leading to the ramps up to the ballroom are out of the frame to the left. Photo: Nile Hight - Belle Epoque to Art Deco Facebook page - 2016 

Looking up at the sea-themed mural above the boxoffice. Thanks to Sandi Hemmerlein for the 2016 photo. It's one included in the Avoiding Regret photo essay about her tour of the building "Come Gather Round All Ye Islanders at the Catalina Casino" where there are many more fine views of both the theatre and the ballroom above. The other two chapters of her Catalina adventure are "The Island Where the Buffalo Roam" and "The House of Chewing Gum and Roses." Also visit the Avoiding Regret Facebook page.

A detail of the boxoffice metalwork. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - 2016

Another view of the mural above the boxoffice. Photo: Nile Hight - Belle Epoque to Art Deco - 2016 

South along the entrance colonnade. Thanks to Chiffonade for her 2006 photo on Flickr. 

 

A closer look at the mural at the south end of the colonnade. Photo: Chiffonade - Flickr - 2006

A colonnade light fixture. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

Another one of the eight tile murals. Photo: Chiffonade - Flickr - 2006

A detail of the mural in the photo above. Photo: Chiffonade - Flickr - 2006

Looking north toward the Ballroom entrance doors. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

 The Ballroom's entrance doors on the north end of the colonnade. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

A detail from the mural on the north end of the colonnade. Photo: Chiffonade - Flickr - 2006 

 

 

One set of theatre entrance doors. Thanks to Mike Hume for his 2021 photo. This one originally appeared with eight others on a Facebook post. For a real treat pay a visit to Mike's Historic Theatre Photography site for thousands of terrific photos as well as historical data on the many theatres he's explored in the L.A. area and elsewhere. And don't miss his page about the Avalon.

An entrance door detail. Photo: Nile Hight - Belle Epoque to Art Deco - 2016

Lobby views:

Looking to house left. Photo: Chiffonade - Flickr - 2006. Thanks!

A lobby ceiling fixture. Thanks to former Cinema Treasures contributor Hollywood 90038 for the 2009 photo. 

 

A lovely look to house left in 2014 from David Prasad on Flickr.

Looking toward house left in the lobby with a peek into the auditorium. It's a photo Nile Hight borrowed for his 2016 post about the building on the Belle Epoque to Art Deco Facebook page. It's from the Catalina Island Company's web page about the Avalon Theatre.

A detail of the sign above the entrance to the center aisle. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

The house right end of the lobby. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

The auditorium:

 

A 1929 view of the auditorium from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. The photo made an appearance in the May 10, 1930 Exhibitors Herald-World article with this caption: "Auditorium of the theatre looking toward the stage. Observable here is the manner in which the walls, short way from the floor, begin to converge, quickly becoming the ceiling, forming a sky-like canopy." Yes, there are twinkling stars in the ceiling. 

 

 

A look down the aisle in May 2015. It's a photo by John Bernstein. Thanks to Davis Zornig for locating this for a 2019 post on Cinema Treasures. He notes that it was taken during a Catalina Museum Silent Film benefit screening of "The Immigrant," a 1917 two reeler with Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance.

A luscious wide angle view of the auditorium that appeared on an earlier version of the Catalina Island Company's page about the Avalon Theatre. 

A vista down the center aisle. Photo: Hollywood 90038 - c.2009

The auditorium under different lighting. It's a 2013 photo that appears on the Catalina Island Company's Avalon Theatre photo gallery page.

A postcard of the theatre's auditorium from Cezar Del Valle's Theatre Talks collection. To learn of his latest tours and research visit TheatreTalks.com or TheatreTalks.blogspot.com. Thanks, Cezar!  The card also appears, with many other Catalina views, on a page of cards from the island on the site Penny Postcard from California.

A closer look at the proscenium and organ grilles from the Catalina Island Company website's Avalon Theatre photo gallery page. The painting on the asbestos is called "Flight of Fancy Westward."

 

A closer look at the Botticelli-inspired girl atop the proscenium. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2016. Sandi comments: "Apparently the acoustics are so good—and the auditorium is so sound-proof—that a full band could be playing for a room full of dancers upstairs, and it would never interrupt the sound of the movie being projected below."

 

A view from house right. Photo: Mike Hume - 2021

A look at the house left wall from a 360 degree panorama by Carel Struycken. It's on the site Spherical Panoramas where you can pan around and zoom in on details.

A postcard showing a section of the house left wall. Thanks to Michelle Gerdes for sharing the card from her collection.

A detail from near the proscenium house left. Photo: Nile Hight - Belle Epoque to Art Deco - 2016

The house right wall. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

A look to the rear of the auditorium. Photo: Nile Hight - Belle Epoque to Art Deco - 2016

Another back wall view. It's a 2018 photo from Pancho Ds included with a post on the Facebook page Projectionists International. Thanks to Woody Wise for spotting it.

A postcard view of the back wall. Thanks to Hank Zeletel for posting it on Cinema Treasures.

A closer look toward the booth ports. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2016

Looking to house left. It's a Christina House photo taken for the L.A. Times that appeared with Gustavo Arellano's December 2019 L.A. Times article about the closing: "This theater has attracted movie stars..." Thanks to Jon Frugoli for spotting the story. 

A detail house left. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2016

A look along the back wall to house right. Photo: Hollywood 90038 - c.2009

One of the 1929 vintage end standards. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - 2016

On the stage:

A look across the footlights. It's a photo that appeared in the May 10, 1930 issue of Exhibitors Herald-World. Thanks to Cezar Del Valle for locating it for a post about the Avalon on his  TheatreTalks.wordpress.com site. 

 

 

 

A look across the foots nine decades later. Photo: Mike Hume - 2021 

 

 

A view to the downstage portion of the grid. That's the back of the asbestos above the proscenium. In the upper left is a bit of the movie screen. Photo: Mike Hume - 2021

 

 

Off right looking along the Frank Adam/Major dimmerboard. It's a split system. There's also a board in the booth. Note the curtain motor mounted above the onstage end of the board. Photo: Mike Hume - 2021

 

A detail of the board. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - 2016  

 

 

 

Offstage right for a view of the board and some of the arbors of the wire-guide counterweight system. On the far right is an old audio rack. Photo: Mike Hume - 2021

 

 

The lockrail from the front. Photo: Mike Hume - 2021

 

 

 

Another lockrail view. Photo: Mike Hume - 2021

 

A detail of the lockrail. Note the cue lights and the unique racheted locking tension blocks. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - 2016

 

 

 

Dressing rooms wrap around the curve of the building. This is one of the chorus rooms. Photo: Mike Hume - 2021

 

 

One of the smaller dressing rooms. Photo: Mike Hume - 2021

 

 

In the spot room: 

 

The spot room is on the house left end of the booth. On display at the far left is a spare Brenkert projector. The pole mounted unit is a Brenkert hand feed arc spotlight. Note the color boomerang on the front. On the right it's a Brenograph effects and slide projector, also manufactured by Brenkert, a Detroit company. Photo: Mike Hume - 2021

The Brenograph effects projector in 2005, when it was still operable. That's the arc followspot beyond. Photo: Mxslick - ECN Electrical Forum

Another view of the theatre's Brenograph. It's a c.2013 photo that appears on the Catalina Island Company's web page about their Behind the Scenes Casino Tour.  

A Simplex E-7 with an Ashcraft lamphouse on display in the spot room. Neither this nor the Brenkert machines currently installed would have been original equipment for the theatre. Photo: Pancho Ds - Projectionists International - 2018

In the booth:

 

A perhaps 40s booth view. The Brenkert projectors and Brenkert Enarc lamps seen here are still in the booth. Thanks to Dallas Movie Theaters for finding the trade magazine photo for a post on Cinema Treasures.

 

A wide angle view from the back of the booth in 2021. Thanks to Mike Hume for this photo and the others appearing on the page. Check out the thousands of wonderful shots of theatres he's explored on his ever-growing Historic Theatre Photography site. And don't miss his page about the Avalon.

Before the theatre went digital they were using a platter system plus a Xetron console (with a 2Kw lamp) with a Century SA on it. The soundhead was a Century R3 with a red LED retrofit. This equipment is seen on the far left. In the center are two Brenkert BX-60 (or 80) heads with RCA 1040 soundheads and Brenkert Enarc lamps. On the far right it's a Christie digital projector. 

 

 

The left end of the booth with one of the Brenkerts and the Xetron console and Century projector beyond. Photo: Mxslick - ECN Electrical Forum - 2005

Mxslick is the gentleman who at the time was servicing the booth. He noted that the Brenkerts still ran beautifully and were used only a few times a year -- occasionally for nitrate prints at their Silent Film Festival. His photos, along with many comments, appear in four parts on the ECN Electrical Forum: | Part 1 - booth dimmerboard | Part 2 - dimmers and fuses | Part 3 - motor generator set & controls | Part 4 - projectors |  

A look inside one of the Brenkert heads. It's an RCA 1040 soundhead. Photo: Mxslick - ECN Electrical Forum - 2005

Tour time in the booth. On the far right it's the theatre's digital projector. Thanks to Pancho Ds for posting the 2018 photo on the Facebook page Projectionists International.

A closer look at the #2 Brenkert Enarc lamphouse. Photo: Pancho Ds - Projectionists International - 2018

The inside of one of the Enarc lamps. Photo: Mxslick - ECN Electrical Forum - 2005

 

A retired RCA PG-91 sound system. Photo: Pancho Ds - Projectionists International - 2018

Looking in between the #2 Brenkert machine and the digital projector currently used. Photo: Pancho Ds - Projectionists International - 2018

One of the control stations. We're at the left side of the booth next to the Century projector, the machine in daily use before the house went digital. Photo: Pancho Ds - Projectionists International - 2018

The Frank Adam / Major board on the right end of the booth for controlling house lights. Another board is backstage for the stage lights. Photo: Mxslick - ECN Electrical Forum - 2005

Another view of the board with a bit of the digital projector on the left. The large switches on the right are for the arc lamps. Photo: Pancho Ds - Projectionists International - 2018

The top of the dimmerboard. Photo: Pancho Ds - Projectionists International - 2018. Thanks, Pancho!

The controls for the booth exhaust fans and the DC generator voltage, located on the right end of the board. Photo: Mxslick - ECN Electrical Forum - 2005

Several of the dimmers. Photo: Mxslick - ECN Electrical Forum - 2005 

The motor drive for the grand master. Photo: Mxslick - ECN Electrical Forum - 2005

Some of the branch circuit fuses for houselights. The panel is in a room behind the dimmerboard. Photo: Mxslick - ECN Electrical Forum - 2005

Contactors and fuses for several of the house light and stage circuits, in the room behind the board. Photo: Mxslick - ECN Electrical Forum - 2005

Another view of several contactors. Photo: Mxslick - ECN Electrical Forum - 2005

The Westinghouse motor-generator set to provide DC for what originally was a complement of seven arc lamps. Photo: Mxslick - ECN Electrical Forum - 2005

The starter for the motor-generator. Photo: Mxslick - ECN Electrical Forum - 2005

The DC switchboard. The multiple knife switches for each arc allow different amounts of ballast resistance to be cut in or out. Photo: Mxslick - ECN Electrical Forum - 2005 

 

A view toward the screen. Photo: Pancho Ds - Projectionists International - 2018

Another porthole view. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2016. Thanks, Sandi!

The Ballroom:

Looking toward the bandstand. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

A ceiling detail. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

Across to the south wall. All the doors open to the promenade outside. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

On the promenade looking toward Los Angeles. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

More exterior views: 

c.1910 - An early postcard view from the collection of Brent Dickerson showing the harbor before either of the Casino buildings had been constructed. The card appears with the third of Brent's four chapters about Catalina in his epic adventure "A Visit To Old Los Angeles." | San Pedro / Catalina Part 1 | Catalina Part 2 | Catalina Part 3 | Catalina Part 4 |

1928 - A view of the bay from William Wrigley's home showing the first Casino building on the site. The present building was constructed in 1929. It's a photo from the California Historical Society collection appearing on the USC Digital Library website.

c.1929 - A water view from the Los Angeles Public Library collection.

c.1929 - The entrance from above. It's a photo that's in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.

c.1935 - Thanks to Brian Michael McCray for sharing this card from his collection.

c.1935 - A postcard from the site Penny Postcards from California that appears on their page of cards from Catalina. 

c.1938 - A Dick Whittington photo from the USC Digital Library collection. Also on the site, among many others, see a view to the south and looking north across the bay, both from the California Historical Society.

1977 - The building from the north. It's a photo on the Los Angeles Public Library website from their Herald Examiner collection.

Also in the LAPL collection: ballroom - 1929 | ballroom - c.1937 - Herman Schultheis | ballroom stage - c.1937 - Schultheis | ..and many more island views if you care to search.

2016 - A look down on the Catalina Casino Building. Thanks to Sandi Hemmerlein for the photo. It's one included in her Avoiding Regret photo essay about her tour of the building "Come Gather Round All Ye Islanders at the Catalina Casino" where there are many more fine views of both the theatre and the ballroom.

2018 - The Casino from the south. Downtown is off to the left. It's a photo from Pancho Ds post on the Facebook page Projectionists International.

2018 - The building from the north. Photo: Bill Counter

2018 - The west side of the building. Photo: Bill Counter

More information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the Avalon for many comments. Michelle Heasley has an album of twelve photos taken during a 2019 visit on the SoCal Historic Architecture Facebook page.

Don't miss Sandi Hemmerlein's 2016 Avoiding Regret article about her tour of the building: "Come Gather Round All Ye Islanders at the Catalina Casino." Hadley Meares did a fine 2014 article "The Catalina Casino: The Magic Isle's Art Deco Pleasure Palace" for the KCET series "Lost Landmarks."

Check out Gustavo Arellano's December 2019 L.A. Times article about the closing: "This theater has attracted movie stars..."

Other Catalina Theatres: See the page about the Riviera Theatre, which closed in 1961. Also see the pages on the Strand and the El Encanto Playhouse.

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