Address
1 Casino Way
Avalon, CA 90704
Experience Type
History & Heritage
Operator Type
Independent Local Business
EXPERIENCE DESCRIPTION
The circular white building at the north end of Avalon Harbor has been the island's defining landmark since 1929, and the tour explains why it deserves that status. You move from the Avalon Theatre, one of the first in the world designed for talking pictures, its original Art Deco murals intact, up to the world's largest circular ballroom, where the big bands once played to thousands of dancers. The Romance Promenade encircling the ballroom's exterior offers the best harbor view in Avalon. Tours run daily; the VIP Backstage Tour opens dressing rooms closed for seventy years and lets you walk the stage where the music played.
OPERATOR STORY
The Catalina Casino was commissioned in 1929 and was never a gambling hall; casino meant gathering place in Italian. Managed by the Catalina Island Company, it remains a working theater, ballroom, and concert hall. The Avalon Theatre was among the first in the world designed specifically for talking pictures.
