Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Avalon, CA

Avalon is the only incorporated city on Santa Catalina Island in the California Channel Islands, and it is the southernmost city in Los Angeles County.

Before European colonization, Santa Catalina Island was inhabited by the Tongva people, and Avalon's bay received its current name in 1887 from the sister-in-law of the island's new owner, George Shatto.

In 1891 the sons of Phineas Banning bought the island from the Lick estate and established the Santa Catalina Island Company to develop Avalon as a resort.

Avalon incorporated as a city on June 26, 1913, after residents voted 132 to 88 in favor of incorporation.

In November 1915 a fire burned out of control for three days and destroyed about a third of the town, including the Hotel Metropole, pushing the Banning brothers toward financial ruin.

Chewing-gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. bought a controlling interest in Santa Catalina Island in February 1919 and invested millions in Avalon's infrastructure, steamships, and attractions.

Wrigley's Catalina Casino, completed on May 29, 1929 at a cost of about $2 million, was the tallest building in Los Angeles County when it opened — and despite its name it has never offered gambling, housing a movie theater and a ballroom instead.

Wrigley had his Chicago Cubs hold spring training in Avalon from 1921 to 1951, except for the war years of 1942–45, and the island ballpark was known locally as Wrigley Field years before Chicago's park adopted the name in 1926.

In 1975 Philip Wrigley deeded his family's shares in the Santa Catalina Island Company to the Catalina Island Conservancy he helped create, and the Conservancy now stewards about 88 percent of the island outside Avalon.

The 2020 census counted 3,460 residents in Avalon, down from 3,728 in 2010, yet the little city attracts about 1 million visitors a year and is frequently visited by cruise ships.