Los Angeles and gridlock are virtually synonymous. But in Avalon, a hamlet of 4,000 people on Catalina Island, built a hundred years ago by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr., you're more likely to find yourself riding in a golf cart (there's a 25-year wait list for a vehicle permit). Or, you could hop on the back of an eco-friendly H1 Hummer (it runs on biofuel) for a tour of the rugged interior in hopes of spotting the island's herd of wild bison.
Many Angelenos, who on a clear day are able to see the green and yellow grass-covered speck 22 miles off the coast, think of Catalina as not much more than a place where Boy Scouts go camping and rich people dock their sailboats. But this year brings new reasons to catch the 60-minute ferry from Long Beach. In August the seaside Hotel Atwater reopened after a restoration that brought back much of the familial character Wrigley imbued it with in 1920, when he hoped to turn Catalina into a world-class holiday destination. Sweet rooms have beds in corals and teal and cozy comforters, while the lobby holds the Wrigley family's albums and heirlooms.
Nearby, the Catalina Island Museum has an exhibition devoted to the tycoon's influence. You can also head around to the coast to dive with bat rays or zip-line through a lush canyon—though for all of Catalina's natural beauty, there are still reminders of Hollywood's proximity: Avalon is home to one of the first talkie theaters, where Cecil B. DeMille hosted lavish preview parties, and the Art Deco rotunda Catalina Casino, where Benny Goodman's big band played in the 1930s. Even those bison roaming the island have silver-screen cachet; rumor has it that they're descended from a few menacing extras who broke free from the set of the 1925 Western movie The Vanishing American.
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