catalina island casino avalon movie theater history

And one was to be told that you can’t see a movie in the Avalon.” Then again, Liddell admits that “there were two stipulations I’ve always had that if I lost either of these, for the first time I would feel like I needed to leave the island. “I think we gotta put our money where our mouth is, and stop complaining.” “They’re stuck, they can’t do much,” Liddell said. Even accounting for tourists, that doesn’t seem a formula to pull in regular customers in a community this small. Now 72, he sympathizes somewhat with the Catalina Island Co.’s situation theymust show the same film for two weeks straight because of studio requirements. It currently boasts over 11,500 signatures - which is nearly three times Catalina’s year-round population.Īs a 5-year-old, local historian Chuck Liddell used to give out theater handbills to beachgoers back when the Avalon showed a new film every night. Benson launched a petition three weeks asking Herrel to keep the Avalon’s nightly screenings. She now lives “over town,” Catalina-speak for the mainland.

“The experience for us is like a birthright.”

“I’m not convinced this closure is necessary,” Benson added. “A company that big can’t use the excuse of lack of money for closing it down.”

“It’s indefensible,” said Hernandez, who manages a spa on the island. That cold economics doesn’t compute with a lot of residents. “We have no support from the town for the current movies showing…Everyone’s throwing rocks, but no one is coming up with good, viable, sustainable solutions.” “There were so many satellite dishes screwed onto balconies,” he said. The last straw for Herrel was a drive through Avalon earlier this year on one of Catalina’s signature golf carts.

Catalina island casino avalon movie theater history