The Santa Catalina Island Company added a new webcam on the famous Casino to the existing Pavillion Cam across the bay. This is the 7AM picture seen today from the new Casino Cam. Typical of the last weeks of summer, harbor moorings are nearly sold out.
Update: Banning House Webcam located at Two Harbors.
UPDATE: (May 11, 2007) Catalina Fire Pictures Here.
Firefighters responding to a brush fire on Catalina Island get a lift from the US Marine Corps:
Firefighters struggle with Catalina Island brush fire
A stubborn lightning-sparked brush fire that has charred hundreds of acres since Saturday night on Catalina Island was 50 percent contained Monday, but authorities said full containment will not come today as crews had hoped.
Full containment is now expected sometime Thursday, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Sam Padilla.
Lightning ignited two fires in the central part of the 76-square-mile island shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday, Padilla said. One of those fires was contained a short time later at about 130 acres.
[. . .]
Marines from Camp Pendleton ferried Los Angeles County firefighters to the island in four hovercraft Sunday to assist the Avalon Fire Department, Los Angeles County Fire Department Supervisor Ed Pickett said.
The hovercraft were used because severe lightning made helicopter travel dangerous.
This is another example of how versatile and vital our military is to our nation.
What a difference 117 years made to this serene little cove on Santa Catalina Island. This is a shot taken circa 1889 from a hill west of the bay looking toward the old Hotel Metropole. Photo credit COLA Public Library Website
And this is a shot of the bay we took last September from about the same place:
This next shot was taken from the bay looking toward the location of the old Hotel Metropole seen in the top picture (the old Metropole burned down years ago). The new Hotel Metropole hotel is located amongst the clutter just behind the tall palm trees in the center of the photo.
Today, we took a drive to the top of the Peninsula, since I had a hunch it would be very clear after the rain passed through the area overnight – Bingo! Right again! I took this shot of Santa Barbara Island, about 40 miles in the distance. Seldom seen due to coastal haze and fog, it was a rare treat to see St. Babs Island from the mainland. There were also breathtakingly clear views of Catalina and points up and down the coastline.
Santa Barbara Island is part of the Channel Islands National Park – From NPS:
Santa Barbara Island (639 acres), 38 miles west of San Pedro, is the smallest of the California Channel Islands. Formed by underwater volcanic activity, Santa Barbara is roughly triangular in outline and emerges from the ocean as a giant twin-peaked mesa with steep cliffs. Even though small in size, Santa Barbara Island boasts diversity in its habitats, with a few narrow rocky beaches, six canyons, and badlands area. It is much like Anacapa Island in its being a haven for sea birds. The steep cliffs and isolation from mainland predators provide safe breeding sites for thousands of sea birds
The Portuguese Bend area consists of more than 1100 acres of rolling hills, steep canyons and rock outcrops, with significant habitat and spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island. This shot was made from a turnout along Hawthorne Boulevard in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA.
This site is just too cool. You can see 360° views at selected beaches along a 72 mile stretch of the coastline near Los Angeles and on Santa Catalina Island.
The County of Los Angeles Fire Department, Lifeguard Division, in partnership with the County of Los Angeles Department of Beaches and Harbors and the University of Southern California Sea Grant Program has created a network of web cameras weather stations and water thermometers to aid in staffing beaches, tracking rescue activity, creating public education materials, and collecting environmental data for use in pursuing our common goals of protecting and educating the public, safeguarding property and preserving the environment. Devices are installed along the 72 mile Los Angeles coastline and connected to the Fire Department’s Wide Area Network allowing Operational Captains to accurately assess staffing needs at secluded, under served beaches from anywhere on the network through a web browser.
This beautiful Moroccan-style chime tower houses the Deagan Tubular Bell Carillon situated above the City of Avalon on Santa Catalina Island. The Cap’n and I hiked up to the top of Chimes Tower Road to get photos of the chime tower and of Avalon Harbor. The chimes sound periodically, as well as can be played manually or with piano rolls on special occasions.
About the CHIMES TOWER:
Built in 1925, the Chimes Tower was presented as a gift to the town of Avalon by Mrs. Ada Wrigley. Located up and across from the Zane Grey Pueblo Hotel, the chimes have been tolling on the quarter of the hour between 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM since 1925. On holidays and special occasions the chimes are played manually and can be heard throughout Avalon.
About John C. DEAGAN:
Deagan was founder, and for many years president, of the Deagan Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of percussion instruments. He was an orchestra leader at Niblo’s Garden and at Tony Pastor’s in New York and was director of the orchestra at the Opera House in St. Louis. He became director of the Catalina Island Band in 1893 and while there was interested in perfecting percussion instruments. Deagan died at the Surf and Sand Club at Hermosa Beach, Calif., April 28, 1934 and was buried in the family vault in Chicago.