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Catalina Island

 

Catalina Island is located 27 miles from the shore of San Pedro Bay (in the Los Angeles bay)

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In 1919, le tycoon of the chewing-gum industry William Wrigley made this island a summer resort with a big casino and some leisure activities as sea fishing.

 

Very popular in the 30's, Catalina didn't have the same development in 1943 and its population was only a few hundred of retired persons.

It was linked to the continent by ferry boat, helicopter or schonner, and the only city was Avalon; the rest of the island (colonized by stray buffalos and goats) offered the vision of what would have been the wild California 2 centuries ago, with its mountains, canyons and wild creeks.

Despite its isolation, Catalina had been chosen by the cinema tycoons like Cecil B.DeMille, Joseph Schenck, Louis B.Mayer and Samuel Goldwyn to built there the first equipped screening room for speaking movies. 
They hooked there, on their luxurious yachts, to handle successfully their various plans.

During the Second World War, it was forbidden for the public, and turned into a military training camp.
The Ste Catherine Hotel (from which the name is given to the island) became related to the hotel industry; the Yacht Club sheltered some classrooms; the Coast Guard trained at Two Harbors; the Office of Strategic Services (the CIA ancestor) settled in Toyon Bay; the transmissions built some radar station at Camp Cactus.

Link with Marilyn

The Merchant Marine Corps, where Jim Doughery was assigned, had its headquarters in Avalon. It was there that the young inductees used to train, climbing the cliffs and the peaks, yomping through the dense underbrush, in preparation for facing a more hostile environment on the other side of the Atlantic.

Jim, being considered as a permanent member, had been allowed to live with his wife; they settled from summer 1943 to spring 1944.

Their apartment overhung the bay and the Wrigley House.

Norma Jeane took their dog Muggsie () out for a walk, near the base-ball field (then become a golf ground). She visited the close aviary and strolled by horse at the Catalina Stables.

Pictures 

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