History · Avalon · established 1913
113 years of Avalon, in picturesPostcards, papers and photographs of Avalon from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
1913 established
11 old photos & papers
4 historic places
2 famous people
From Avalon’s archive · credits on each photo
What stands out about Avalon’s past Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · The story How Avalon came to be From Wikipedia’s history of Avalon.
Read it all → Prior to the modern era, Avalon Bay was inhabited by people of the Gabrielino/Tongva tribe. The island was a major source of soapstone to the Tongva, who used the material to make stone vessels for cooking. The Tongva called the island Pimu or Pimugna and referred to themselves as the Pimugnans. However, by the 1830s, the entire island's native population had either died off, or had undergone forcible relocation to the mainland to work in the missions or as ranch hands for the many private land owners.
Text from Wikipedia , licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 .
At a glance
Established 1913
Half its homes built before 1946
Oldest landmark with a date Peter Gano House, 1890
Oldest item in the archive 1889
People in 2020 3,460 The houses today → On the National Register 4 historic places in Avalon The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
6
each building in a district counts
first listed
1983
Peter Gano House
in California
#112
by listings
Architectural styles listings Queen Anne 1
Colonial Revival 1
Bungalow/Craftsman 1
All 4 listings National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
By decade Avalon, decade by decade 2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1880s–1890s 11 items
1889 Catalina-1889 1890 Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, Cal 1895 HARBOR OF AVALON, CATALINA ISLAND c. 1896 Moonlight excursion on Avalon harbor, Santa Catalina … c. 1897 Avalon and harbor, looking over the city toward the s… c. 1898 Hotel Metropole and Beach, Avalon, Santa Catalina, Ca… 1898 Sea Bathing, Avalon, Santa Catalina, Calif 1899 102. The Miramar - an Avalon Boarding House, 1899 c. 1899 Avalon from the north, Santa Catalina Island 1899 Santa Catalina 1899 Avalon from the north, Santa Catalina Island 1900s–1990s nothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these years Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album Then & now Stand where they stood No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this view Catalina-1889, 1889 Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Avalon’s page.
Retake this view · +15 Famous people 2 famous people were born in Avalon Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
See all → Help out Finish Avalon’s story Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Decades since 1900 with photos 00s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album. Memory lane What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Town Square →
Weigh in
Has Avalon changed for the better?
Yes I miss the old days
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Start a conversation
What used to stand where something else is now in Avalon? → Who remembers Avalon in the 1950s? → A family story from old Avalon → Does anyone have photos of Avalon from the 1990s? →
From Wikimedia Commons (8), the Library of Congress (3), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia and Wikidata for famous people. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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c. 1896
c. 1897
c. 1898
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1899
c. 1899
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1899