Tinkerblue

Catalina Tiles - Silver Canyon Pottery

 

Not all the tiles around Catalina are original. A large portion of the, are but years of exposure to weather, humans etc have taken their toll. About 15-20 years ago various artists began the task of reproducing the iconic Catalina tiles.

 

One of those artists is Robin Cassidy, a local potter. She has a studio just outside of Avalon at Pebbly Beach. Silver Canyon Pottery is basically 3 shipping containers side by side...plus a balcony.

 

 

Here a Robin creates the reproduction tiles and some original art tiles

 

 

Robin offers a couple of tours of her studio. They are small tours, about 8 people each. Robin talks about the history of Catalina Tile and demonstrates the many steps that go into making a tile. Our group consisted of 5 adults and two 6 year old boys. What was great was Robin's ability to keep us all entertained, informative for the adults and fun short facts for the boys.

 

 

After Robin's demonstration we got to make three tiles each. We chose our moulds either from the reproduction designs or from some more contempory choices.

 

First step - slice the clay and smooth out any major imperfections with our fingers

 

 

Step two - push the clay into the mould, then cover with wax paper and whack it with a mallet to get all the air pockets out and the clay into all the nooks and crannies.

 

 

Step three - use a piece of wood to remove the extra clay and make sure the tile is even.

 

 

Step four - sign the back of the tile, and leave in the sun to bake a while.

 

 

Step five - turn tile out of mould.

 

 

Step six - select colours and leave for Robin to fire in the kiln.

 

 

Step seven - two weeks later Robin mails you the finished tile. Or in my case I picked it up the next time we visited Catalina.

 

 

 

The tiles are all stacked in the kiln for firing. I kind of like how the back of the tile has the image from the tile which was stacked under it.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Tiles of Catalina Island

Everywhere you go in Avalon you will see pretty tiles. Everywhere. I'm not kidding... On shop fronts,

 

 

drinking fountains,

 

 

water fountains,

 

 

signs,

 

 

walls,

 

 

benches,

 

 

On the footpath

 

 

Some are single tiles

 

 

Some are murals

 

 

Some are looking a little worse for wear

 

 

and some look brand new.

 

 

Catalina tile has a long history. Catalina Clay Products was founded in 1927 as a division of Santa Catalina Island Company by the William Wrigley Jr.

 

 

It was established to take advantage of the low cost of local clay and to help reduce the cost of construction on the island.

Originally they used local red clay from the Island to make all the tiles and pottery. But the clay wasn't that great, it crumbled easily so they started importing white clay from the mainland.

 

Catalina Clay Products made tiles, dinnerware and artware. The tiles were used for interiors and exteriors of buildings on Catalina.

 

In 1937 everything belonging to Catalina Clay was sold to Gladding McBean. Because the cost of importing the white to the island was so high Gladding McBean moved production to the mainland and eventually stopped production altogether in 1942.

 

Although rare, you can still find original Catalina Clay tiles and pottery. Pieces occasionally wash up on Pebbly Beach on Catalina Island.

 

The traditional Catalina colours are Toyon red, Descanso green, Mandarin yellow and a blue, but I forgot the fancy name for the blue.

I've spent hours exploring Avalon and have seen lots of different tiles. I want a tile mural in my house, when I grow up and have a place of my own again!

 

Posted with Blogsy

LLoyds of Avalon Salt Water Taffy - Catalina Island

 

I'm a chocolate girl.  I normally dislike hard lollies (candy) like toffee etc, and chewy lollies - bleh.  But every Monday I walk past Lloyds of Avalon.  They are famous for their toffee apples (candy apples), peanut brittle and fudge.  They've been around since the 1930's.  So they must be good.  

 

 

I went inside fully intending to buy some ooey, gooey, chocolatey goodness.

 

 

Or maybe a peanut butter cup...

 

 

But instead I went with something I wouldn't normally choose...

 

 

Salt Water Taffy

 

 

There are hundreds of flavours to choose from.  Okay so not quite a hundred, but lots.

 

 

Guess what? I actually kind of liked it.  I tried the lemon, amaretto, chocolate, chocolate mint and vanilla chocolate swirl.  The lemon was my favourite, no surprise there as it's the one flavour I like almost as much as chocolate. 

 

 

I don't think I need to eat anymore. I still prefer chocolate.  Do you like salt water taffy? Let me know, maybe I'll send you some! Next time I want to try the frozen Mexican spiced cocoa.  It sounds good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drinking Buffalo Milk on Catalina Island

Remember when Victoria, Jorge and I had Bushwackers in St Thomas? Well I've found an almost rival for it. It even comes with a view, even though I didn't need to ride a cable car to get here.
Buffalo Milk on Catalina Island.
No, they did not go out and milk a herd of buffalo. Although there are a lot of buffalo on Catalina. They were brought over here in the 1920's for a movie and then left on the island afterwards.
What's in it? Creme de cocoa Kahlua Creme de banana Vodka A banana A bit of milk Some ice Top with whipped cream and sprinkle with nutmeg. I prefer the Bushwacker but the Buffalo Milk is pretty good too.

Catalina Island Casino Artwork

 

Last week when I visited the Casino in Avalon one of the things that fascinated me most was the artwork.  

 

 

 

At the entrance to the Casino are nine huge panels depicting an undersea world ruled by Regina del Mer (Queen of the Sea).  

 

 

They are designed by John Gabriel Beckmon who also worked on Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood

 

 

Originally planned to be executed in all tile, Beckman and his team of artists worked around the clock painting directly onto the concrete surface completing all 9 panels in an astonishingly short 3 month period in time for the Casino's grand opening.

 

 

 

In 1986 Beckman (then 88) and Richard Thomas Keit of RTK tiles worked together to restore the centrepiece panel and finally complete it in tile as originally designed. 

 

 

Both Beckman and Keit signed the tile work and donated their labour for the restoration. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catalina Island - Catalina Casino

 

We visit Catalina Island once a week.  Since I joined the ship we've been to Catalina 4 times, but yesterday was only the second time I was able to get off.  A lot of crew don't get off here because it's a tender port and that can be a bit of a hassle.  But from my two visits I really like Catalina Island, or what little I've seen of it so far.

 

 

The most prominent building in Avalon is the Catalina Casino.  Yesterday I took a behind the scenes tour of the Casino.  Did you know that in Italian the word Casino means "place of gathering" or "place of entertainment".  The Avalon Casino is a place of gathering and entertainment but it is not and never has been a gambling casino.  

 

 

The Casino took 14 months to build.  Construction took place 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  1500 men worked in 8 hour shifts. The cost to build the casino was $2 million dollars.  The Casino is huge. It's about 12 storeys high, and houses a theatre, ballroom, dressing rooms, projection room, a bar, a private viewing room and a musuem.

 

 

The casino was built by chewing gum owner William Wrigley Jr who also owned the Chicago Cubs baseball team. The Chicago Cubs stadium used ramps instead of stairs allowing large numbers of spectators to move quickly to their seats, Wrigley used the same ramps in the Avalon Casino.  

 

 

The theatre is on the lower level of the casino.  It seats 1184 people.  At the back of the theatre are the VIP seats - they have the best acoustics.  In the centre there is an echo, and if you talk while in those seats the whole theatre can hear you.  Don't tell your secrets.  And if you're there to watch a movie avoid those particular seats.  

 

 

The theatre also has it's original pipe organ that was used during silent movies. It's still played today during silent movie festivals and on weekends.  It's one of 4 remaining organs of it's type.  

 

 

The walls and domed ceiling on of the theatre are covered in a John Gabriel Beckman mural.  He also did the 9 panel paintings at the entrance to the casino. The ceiling is covered in sterling silver and gold leaf. It's one fancy theatre.  Unfortunately I won't get to see a movie here, as we always sail before the movie times!

 

 

The lobby of the theatre is black walnut and the wood alone is worth $4 million dollars.

 

 

Above the theatre is a private viewing room for the Wrigley family and the projection room. The projection room still houses the original two projectors plus a modern digital projector.

 

 

On the top floor of the casino is the 20,000 sq ft ballroom - the world's largest circular ballroom. The casino building is so well designed that there can be 3000+ dancers in the ballroom and they cannot be heard in the theatre below.  

 

 

The Tiffany lighting fixture can be lowered to waist height for cleaning.  Hidden behind the lighting is a huge wooden fan. 

 

 

The ballroom is surrounded by a balcony with views over Avalon, Descanso Bay and the Pacific Ocean.

 

 

 

The tour I was on lasted about an hour and included admission to the Catalina Island Museum. The cost was $25.00.  I really enjoyed it but then again I like learning useless trivia and history.  I didn't make it to the museum because I needed to get back to the ship.  I'll save the museum for another day. 

 

 Catalina Island Casino