Catalina A to Z

Santa Catalina Island is one of the West Coast's greatnearby escapes, an hour's boat ride from Los Angeles and Long Beach for onemillion annual tourists.

The island's seventy-six square miles contain twocommunities-Avalon and Two Harbors-and extremely rugged seashores and interiorwild lands.

Here, the history has been carved by pirates, smugglers,prospectors and squatters and set down by seafaring scribes and Hollywoodfabricators.

The facts have been massaged by the ebb and flow of time andscattered like sun-baked rocks from a beachcomber's kick.

Co-authors PatriciaMaxwell, Bob Rhein and Jerry Roberts have collected Catalina's basic facts andlore into a quick reference that's as easily accessible as the most charming ofCalifornia's Channel Islands.