SERVING CATALINA & ITS MAINLAND
every week - since 19t4
FRIENDS
tRIDA* February 8, 2013
VOLUME 99, ISSUE 6
Www.THECATALI NAISLANDER.COM
BRIE[S
Beach Cleanup Saturday
The next volunteer beach cleanup
is at 8 a.m on Saturday. Go to
Ben Weston Beach, Cottonwood
Beach, Little Harbor or Shark
Harbor for a morning of sun and
sand. The van leaves at 8 a.m.
from Conservancy House, 125
Ctarissa Ave. Call Volunteer
Coordinator Cindy Lazaris at
(310) 510-2595, ext. 109 to
make reservations.
Celebration of Life for
Keenan Machado
There will be the following
Celebration of Life Ceremonies
for Keenan Machado on Friday:
Remembrance Video at the
Casino Theatre: 12:15 p.m.;
Celebration of Life service in the
Casino Ballroom from 1 to 4 p.m.;
Continuation Gathering at The
"M" by Zest Catering, food and
memories hosted by family and
friends until 8 p.m with a no
host bar. There will be a paddle
out at noon in Avalon Harbor with
Aloha Lei's and flowers set free.
Co-ed softball begins
The Catalina Co-Ed Softball
League swung back into action last
week, with Straight Up Builders
winning the first game of the sea-
son and Bravo's Landscaping win-
ning the second game of the night.
The next double-header will be
Thursday, Feb. 14.
February Classic Movie vote
ends today
The deadline for voting for the
monthly movie classic voting is
today, Friday, Feb. 8. Voting takes
place in the Avalon Theatre, in
the Activities Office in the Island
Plaza. See story, page 3
Lancers Boys lose three
basketball games
The Avalon Boys Basketball team
lost games on Jan. 25, Jan. 26
and on Jan. 29. The third loss
cost the Lancers an automatic
playoff bid and took them out of
third place. Poor rebounding cost
them again. However, the team
has been selected as a wildcard
team. Their playoff hopes are in
the C.I.F. Selection Committee's
hands. See story, page 8
Friends of library launch
membership drive
The Friends of the Avalon Library
organization is holding its 2013
membership drive. Both Avalon
residents and Catalina Island
visitors may join. For more infor-
mation, call President Burney
Ramming at (310) 422-1406.
Consultant from
Urban Futures, Inc
to replace two former
city officials
BY CHARLES M. KELLY
Romantic renewal of wedding vows done Island style
On Saturday, Jan. 26, Bryan and Barbara Taylor celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows on the same beach in Avalon
as they did 40 years ago. Over 35 people, family and friends, attended the event, including daughter Emily and her family Joe, Brianna and
Joseph; and daughter Melissa and her family Chip, Sarnantha and Jacob. The ceremony was followed by dinner and reception at the M restau-
rant. Bryan Taylor first came to Catalina as a young boy with his parents and sisters on the S. S. Catalina in 1959. He said he h'as fond memo-
ries of diving for coins, staying at the St Catherine Hotel, The Mac Rae Hotel, Las Casitas and the Atwater Hotel. Barbara Taylor first came to
Catalina with Bryan in 1971 flying over on the Catalina seaplanes. They were married in 1973 and decided to have their honeymoon in Catalina.
They stayed at the Pavilion lodge. The Taylors are regular visitors to Catalina and vacation here several times a year. Courtesy photo
m
Chamber marketing Commercel The good news: that's
likely temporary, as the Chamber
director attributes. believes bad weather is the main
decrease to-bad cause
The monthly . visitor count
weather this winter report for January 2013 has come
out with bad news: the visitor
count was down 5.4 percent from
the same time last year.
Donna Harris, Chamber direc-
tor of marketing, said the January
2013 count was 1,225 visitors short
of January 2012's count
BY CHARLES M. KELLY
The Catalina visitor count was
own last month, according to
the Catalina Island Chamber of
"Usually, when the sun shines,
the phones ring," Harris said.
She said one or two boats to
the Island had to be canceled last
month Harris did not believe there
were any cross channel cancella-,
tions last year.
Cross channel carriers brought
19,684 visitors to the Island last
month Unfortunately, the carri-
ers brought 20,809 in January of
last year.
Visitor Count, Page 7
The City Council on Tuesday,
Feb. 5, approved a professional
services agreement with Urban
Futures Inc to be Avalon's chief
financial officer
The consultant's services were
needed because of the recent depar-
tures of two city officials: Chief
Administrative Officer Charlie
Wagner and Financial Consultant
Dennis Muira, according to the
staff report by City Attorney Scott
Campbell
Campbell told the Islander that
the state of California said that
Wagner couldn't work for Avalon
any longer
The " California Public
Employees' Retirement System
allows retired workers, such as
Wagner, to work temporarily.
Wagner had been Avalon's part
time chief administrative officer
for approximately three years.
According to Campbell's
staff report, a committee made
up of City Manager Steve Hoefs,
]Campbell and Councilman Oley
101sen selected Urban Futures, Inc.
I to be Avalon's new financial officer
] City Council, Page 6
Catalina's facts, folklore and fibs
This Week: The 'Red October Tragedy'
BY JIM WATSON
Ever since the first motion pic-
ture cameras began clicking and
whirring in Hollywood, Catalina
Island and the waters surrounding
her have figured prominently into
Tinseltown's filming locations.
It is estimated that around
300 movies have been filmed in
or. around Catalina since D.W.
Griffith's "Man's Genesis" was
filmed here in 1912. The vast
majority of the films shot on
Catalina harken back to the Silent
Film era and odds are pretty good
that just about any such film you
see that features an exotic island
or "South Pacific" location
filmed on Catalina. ,:
But Catalina wasn't just a film-
ing location. It was also a major
"relaxation" destination for the
mbvie stars of yore. The great
movers and shakers of Hollywood
like Cecil B. DeMille, Mary
Pickford and Gloria Swanson found
Catalina to be the perfect place for
both making money and spending
Watson, Page 9 Sean Connery
looks out from
a poster for the film "Hunt For Red october."
