Grand View Hotel, Avalon, Santa Catalina Island
Grand View Hotel (1892-1915+)
- Grand View Hotel
Avalon shoreline and the
Grand View Hotel, early 1900s
At the Grand View Hotel 
The Grand View Hotel 
848
On the Beach at Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, California.
Edward H. Mitchell Publisher, San Francisco, Cal.
[original in SCIF archives]
No. 2301.
Surf at Avalon,
Catalina Island, California
Wood's (Inc) Pub., Los Angeles Cal. and Leipzig.
printer in Germany.
[original in SCIF archives]
2827 The Benham Co., Los Angeles, Cal.
The Grand View Hotel & Bath House
[original in SCIF archives]
Avalon, Catalina Island, Cal.
F. W. Woolworth Co.
[original in SCIF archives]
In the News~
May 12, 1892 [LAH]: “Charming Catalina. Being put in trim for the summer. Streets and Boulevards made—a new Pavilion—additions to the hotel. Water being developed. From a gentleman who has just returned from a visit to Santa Catalina Island, a Herald reporter yesterday got some interesting points as to the many improvements being made over there by the Banning Brothers. A good compact macadamized street has been made of Crescent Avenue. The material for making the road was obtained from the west end of Avalon bay and a beautiful promenade is made in that side as well. The Pavilion is rapidly approaching completion. It is circular in form, with a dancing floor 75 feet in diameter. There is a stage at the land side 70 feet wide and 50 feet deep. The building is glass enclosed and on the outside is a verandah ten feet wide, which will be utilized as a cafe. A complete sewer system is being put in. The sewage is carried in pipes out beyond seal rock and emptied into the ocean. This is a system for the whole island. Much water has been developed, and a reservoir 35 feet in diameter and 15 feet deep is being built, and there is a new track house going up west of the wharf. The biggest improvement is being made at the Hotel Metropole. Forty rooms have been added, a new kitchen built and building erected for the bar and billiard room. The hotel is being repainted and repapered and will be newly furnished throughout. The Grand View is the name of a new thirty-room hotel erected by George E. Weaver. The Avalon Home, a new house erected by E. J. Whitney, and half a dozen large boarding houses will furnish accommodations for all. The season will open about June 15, and on July 1 a large steamer will be out on and daily trips made. This year there will be no charge to campers for ground or water. Everything points to the fact that there will be a great flow of visitors to Catalina this season.”
July 24, 1895 [LAT]: “The Grand View Hotel, Catalina, has become very popular. Everything nice at reasonable prices.”
January 2, 1902 Catherine MacLean Loud diary: “The Hotel Metropole dining room has been enlarged, also the Grand View with its reading room and the Japanese room for a recreational hall.”
September 17, 1904 [LAT/SCat]: “Avalon. George E. Weaver, proprietor of the Grand View Hotel, returned to Los Angeles yesterday where he had been to arrange for some extensive improvements in his hostelry. The improvements include the raising of the wing on the corner of Marilla Avenue and extending 100 feet on Crescent Avenue, making it a three story and basement building, and the lower story will be arranged to contain the office, ladies’ sitting room, billiard room dining room and kitchen. The space occupied will be 60 x 100, and there will be no solid outside walls, but all will be enclosed with glass, making a handsome improvement. Work will be begun as soon as the material ordered can reach here.”
June 16, 1903 Catherine MacLean Loud diary: “Francis Farquhar and Mrs. Farquhar and son, F. F. Jr. are at the Grand View Hotel for awhile.”
September 20, 1904 [LAT/SCat]: “Avalon. Active work was begun on the Grand View Hotel improvements this morning, and tonight the hotel will close its doors for a month, while another story is added and the office and dining room locations are changed to better accommodate the patrons.”
September 21, 1903 Catherine MacLean Loud diary: “The Grand View Hotel will stay open the year around.”
November 28, 1903 Catherine MacLean Loud diary: “A carnival event was held in the Grand View Hotel with townspeople having a ball in the Japanese Room.”
December 7, 1903 Catherine MacLean Loud diary: “The Grand View Hotel is converting porches into sun parlors with glass so they will be cozy for winter tourists.”
November 30, 1904 Catherine MacLean Loud diary: “The Grand View Hotel was raised and one story built underneath with office, dining room, ladies’ parlor and billiard hall.”
December 1, 1904 [LAT]: “Avalon. The various improvements projected for the island recently are mostly nearing completion. The Grand View Hotel, which has been raised boldly and another story added underneath, the office the ladies’ parlor, billiard hall, dining room and kitchen being transferred to the new quarters which front the main street at the street level, are now almost ready to be opened to the public.”
January 1, 1905 Catherine MacLean Loud diary: “The Grand View Hotel has also opened.”
June 13, 1905 Catherine MacLean Loud diary: “The Grand View Hotel was sold, one of the investors was J. P. Finnegan.”
February 15, 1905 Catherine MacLean Loud diary: “Miss Louis C. Whitney has been two years at the Grandview Hotel.”
October 17, 1905 Catherine MacLean Loud diary: “Ralph Weaver of the Grandview Hotel, married Miss Louise Whitney of Bay City, Michigan.”
