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Newly updated on 11-21-2007 and exclusive to this site.

 

The Story of Catalina Island Pottery and Tile: Setting the Stage

The beautiful city of Avalon on Southern California’s Catalina Island is perched on gentle hills inside a protected cove. A picturesque red tile roofed Moorish-Deco Casino dominates the northerly tip of the bay. One could easily imagine that somehow on your 45 minute Catamaran ride from San Pedro or Long Beach you might have been accidentally transported to an idyllic Mediterranean village. Robert Towne overcame writer’s block on his movie script for “Chinatown” while staying at Catalina’s Isthmus, where for him even the smell of the air channeled a long-lost Los Angeles. One in the link of Channel Islands often called “California’s Galapagos”, today the main body of the Island is held in a nature conservancy for all to enjoy. Like many artists, writers, and visitors before and since Catalina’s nostalgic beauty still provides ample opportunity for inspiration.

Over sixty songs musically celebrate the touristic impulse to “travel on to Avalon” (aka “the Island of Romance”), but some day trippers don’t see beyond the charming souvenir shops to the treasures hidden in plain sight, the richness and charm of a near-lost California heritage imbedded in stucco and lining the walls.

The story of Catalina pottery and tile begins with a lot of work, and a little brick factory on Pebbly Beach (now the site of Southern California Edison’s plant), which produced industrial building products for a developing resort destination. Over the span of ten short years, red roofing tiles, floor pavers, and hollow blocks–smart choices when looking to build a fire resistant town–evolved into increasingly sophisticated hand glazed pictorial and decorative art tiles of extraordinary beauty. (Authors Note: We like to think that the recent close call in Spring 2007, involving heroic firefighting efforts that saved the town of Avalon, were assisted in at least some small way by Catalina’s own fired clay roofs.)

William Wrigley Jr. and master builder D.M. Renton (known as “the hands of Mr. Wrigley”) were motivated to find new sources of revenue to keep the Island’s economy financially sound as it grew. While creating profitable activities in mining and quarry work, they were also able to lower their costs by using local clays and minerals that did not require shipping. These became the literal “building blocks” used in the construction of the Casino, housing, shops, and hotels. In 1928 an inspired Mr. Renton decided to have some sculptured and unglazed paperweights, bookends, and ashtrays made up as souvenirs for tourists, which turned out to be a big hit. “Take home a piece of the Island” was the sales pitch, and many did. Collectors today are sometimes able to find historic (although crudely made) examples of these novelties.  The Catalina-made roofing tiles and bricks found use in Long Beach and “overtown” since barging rates were lower than for rail transportation giving Catalina a competitive advantage, although the Long Beach earthquake in early 1933 put a severe strain on that aspect of the business.

Luckily by 1930 those early tourist items made out of crude red clay had inspired further diversification and expansion with an updated and fully equipped “modern” pottery plant utilizing large gas-fired kilns that enabled them to make more sophisticated house wares, dinnerware, garden pots, and novelties in a wide range of original forms. It was also given a new name: “The Catalina Clay Products Company” and became well known for creating quality ceramics that blended artistry and utility. At its peak years in 1932-1935 dinnerware sets called “Catalinaware” were sold in only the finest stores across the nation. Tile from Catalina topped wooden bases made either on the Island, or by leading furniture manufacturers of the day. Tables and murals were shipped around the country. Envisioned, championed, and overseen by DM Renton, backed by Mr. Wrigley’s financial acumen and enthusiastic support–Mrs. Wrigley contributed quite a few ideas as well, including the popular backgammon and checkerboard gaming tables– Catalina Clay Products Company called upon the expertise of the top ceramic engineers of the day, used mainly indigenous materials, and founded a cadre of local workers with the goal of providing an additional source of year-round employment for Islanders. Even Mr. Renton, with all his successful experience in a myriad of fields–including as a well-regarded Arts and Crafts builder in Pasadena, his involvement in the construction of the Mount Wilson Observatory, and bearing the complete responsibility of developing the infrastructure of Avalon–commented that directing the pottery was one of the most challenging and rewarding tasks he had ever undertaken.

The Spanish Revival movement of the 1920s and the 1930s, the “Golden Era” of California art and architecture, helped set the stage for Catalina’s successful endeavor. There was a genuine vogue for Mexican travel and a colorful Mexican style in decoration. Experienced Mexican tile artisans were hired at the Island plant. Catalina’s glazes called upon the bright hues of nature, while the themes of ocean life, birds, and other indigenous local scenes, were original and hand painted (either in glaze or on top of glaze in paint). Competitors often copied the patterns and designs. Not even the Great Depression could stop the enthusiasm of this burgeoning era–it even survived the passing of Mr. Wrigley in 1932. When P.K Wrigley took the reins and continued his father’s early California-themed development of Avalon, along with DM’s now grown son Malcolm Renton, the tile style continued, along with Otis Shepard’s iconic artwork, despite the ominous decline in California’s building boom.
Today, we can see this nostalgic period from a more realistic viewpoint, without the romanticized–and sometimes naïve–Anglo view of Spanish-Mexican tradition as a series of non-stop fiestas. Collectors, decorators, and architects have found a new appreciation for this historic style, sometimes called “California Revival”. This new movement reflects how cultural traditions and beliefs have evolved and matured since the “Old California” nostalgia for a view of Spanish Rancho life that never was. Back in the day, the first quarter of the 20th century, brightly colored pottery and tile, plein air paintings, interesting textiles, and dramatic new building styles provided the population with an uplifting antidote to their post World War I malaise, the decadent Roaring 20s, the ongoing Prohibition, and the nation’s bleak economic prospects as banks closed, jobs became more scarce, and the possibility that the so-called Great War might have a second act.
It is our hope that further stories about Catalina’s ceramic legacy will inform, inspire, and educate others about the Island’s rich history (nearly forgotten after World War II), and that then-as-now this color-saturated and occasionally whimsical Island style will provide a similar respite from the weightier issues of the day.

TO BE CONTINUED….

Excerpt from the book Catalina Island Pottery & Tile: Island Treasures 1927-1937, by Carole Coates, (Schiffer, 2001) Updated as of 11-21-2007.
All rights reserved. Copyright 2001-2008 Carole Coates