It’s open.
Catalina Island’s long-awaited new museum has opened to rave reviews. The Ada Blanche Wrigley Schreiner Catalina Island Museum is the largest building project on the island in generations. It features expansive space for both permanent and temporary exhibits, special event space and an outdoor amphitheater. Developers took care to reflect the architecture of the island, utilizing an early California style reminiscent of the Catalina Casino.
The new Catalina Island Museum provides a home to highlight nearly 8,000 years of Catalina Island history, including native Islanders, European explorers, 19th century smugglers and cattle herders as well as Big Bands, World War II and the development of the island as a Southern California vacation destination. Current temporary exhibits include a photographic homage to pinup icon Bettie Page and mandala sand painting by the monks of Drepong Loseling Monastery. To the Wind That Will Blow Tomorrow, an exhibition of Plein Air paintings showcasing Avalon, opens the Society of American Plein Air Painters gallery.
Located on Metropole Avenue, just up from the Avalon waterfront, the new Catalina Island Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $7.50 for adults and $5 for children and seniors. For information about membership, visit the museum website.