CATALINA MOSAIC PIECES OF THE ISLAND'S PAST FIT TOGETHER TO FORM A FASCINATING HISTORY.

Byline: Theo Douglas Staff Writer

AVALON - It is a Hollywood story with a decidedly un-Hollywood ending.

Seeking a site for a romantic dinner for two, ``Titanic'' director James Cameron likely had his pick of edifices on the night he proposed to future wife Linda Hamilton.

Cameron chose the rotund, ornately tiled, Spanish-style Casino building on Catalina Island as the site of his proposal, asking for Hamilton's hand over dinner at the center of the ballroom on the Casino's top floor.

Their marriage wound up on the cutting-room floor - yet it lives on in Casino lore every time a tour goes through.

``The Casino, this building just couldn't be built today. It's a priceless jewel,'' said special events manager Meghan Muat as she led a tour from the ground-floor theater up to the ballroom on a recent spring day.

For the record, it cost $2 million to build the Casino, which was finished in 1929. Built at Sugar Loaf Point, it was completed on the site of an earlier, smaller casino - and named using the Italian word for place of entertainment or gathering. This Casino has never been used for gambling.

Mention Catalina Island, and people are liable to think of two things first.

They'll talk about the population of about 250 buffalo - descendants of a herd of 14 American bison brought to the island in 1924 for the filming of a western movie, ``The Vanishing American.''

Mostly, though, they reminisce about seeing the Casino for the first time, aboard a ship, plane or helicopter coming up on Catalina - the round, tan cylinder appearing on one end of Avalon Harbor like a lighthouse stepped on by a giant.

It's probably the island's most recognizable piece of history, so it's perhaps fitting that a new exhibit on Catalina's historic buildings has opened at the Catalina Island Museum, which is housed on the Casino's ground floor.

Here is where you should go if you have a yen to learn more about the island's early years.

As part of the Island Scholars Enrichment Program, a group of Avalon elementary students was charged with the task of researching and compiling short exhibits laden with artifacts that would showcase the island's key points. By all accounts, they've succeeded - under the tutelage of the museum's employees.

``This is the fifth year that the museum has worked with the program,'' said its director, Stacey Otte. ``Some of our kids are from multigenerational (Catalina) families, and they end up correcting popular misconceptions.''

These budding urban archaeologists learned, for example, that there might not be any truth to a widely accepted myth involving Catalina's venerable, Victorian-era Holly Hill House.

Delightfully craggy in a few black-and-white photos on display at the Museum, the ornate Holly Hill House was the work of retired Pasadena civil engineer Peter Gano. It was reportedly built in 1890 for Gano and his fiancee. But their relationship is supposed to have ended by then, and Gano is said to have occupied it by himself. As the elementary students discovered, no one knows whether Holly Hill House was built for Gano's fiancee or his personal enjoyment.

Still, the possibility that he built it for love makes the legend that much more compelling.

Following a fire in the 1960s and a period during which it lay fallow, the house was restored and is now a privately owned home.

Though small enough to occupy just one good-size oak display case, the museum exhibit, which is to run through August, also delves into the history of the Tuna Club. The island's 1898 sportfishing club burned down in 1915, then was quickly rebuilt the following year.

Twentieth-century development is showcased here, too. A neat blue-and-yellow nuclear fallout shelter sign is among the newest artifacts in this collection. The island's students also take a look at the Depression-era Catalina Clay Products factory.

The factory produced Catalina tile and pottery - perhaps the island's most famous exports - in the California pottery tradition. Examples of Catalina tile still adorn the Casino in dramatic, stylized murals depicting undersea life. Pictures and text in the pupils' historical exhibit expose the factory's hectic decade of operation.

Like the Casino, it was built by chewing-gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. in 1927, and later run by his son Phillip. During its 10-year tenure, the factory rose to join the best-known names in California pottery.

Production on Catalina ceased in 1937, and the license to produce the pieces was sold to Gladdin, McBean and Co. of Glendale. The factory is no longer on Catalina, but its legacy remains.

Brightly colored dishes, candlesticks, planters and tile are in the hands of collectors - and on the Casino building itself, over the front doors. The tiles depict a mermaid cavorting, with fish in stylized underwater scenes done in an elaborate art-deco style that is echoed by the interior paint scheme.

The Catalina Island Museum also has 1,200 pieces of Catalina tile and pottery in its collection today - 100 of which are on permanent display, housed in the Casino. Locals live virtually next door to this stately building, with its ballroom and balconies, and say it gives them a real sense of place.

The annual swing dance camp begins Thursday and runs through June 9 in the Casino ballroom. The annual Pottery & Tile Exhibit will run the entire month of September.

HISTORIC CATALINA ISLAND

Where: The Catalina Island Museum is at 1 Casino Way, on the ground floor of the Casino building.

Hours, costs: The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Admission is adults $2.50, seniors (55 and up) $1.50, children 6-11 $1.

Information: Call [phone] or visit www.catalina.com/museum.html

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) The Casino, Catalina's most recognizable landmark, is home to the Catalina Island Museum.

(2) Decorative tiles, on display at the Catalina Island Museum, are part of the island's history.

Photos by Lisa Billings