I have loved history ever since…. well, ever since I can remember. My wise old grandmother always told me that if I studied history, I wouldn’t have to repeat it. She was born during World War I and was a young mother during the Great Depression and World War II, so I think she was trying to tell me to study history so that I could help make the future better.
Back in March I went to Santa Catalina Island for my birthday. I had read so much about the place. There is a herd of buffalo on the Island. “Buffalo,” you exclaim! Yes, buffalo. In fact, we have a herd of buffalo here in San Diego County, too, but only military personnel can see it because it’s on Camp Pendleton. Geneticists have determined that it is the second purest herd of buffalo in the United States, after the herd in Yellowstone National Park.
Buffalo were brought to Southern California many decades ago. The two buffalo herds are descendents of a small herd taken to Santa Catalina Island by Hollywood in 1924 to use in the silent film “The Vanishing American.” It has numbered as many as 600 individuals but is now managed using animal birth control methods so that the herd numbers around 150.
Although I didn’t get to see any buffalo while I was there, I did visit the William Wrigley memorial. William Wrigley Jr. bought the Island in 1919. Gum afficionados and sports fans will recognize the name William Wrigley for Wrigley Chewing Gum and Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs and, from 1921 to 1970, the Chicago Bears of the NFL.
William Wrigley Jr. died in January 1932 in Phoenix, Arizona. He was buried on Santa Catalina Island in a custom sarcophogus located in the tower of the Wrigley Memorial & Botanical Gardens. During World War II, he was reinterred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. The original grave memorial marker, however, still adorns the tower site.
Following are some views of the Wrigley Memorial on Santa Catalina Island. The first four pictures are of the Memorial as I was walking towards it through the Botanic Garden:
The following part of the Memorial can also be seen in the picture directly above:
Stairs leading to the top of the Memorial:
There is tile everywhere on the Island, including the Memorial. You can see some in many of the pictures above.
The view from the top of the Memorial is spectacular:
One of the two bronze doors (the left door was open).
The blue flagstone rock mentioned in the picture immediately above:
Detail work on the Memorial:
If you ever get a chance to spend a day on Santa Catalina Island, take it! In fact, spend a weekend and do everything there is to do!
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