The Catalina Casino

With plenty of places to visit on Catalina Island, the Catalina Casino is a must-see by any standards. This place is more of hangout instead of an actual casino. The building is a prominent sight at Sugarloaf Point, even before you pull up at the docks. If you decide to go visit, there is a short walk along waterfront streets lined with restaurants and souvenir shops.

Based on the aesthetic inspiration from ‘the principle of the coconut shell’, the Casino building uses a Spanish Revival setting. The terraced walkways around the Casino definitely borrow from Spanish architecture. Construction, which began in 1928, ended up costing around two million dollars. Crews worked around the clock to complete the 12-story building, with praiseworthy results. If your Catalina Island hotel accommodations overlook the structure, you will definitely want to come take a look.

 

This is easily a place you can spend a day at and it is almost as enjoyable as a spa treatment at the Catalina Island hotel you are staying at. There are plenty of art shows here, a lot of which comprises ‘ocean-scape’ murals. One famous rendering is the mermaid, done all in tile and overlooking the ticket booth at the front of the building. Inside you have the movie theater, mostly mural covered as well, a room with a curved ceiling and wonderful acoustics. They show first-run movies at 7:30 pm nightly. Show up an hour before the movie starts, and you can even catch the original 4-manual, 16 rank theater pipe organ performance. Ask Hotel Metropole, your Catalina Island hotel destination of fun, and see what else is new around the corner.