Classic beach towns of Southern California - includes Laguna Beach, Newport-Balboa, Venice and Avalon

Sunset, March, 1990

Whittley, past three tiny turn-of-the-century hillside houses. Views of town soon open to the left. Descend a stone-walled switchback-and-stair path to Metropole and go left down this history-lined street. Along Metropole Avenue (3) between Beacon and the bay are an 1889 church, R. Franklin Pyke Bookseller (228) in a 1920s cottage (selling vintage travel and children's books, Catalina memorabilia), the Ida Court's 1920s cabins and tree-girth grapevine, 1917 mission revival City Hall, 1906 Hermosa Hotel and Island Inn, and the Santa Catalina Island Company (150), with a huge mounted bison head, Catatina ceramics, and historic photographs. Turn right on Crescent. Lloyd's (315) has been pulling shiny ribbons of saltwater taffy since the 20s (10 flavors-try peanut). Turn right up Sumner to see tiled shops, the Glenmore Plaza Hotel (Clark Gable liked the two-story cupola suite), and Island Plaza 4)-in the 20s a resort of "bungalette" tent cabins advertised as being "like your sleeping porch at home." The plaza is now the staging ground for inland tours. Notice the tile fountain by the rest rooms, and maybe try a round on the jungly, terraced miniature golf course. Continue up Sumner and go left on Beacon Street, past a homeowner's "history fence" displaying Catalina artifacts-anchors, winches, lanterns. Turn right up cottage-lined Eucalyptus, with trees growing in the middle. At Tremont, sports fans should detour up Avalon Canyon Road (5). Here was Southern California's oldest golf course-and (1894) the spring-training home of William Wrigley's Chicago Cubs from 1921 to 1951.

Look on the left at squat, tile-roofed Las Casitas, the Cubs' living quarters. Beyond, watch for a big plaque on the left that marks the Cubs' field now part of the public golf course). Just before the Sand Trap snack bar, climb concrete stairs on the right to reach the 1928 Visitors Country Club, which housed the Cubs' locker room; try to spot the famous in photographs on the walls of the grill room. Rental stables are a short walk farther up-canyon.

Return to Tremont and turn right. At Descanso Avenue (6), turn left and walk down Avalon's best-preserved street from the 20s, when precut houses went up on tent sites. Squint down the 300 block at pastel cottages and the clock rolls back. In the inches between house and sidewalk, lantana, roses, bougainvillea, and hibiscus give splashy shows to justify their toehold in terra firma. At Third, the house on your right started life afloat. Go left on Third, then right on Catalina to return to the waterfront.