Hotel resort opens, art installation debuts in Avalon

AVALON — Island visitors can stay at a newly opened, nationally branded resort in Avalon and experience an underwater modern art exhibition in the city’s harbor this month.

Holiday Inn Resort Catalina Island hotel is now open for guests to stay during their visit to Avalon in Catalina. The hotel joins Bluewater Café, Radio Shack and U.S. Bank as the only national brands on the island.

The new Holiday Inn Resort Catalina has 75 rooms, an outdoor pool, Jacuzzi, spa, gym, business center, complimentary Wi-Fi and an on-site restaurant. It also has more than 5,000 square feet of meeting space.

This is the second Holiday Inn Resort location in California; The Lodge at Big Bear Lake is the other location.

“We, of course, are very pleased to have Holiday Inn on the island in Avalon,” David Jinkens, city manager of Avalon, told The Log. “The new Holiday Inn is a hotel that was an acquired one from the Catalina Canyon spa and resort. We are happy of course to see Holiday Inn come to the community.”

The resort offers free shuttle to transport guests from the harbor to the hotel. Boaters can take the shuttle from the harbor and into the canyon where the Holiday Inn is situated.

“The Holiday Inn Resort brand offers the warm hospitality Holiday Inn guests know and love in beautiful resort destinations from seaside to mountains, all around the world,” Vice President of Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza Brands, The Americas, IHG Eric Lent said. “The addition of the Holiday Inn Resort Catalina Island hotel expands the brand’s presence on the West Coast and offers another exciting destination where families can create lasting memories.”

Another new development currently (yet temporarily) in Avalon is Doug Aitken’s art installation of Underwater Pavilions. The work consists of three sculptures on display beneath the ocean’s surface off the coast of Catalina Island in Avalon.

Parley for the Oceans partnered with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) to produce this underwater feature.

Viewing of Underwater Pavilions is free and open to the public from now until Dec. 31. It just requires those interested in observing the sculptures to dive down to 10-, 20- and 30-foot depths. Swimmers, snorkelers and scuba divers can actually swim through these floating, mirrored sculptures and experience the underwater kaleidoscopic display.

More information on the underwater exhibit can be found online at underwaterpavilions.com.