When was this pier at Catalina’s Toyon Bay retired?
February 5, 2019
CATALINA ISLAND—Catalina Island Marine Institute shared a photo of a retired pier on Twitter, Jan. 17; the pier was previously located at Toyon Bay, just a short boat trip north of Avalon.
The tweet read, “#TBT to an old pier at Toyon Bay! Anyone out there know what year this pier was retired? This lovely old structure must have brought countless smiles to countless students over its time in operation!”
Toyon Bay has hosted many over the years. Though the date of this photo remains a mystery, Guided Discoveries, Inc., the company that operates CIMI, purchased Toyon Bay in 1979. In early years, Native Americans inhabited the area. A boy’s boarding school was then on site from the early 1900s until the area was turned into a military training ground during World War II. There was also a resort, but it had been abandoned before CIMI was established.
In 1964 a caretaker was living on site, making Cajon sausage in a bathtub out of wild pig meat. He was watching over the previous yacht club grounds, abandoned reportedly when management disappeared with club funds. On March 29, 1964 (the Alaska earthquake), my family was there witnessing the heavy surf. The dock was there in the waves. Shortly afterwards, my father (Bill Webb) decided to restart a boys school there like the previous one (run by Keith Vosberg) that he remembered as a child. The Catalina Island School was back in operation in 1964. When my family left the school in 1967, it ran a few more years and declined. The marine education center than rejuvenated the campus.