Two Harbors, California

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Two Harbors is a small unincorporated island village on Santa Catalina Island, California with a population of 298 (Census of 2000). It is the second center of population on the island, besides the city of Avalon.

Contents 1 About Two Harbors 1.1 History 2 Transportation 3 Education 4 External links

[edit] About Two Harbors

Two Harbors is a small island village located approximately 23 miles from San Pedro Harbor on Santa Catalina Island. On the Island's narrow isthmus, it is located about 10 miles from the only city in the Island, Avalon. It is named for the two harbors separated by the 770 m section of land separating the leeward (northern) Isthmus Cove (aka Banning Harbor) and Catalina (or Cat) Harbor on the windward (southern) side, which is almost cutting off the northwestern sixth (31.7 km²) from the main part of the island. 1.4 km northeast of Banning Harbor and 470 m northwest of the closest coastal point is Bird Rock, which is only 6312 m² in size.

It is mainly a resort village where tourists, boaters, and campers alike can enjoy the island. There is only one restaurant, one hotel, and one general store in the village. The village has about 150 permanent residents that live on the isthmus year-round. One noticeable feature in the village is the little one-room schoolhouse where those who live on the isthmus can go to school without driving one hour.

[edit] History

The area where Two Harbors is located was originally referred to simply as the Isthmus of Catalina Island. By the 1860s, mining operations for silver, lead and zinc took place in the area. In 1864, during the Civil War, the Union Army sent 83 soldiers to both protect the area from Confederate privateers and survey the isthmus and adjacent Catalina Harbor for the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a location for a future Indian reservation for "militant" tribes.[1][2] As a result, the Army built barracks on the isthmus. The barracks themselves were used to house visiting film crews in the 1920s and 1930s, a contingent of the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II, and in 1951 became the home of the Isthmus Yacht Club.

An infamous Chinese ship, the Ning Po, built in China in 1753 as a merchant ship before getting involved in over a century of war, rebellion and piracy before being sold and converted into a Southern California a tourist attraction in 1913, burned off the western shore in the late 1910s[3][4]

[edit] Transportation

Two Harbors is served by ferry lines with regular daily service to San Pedro and Marina del Rey. A helicopter can also can be chartered to the village. The Catalina Airport-In-The-Sky is 10 miles away to the east.

Most people generally walk, but shuttles are available and full-sized motor vehicles are available.

To get around the island from Two Harbors, one can get a bus that can take them anywhere on the Island, or one can hike.

[edit] Education

Two Harbors is part of the Long Beach Unified School District. Young children in Two Harbors attend the one-room school, Two Harbors Elementary School in Two Habors. Older children go to the middle school and high school at Avalon Schools in Avalon.

The USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies an environmental research and education facility run by the University of Southern California in Two Harbors named for Philip K. Wrigley. The campus consists of a 30,000 square-foot laboratory building, dormitory housing, cafeteria, a hyperbaric chamber, and a large waterfront staging area complete with dock, pier, helipad, and diving lockers. The facility was made possible by a donation from the Wrigley family.

[edit] External links

• The Catalina Island Conservancy
• The Santa Catalina Island Company
• Two Harbors

• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 33.44° -118.49833°
  • Street map from Google Maps or MapQuest
  • Satellite image from Google Maps, Microsoft Virtual Earth, or WikiMapia
  • Topographic map from TopoZone
  • Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA