IF YOU'VE EVER TOODLED AROUND... a particular land mass that sits about 22 miles west-ish from mainland Los Angeles, you probably didn't toodle at top speed. That's because golf carts rule Avalon, the handsome and hill-lovely town that serves as Catalina Island's main hub. The open-air carts and the water-close burg are truly synonymous, but it isn't just the residents who get to drive them: Visitors, too, can rent some wheels for the afternoon. That means you'll get to toodle, via your golf cart, by a number of pretty island hotels, and patio-pretty restaurants, and several houses, too, the kind of distinctive domiciles that can set an island-adoring day-tripper to daydreaming. If you've ever done the slow-roll by a few Catalina Island abodes, and had plenty of space through which to view them (as your golf cart was open), go a step further and go inside on Saturday, Dec. 10. That's the date for the...
AVALON HOME TOUR, an afternoon-long peek inside "some of Avalon's most memorable homes." The Catalina Island Medical Center Foundation is the event's beneficiary, and a quintet of houses are on the map. But you won't need to drive your golf cart to each, as transportation is provided. A ticket? It's sixty bucks. Finally getting to know what it is like to live on a gorgeous island all year long? We can ponder such things from our hotel room, as we gaze out at the local houses dotting the Avalon hills, or we can go a bit deeper and see what it is like to live full-time on this bison-beautiful, flying fish-fantastic, beachy-fun slice of olde California.