By the Honorable Robert Armstrong
l have been asked by some members to, put down in writing the brief history of Fourth of July Cove and Fourth of July Yacht Club that l related at the 1995 Installation at the Long Beach Yacht Club in January. For those, interested, here it is:
The modern history of Catalina Island began in 1850 when Pio, Pico, the last Mexican Governor of California, sold the island for $100.00 to a friend as he was departing on horseback from the new State of California to refuge in Old Mexico.
The island changed ownership several times before it was bought by the Banning Brothers in the nineteenth century. Phineas Banning was responsible for building the rail line from the present Union Station location to, Wilmington and had also established stage coach routes. The Bannings owned the island in the 1800s through the turn of the century and until it was eventually' sold to Mr. Wrigley, the chewing gum magnate. During their ownership, the Bannings believed the most desirable part of the island to be the west end. They build their home at a site that they had a commanding view of both the North and the South harbors. They terraced the hill on which their home was built and included nine, bedrooms so that they could accommodate guests from the mainland. They landscaped the area around their home and laid out roads sufficient for mules and wagons and horses and buggies. Behind the Banning house were stables and a coach house, with a variety of buggies and wagons. The Bannings built the pier at Cat Harbor where coastal freighters could come in with lumber and supplies and mule drawn wagons could be loaded directly from the ship.
One 4th of July, the Banning family decided to picnic in the pleasant little cove just west of the Isthmus. It was a lovely picnic spot and such a nice, day was had that it became a family tradition to picnic there. Because of those, outings, the Bannings named the spot "Fourth of July Cove".
Many years later, the cove was a girl scout camp and one member was a camper here 60 years ago. (She was only 2) The campers slept in tents, but bathrooms and showers; were built which are now the men and women's heads. Ever wonder how the pillbox got its name? It was the dispensary.
After the second world war, boaters were allowed to return to the island, and moorings began to appear. Some enterprising souls acquired old railroad train wheels and dropped them in the water with a line to an upside down water heater. Some of the "owned" moorings in the cove are still in those locations.
In the late fifties, the island company entered into an arrangement to lease the cove to members of the Long Beach Yacht Club. The cost per member who elected to join the cove was $75 per year. However, since there were, not enough members of the Long Beach club interested in having the exclusive use of the cove, it was opened up to the boating public. For the next few years, Doug Bombard was our landlord; collected the dues and furnished everything from toilet paper to soft drinks-to the club.
ODs had fairly simple parties. Some parties had Hors, d'oeuvres of cubed cheese, braunsweiger and crackers. The dinner line furnished the salad and dressing, baked potatoes and bread and the biggest job of the OD were to clean up after dinner and join the party. And we did party in those days. On our old record player we had the song, "Three o'clock in the morning" and l can remember lots of parties where we played it at three o'clock in the morning. At that time, we had less than a hundred families.
Some of the parties became quite elaborate. Not only the Committee members but the guests as well came in costume as Romans, Mexicans, Hawaiians, shipwreck survivors and pirates. One memorable party was a "Come in what you wore in 1944". A lot of us squeezed into our old World War Two uniforms.
One of our members, owned an airline on the East Coast that flew lobsters from the Caribbean to Florida. When they hosted a party, they flew hundreds of pounds of lobster and shrimp to Los Angeles and brought then to the party. Eleanor and l had the chore of being the OD's for the following week! Try to top that one.
For a while, the parties; were "Can you top this", and there were a lot of steaks that were quietly returned to boats and the committee didn't have much business in the dinner line. In those days the OD chairmen were reimbursed at the rate of $15.00 per party.
In the mid seventies, we incorporated ourselves into a Non Profit Corporation named the Fourth of July Yacht Club, and took over the operation of the cove. Those pledgers never had to put up the $1,000, but for stepping forward they became the "charter members" of the new club and are listed in the roster every year. Sixteen of the original sixty nine charter members are still members in 1995.
Several years ago, a couple of members decided to preserve for posterity the recipes; for the marvelous hors d'oeuvres; that had been prepared over the years by the various OD's. The result of their labors was the first 4th of July Yacht Club Cook Book, which they assembled and printed at their own expense.
For years we have been the star in the crown of the west end of the island. Without help from the landlord, we have put a new roof on the club house, built additional cabins, doubled the size of the porch and contributed tens of thousands of man hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep the cove in good shape.
Practically all of the utensils in the galley came from the kitchens of members. One donated the ice machines, the other donated the sign boards in the galley that state the rules for the use of the galley. For years, members saw a need in the cove and quietly arranged to fill it. We have worked to keep the cove what it is, because we realize what we have. Our club and our location are unique. Those among us who have traveled all over the world come beck to Fourth of July Cove and proclaim that there is nothing like it in the whole world.