Two Harbors, California | |
|---|---|
 View of Two Harbors from the north at 16,000 feet in 2015. | |
| Nickname: The Isthmus | |
 Location of Two Harbors in Los Angeles County, California. | |
  Two Harbors Location of Two Harbors Show map of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Two Harbors Two Harbors (California) Show map of California Two Harbors Two Harbors (the United States) Show map of the United States | |
| Coordinates:33°26′24″N118°29′54″W / 33.44000°N 118.49833°W /33.44000; -118.49833 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  California |
| County | Los Angeles |
| Population (2000) | |
• Total | 298 |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (Pacific Daylight Time) |
| Zip code | 90704 |
| Area code | 310 |
Two Harbors, colloquially known as "The Isthmus", is a smallunincorporated community island village on the island ofSanta Catalina Island, California, United States, with a population of 298 (Census of 2000). It is the second center of population on the island, besides the city ofAvalon. It is mainly a resort village. It has only one restaurant, one hotel and one general store. The village has about 150 permanent residents who live on the isthmus year-round. One notable feature was theone-room schoolhouse which closed in 2014.
Two Harbors is a small island village located approximately 23 miles (37 km) fromSan Pedro Harbor onSanta Catalina Island. On the island's narrowisthmus, it is located about 18 miles (29 km) from the only city on the island,Avalon. It is named for the two harbors separated by the 0.48-mile (770 m) section of land between theleeward (northern) Isthmus Cove (aka Banning Harbor) and Catalina (or Cat) Harbor on thewindward (southern) side, which together almost cut off the northwestern sixth 12.2 sq mi (31.7 km2) from the main part of the island. White Rock Island, commonly known as Bird Rock, is a small, privately owned island only 67,940 sq ft (6,312 m2) in size. It is approximately 0.87 mi (1.4 km) northeast of Two Harbors, offshore from Isthmus Cove, and 1,540 ft (470 m) northwest of the closest coastal point.
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 andzinc took place in the area. In 1864, during theCivil War, theUnion Army sent 83 soldiers to the island to establishCamp Santa Catalina Island, both to protect the area fromConfederate privateers and survey the isthmus and adjacent Catalina Harbor for theBureau of Indian Affairs as a location for a futureIndian reservation for "militant" tribes captured in theBald Hills War. However, the reservation idea was abandoned and so was the camp.[1][2][3] The barracks that the Army built on the isthmus were later used to house visiting film crews in the 1920s and 1930s, a contingent of theU.S. Coast Guard duringWorld War II, and in 1951 became the home of the Isthmus Yacht Club.
TheNing Po, a Chinese merchant ship built in 1753 and involved in over a century of war, rebellion, and piracy, eventually found its way to Catalina and was converted into a tourist attraction in 1913. TheNing Po burned off the western shore of the isthmus in 1938. The fire which destroyed her also claimed several wooden sailing vessels that had been used in filming motion-picture "spectaculars", including the famous old down-EasterLlewellyn J. Morse which stood in for theUSS Constitution — with accurate re-rigging — in the silent filmOld Ironsides.[4][5]
Two Harbors is part of theLong Beach Unified School District. The one-room school closed in 2014 due to sharply declining enrollment. School age children now attend Avalon Schools K-12.[6]
TheUSC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies is an environmental research and education facility run by theUniversity of Southern California in Two Harbors. The campus consists of a 30,000 square-foot (2,800 square-meter) laboratory building, a dormitory housing, a cafeteria, ahyperbaric chamber, and a large waterfront staging area complete with dock, pier, helipad, and diving lockers. The facility was made possible by a donation from theWrigley family and was named forPhilip K. Wrigley.
Two Harbors is served by ferry lines with regular daily service toSan Pedro. A helicopter can also be chartered to the village. TheCatalina Airport-In-The-Sky is 10 miles (16 km) away to the east. Alternatively, various charter boats offer private service to the island.
Most people generally walk or bike around and between Two Harbors and its neighboring campgrounds, Little Harbor and Parsons Landing. Currently there is no shuttle transportation available for guests between these sites.[7]
A ferry run by the Catalina Island Company is available seasonally for transportation between Avalon and Two Harbors.[8] Taxi service is also available.
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Geographic data related toTwo Harbors, California atOpenStreetMap | ||
