Festival Spotlight: Traveling to Catalina

Historic Long Beach Airport
Easy in. Easy out. Centrally located between Los Angeles and Orange County, Long Beach Airport offers convenient freeway access, ample parking, on-site car rental services and excellent ground transportation. Condé Nast Traveler (October 2008 issue) rated Long Beach Airport #7 out of the top 10 airports in the United States for business travelers and #1 for baggage handling. Long Beach Airport serves nearly three million commercial airline passengers annually, offering direct flights throughout the United States with easy domestic and international connections. The Airport hosts Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, US Airways, and JazzTrax Partner Alaska Airlines.

During the early 1920s, the only "airport" in Long Beach was the city's huge, crescent-shaped beach. Landings and takeoffs were best made at low tides, and it was common to see fabric-covered biplanes flying off the sand amidst ocean spray! Named Daugherty Field (after Earl S. Daugherty, one of the area's pioneer aviators), in 1923 the airport enabled Long Beach to gain access to the nation's infant air transportation system and to Catalina.

Catalina Express
The Catalina Express provides the fastest boat service to the Santa Catalina Island , with up to 25 daily departures from San Pedro, Long Beach and Dana Point. These modern vessels whisk you to your romantic getaway in comfort and style. Aboard you will enjoy airline-style seating, cocktail service and friendly attendants. Secure parking is available at the Long Beach , San Pedro and Dana Point locations.

Island Express Helicopter Service
At 14 minutes long, the Island Express Helicopter Service is the fastest and most exhilarating transportation to Santa Catalina Island . Flights are available from Long Beach or San Pedro to exclusive heliports in Avalon and Two Harbors . The flight often overlooks pods of dolphins and whales, and always offers panoramic coastal views. More than just transportation; the Island Express Helicopter Service is the experience of a lifetime.

Karmel Shuttle
Mainland transportation to/from all Southern California airports to/from all Catalina Island boat/ferry and helicopter terminals. Door to door service from LAX, Long Beach or Orange County Airports. Offering complete package offers including: Roundtrip shuttle service from any airport, hotel, residence or business combined with Roundtrip boat or helicopter service, Island tours, Overnight accommodations and more! Simplify your Catalina Island trip with one phone call. Call today! 1-888-995-RIDE (7433)

Catalina Flyer
The Catalina Flyer is the West Coast's largest passenger carrying catamaran. Departing from Newport Beach , the Catalina Flyer features a richly appointed interior, sweeping sun decks, full-service cocktail lounges and stately viewing windows. The Catalina Flyer provides one roundtrip departure per day to Catalina Island.

Catalina-Marina Del Rey Flyer
The MARINA FLYER, Southern California's newest passenger ferry, provides fast-ferry service from MARINA DEL REY to Santa Catalina Island (both Avalon and Two Harbors), with multiple daily departures in high-season. Located just 8 minutes from LAX, and a short ride from West Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, the MARINA FLYER is the convenient choice for visitors to Los Angeles. This very stable high-tech hydrofoil-assisted catamaran features spacious seating, panoramic views, a sun deck, Admirals Lounge and full snack and cocktail bar.

Taxis
Catalina Transportation Services offers door-to-door taxi, shuttle and delivery services throughout Santa Catalina Island. To help you add a touch of class to your romantic getaway, their vehicle fleet includes a Vintage Rolls Royce and a London Cab limousine. For more information call (310) 510-0025.

'Beach Book' Suggestion

Excerpt from original story by Tim Grobaty
Staff Columnist Long Beach Press Telegram

" ... We learned something new (or, more properly, old) just now as we paged through "Catalina By Air," the latest local offering from the always handsome collections of paperbound historical photographs put out by Arcadia Publishing.

What we never knew until just now - and it sounds like something we'd make up - was that a three-passenger "Goodyear Pony Blimp" was built in 1919 and pushed into service in 1920 to tote riders, hanging perilously in free-swinging gondolas, over to Catalina and, presumably, back.

Powered by a single Ford Model T engine, the blimp made six fights a day Wednesday through Sunday. It was the first dirigible airship line in America, and reading about that is reason enough to purchase this more-interesting-than-expected book put together for Arcadia by Jeannine L. Pedersen, of the Catalina Island Museum. Pedersen also authored and curated the Arcadia books "Catalina By Sea" and "Catalina Island."

Most people who grew up in Long Beach can recall the ubiquitous seaplanes that used to roar overhead seemingly 'round the clock shuttling tourists and islanders between the isle and Big Town.

We spent much of our youth living beneath the planes' flight path, and we eternally yearned to take a trip on one, but we never did. There's another check mark in our list of bitter disappointments. Maybe it's because in the mid-'60s, when our yearning was at an all-time peak in intensity, the trip by air cost $6.80.

Nobody we knew had that kind of money in the mid-'60s, when you could buy more hamburgers than you could carry for a buck. The ship crossing in those days was $3.75.

But those glorious planes are all here to enjoy, as well as the older craft, including H.H. Holloway's dangerously fragile-looking flying boat, which didn't make cross-channel cruises but just took Catalinans and tourists on aerial tours of the island in 1921 for $5, which, of course, was an insane amount of money for a 15-minute flight in '21, when you could buy a chunk of land for 50 bucks.

The 128-page book spans aviation's entire history with the island, up to today's helicopter service ($86 per person, one-way).
is available now."

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JazzTrax Guest

Saxman Eric Darius

On an Island Friday Night last October this young dashing dynamic Saxophonist from Wesley Chapel, Florida, just outside Tampa, so electrified the Opening Night JazzTrax .audience in the Casino Ballroom...looking out to Sea, that midway through the show Art Good knew he was watching the 2008 JazzTrax Best Performance of the Year, so honored at Year's End. Eric is playing seemingly everywhere these days coming off his 1st No. 1 Radio Hit of his life last fall, "Goin' All Out," from the Jakarta Jazz Festival in Indonesia to the Castlebury Jazz Festival near Orlando and of course returning to Catalina Island in October to blow it apart again. As he arrives for a visit with Art Good at the JazzTrax Studio this Week, he'll reminisce back on his introduction to the world, his 1st big stage appearance at the 2004 JazzTrax Festival. He calls each October almost a homecoming experience for him because the Avalon Ballroom is where it all began for him. He'll share his hobby of fashion as he is now modelling Privacy Premium Jeans and tell how David Aldridge of ESPN is a fan and carries his tunes on his personal I-Pod. And how his NBA team is the Cleveland Cavaliers, only because of Lebron James..

Archive Album

2005 Euge Groove 
'Just Feels Right'

This Week's Classic from the past, Euge Groove's 'Just Feels Right' from the 2005 JazzTrax Archives that included two No. l Radio Hits."Chillaxin" and "Get 'Em Goin".

And Art has us listening ahead this week to New Releases that have not yet been released by Najee, George Benson, and Peter White, plus August brand new from Jessy J & Rick Braun.