One of the fun things about Sue working at the Catalina Island Museum is all the neat tidbits that she learns about the island and Avalon’s history. Anyone who has been to Catalina will recall hearing the beautiful ringing of the bells coming from the tower on the hill north of town. Few people realize how and why the bell tower (or more properly, the chime tower) came to be.
Not far from where this tower stands, sits the house of the great novelist Zane Grey. Zane moved to Catalina in the 1920’s and it was from his home here that he penned many of his novels and brought the “western” genre into popularity in the U.S. and worldwide. It was not long however before he crossed words with Ada Wrigley, the wife of chewing gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr. who owned about 90% of the island. Ada Wrigley could not stand Zane Grey and despised him such that she had her husband construct this bell tower only a few hundred yards from the Zane Grey Pueblo. Ada instructed that the chimes should be set to ring every 15 minutes throughout the day so as to annoy Zane and continually interrupt his writing.
The Zane Grey Pueblo still stands on the hillside near the bell tower and is now a 16 room bed and breakfast. However, it is in danger of being demolished for construction of new condos or other development. The Zane Grey West Society is working to preserve it, but is unable to afford the $17 million price tag. The chimes however, still ring every 15 minutes.