Previously I did a post on what these locations look like today:
- Strand Theatre, 122-124 Sumner
- Hotel Central, 106 Metropole
- Hotel Catalina, 129 Whittley
So in this post thought I’d share what these locations looked like back in Houdini’s day.
Strand Theatre:
Hotel Central:
Hotel Catalina:
And as a added bonus, here are images of the Hotel St. Catherine where Houdini stayed back in the day:
1918
1919
1919
1920
1921
Special thanks to Jessica Zumberge (curator at Catalina Island Museum) for going above and beyond to locate and scan these items from their archives for me to use in this post.
Credits:
- All photos are courtesy of Catalina Island Museum and published with their permission
The Strand Theater and Hotel Catalina haven’t changed. What happened to the St. Catherine? Torn down? The Central seems to have vanished as well.
The 1915 Catalina Fire destroyed half of the resort town. The New Hotel Central opened in 1917 and became Boos Brothers at some point. The building stood from 1917 to around 1939 [?]
The Hotel St. Catherine began construction in 1917, opened in summer 1918 and was torn down in 1966. The remains of the original pool that Houdini most likely swam in, still exist.