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Building History

The Boos Brothers, led by the eldest brother Horace Boos (d. 1926), purchased this property from Wrigley Family's Santa Catalina Island Company in 1919. A story in the Los Angeles Times said of the transaction: "Boos Brothers, proprietors of several Los Angeles cafeterias, have just purchased from the Santa Catalina Island Company the building on the ocean front at Avalon where they conduct a cafeteria. The property, the consideration for which is not given, has a frontage of 240 feet by a depth of 200 feet, and is at present occupied by a structure 79 by 180 feet. Horace Boos of the firm said yesterday that extensive improvements would probably be made to the property at the beginning of the next season." (See "Buy at Catalina," Los Angeles Times, 05/18/1919, part V, p. 1.) As the article was worded, it was not clear whether the Boos Brothers operated the cafeteria prior to 1919, or whether the Santa Catalina Island Company operated it before that date.

Building Notes

The Boos Brothers' Cafeteria on Santa Catalina Island stood one story tall, on a plot of land near the water's edge. Its plan stretched horizontally, with a long cross-gabled roof covering its wood-frame structure. The southeast end had a hipped and gabled roof, and a projecting gabled porch, sheltering a secondary entry/exit. Two gabled bays projected out toward Crescent Avenue, the southeast one containing another projectng gabled porch covering the main entrance. Clapboard siding covered the frame, while board and batten was used in the gable's dormers. Expansive windows opened the interior to the views of the harbor. An extended, perpindicular series of benches turned the corner of Crescent and Metropole Avenues in front of the restaurant, allowing vacationers to watch the ocean and passersby.

PCAD id: 22029