Avalon is the only incorporated city on Santa Catalina Island, home to about 3,700 permanent residents and essentially all of the island's visitor infrastructure. The town is entirely walkable — golf carts are the primary local transport, and private cars are almost impossible to bring to the island. The waterfront promenade (Crescent Avenue) runs the length of the bay, with restaurants, shops, and the ferry pier at its centre.
Behind the waterfront, the streets climb steeply up the hillside in tight terraces of painted bungalows and small hotels. The architecture is a mix of early twentieth-century craftsman houses, Spanish Colonial Revival, and later infill. The town has a self-contained island character that is genuinely distinctive: everything is slightly smaller, slightly quieter, and slightly more colourful than equivalent mainland resort towns.