Michael Sanborn was born and raised in the Los Angeles Harbor area. He graduated from Humboldt State University (American History) and obtained an MA degree in Historic Preservation/Public History at CSU Dominguez Hills. He became Curator for the Lummis Home in Los Angeles before becoming Director of the Banning Residence Museum (LA Department of Recreation and Parks) in Wilmington.
 
The Banning Museum was organized in 1974 to preserve the house built by Gen Phineas Banning in 1864. General Banning was known as the Father of the Los Angeles Harbor, establishing the first communication and transportation network in Southern California. He promoted the Los Angeles Harbor as a potential deep water port (which he dredged and built dock facilities for) as an alternative for the proposed Santa Monica port (which was never built). He established the first mule freight wagons and passenger stagecoach service from the port to the village of Los Angeles. To improve Harbor business, he and his sons decided to develop Catalina Island.
 
 
Juan Cabrillo had found the island inhabited by Native Americans in 1542, and it was named Santa Catalina by Sebastian Vizcaino in 1602. It was given to Thomas Robbins as a Mexican land grant in 1846. In 1887, Catalina was bought by a Los Angeles realtor, George Shatto, who built a hotel and pier and began selling home lots for $100-$500 each in his new town of Avalon, but soon fell into debt and was unable to continue.
 
The Banning family bought it in 1892 for $20,000 plus debt assumption. They began installing utilities and developed it as a summertime vacation destination. 7 steamships were built to manage the expected traffic from the mainland. A Music & Dance Pavilion and a Greek Amphitheater were built, and an Incline Railway with two alternating cars was built up the adjacent hillside. A Stage Road for horses and mules was built by 1908 to the isthmus, one day's journey from Avalon, with a new hotel destination, the Eagles Nest Lodge (which is still there).
 
Avalon was mostly a rental tent city with laundry service for vacationers who couldn't afford the hotel. The rows of tents were gradually replaced by small houses on the same sized lots. Sports fishing and a glass bottomed boat for the Avalon Harbor were established. A carrier pigeon service to the mainland (1 penny/word) did not last long and was soon replaced by a radio transmitter for telegrams. Heavy advertising with postcards & stereo viewers brought in more tourists, and the Bannings built a large home for themselves (now demolished) in Descanso Canyon.
 
A big fire struck Avalon in 1915, and 2/3 of the town plus the Metropole Hotel, piers and bathhouse were lost. These financial losses resulted in cutting services such as firefighting and library. Discontent grew among the inhabitants, and the island was sold to the Chicago Wrigley family in 1919. They restored many of the services and brought in electricity. A training camp was set up for the Chicago Cubs baseball team, and many entertainment celebrities and big-name music bands increased its popularity on the mainland.