Catalina Summer

Lefebvre’s novel pivots around the Catalina Baseball Camp, but it’s not limited to ballgames or campfires. It’s about a time we’ve all passed through, some with ease, some dramatically complicated, But in the end,, it was a time that had a profound impact on the rest of our lives.  

Benny and Virginia Lefebvre had an idea to get their boys off the streets of Los Angeles: Start the Catalina Baseball Camp in Catalina’s remote Isthmus. It became so popular in the ‘50s and ‘60s that thousands of boys experienced the best summers of their lives.  From its alumni came prominent athletes, businessmen and movie personalities. This is the true story of the Lefebvres’ youngest son Gil and his last summer at the camp. Along with his best friends Tuck and Ross and a cast of local legends, in this wondrous, exotic and historic setting they became their own Huckleberries.  They were imaginative, mischievous, roaring fun rascals and by some accounts irreverent, which blended well in that extravagant setting. Enjoy the loves, fears, trials and, above all, the hilarious tenor in which they carry off their adventures. Catalina Summer is truly one of the most remarkable oral histories ever written about the Island’s late ‘50s lifestyle. If you’ve been to Catalina and found it enchanting, you too will want to go back with Gil and once again come under its spell.