The Catalina Eddy behind Catalina Eddie's

To follow up on the recent post concerning the origins of the name Catalina Eddie's, Werner Weiss provided some additional enlightenment:

I have a comment about the origin of the name Catalina Eddie's at the Studios park, which was the subject of your February 17 blog entry. Catalina Eddie's is a play on the Southern California weather condition known as the Catalina Eddy — at least that's what I've always assumed. I have to believe that the WDI folks in Glendale had the Catalina Eddy in mind when they coined Catalina Eddie's as one of the food service counters of the Sunset Ranch Market.

When I grew up in Southern California, TV weathercasters would often describe how a Catalina Eddy condition would bring cooling winds to the Los Angeles basin. The Pacific Ocean off the Los Angeles basin is the Catalina Channel because of Catalina Island. An eddy is usually defined as a circular movement of water, counter to a main current. But I believe the Catalina Eddy is a movement of air, not water. I assume that Southern California TV weathercasters still talk about the Catalina Eddy. With the ridiculously perfect summer weather in the Los Angeles area, they don't have much else to talk about.

Thanks, Werner!

Werner is one of the true pioneers of the Disney online community. If you haven't checked out his amazing and wonderful Yesterland, what are you waiting for?