Fast Digs: Chutes Park
Chutes Park, also known as Washington Gardens previously, and Luna Park latterly was best known for its boat flume ride, but there were many other related attractions / amusements at the park including the home field of the Los Angeles Angels and Vernon Tigers. What is interesting is that, though clearly noted on the map, I challenge you to find a single modern description of the park - from Wikipedia, to LAist, to LA Curbed, and the LA Downtown News, that notes the existence of a bicycle track.
Beginning in 1887 the area around Washington, Main was an amusement and sports park known by a succession of names - Washington Gardens, Chutes Park and finally, Luna Park. These parks comprised about thirty-five acres. Washington Gardens, the earliest of them, hosted weekly variety shows, animal displays, an ostrich farm, and a panorama of the Battle of Gettysburg. The pavilion there burned down in 1887, and the land sat, mostly unused until 1899. In that year, the Los Angeles County Improvement Company created Chutes Park, home of the Vernon Tigers and Los Angeles Angeles baseball teams. The following year additional attractions began to pop up - a vaudeville theatre, a circus, hot air balloon rides, a miniature railroad, rollercoaster, a waterslide, merry-go-round, a seal pond, a monkey circus, Temple of Mirth, and a daily re-enactment of a Civil War naval battle. The park was sold in 1910 and reopened in 1911 as Luna Park, with Nemo's Trip of Slumberland running 600 feet along Main Street. Sold again in 1912, the park foundered until 1914 when everything was torn down. Though far earlier than the 1921 Downtown Stadium you might notice the "Recreation Grounds" area of Chutes park does note it as the location of a bicycle track.
Beginning in 1887 the area around Washington, Main was an amusement and sports park known by a succession of names - Washington Gardens, Chutes Park and finally, Luna Park. These parks comprised about thirty-five acres. Washington Gardens, the earliest of them, hosted weekly variety shows, animal displays, an ostrich farm, and a panorama of the Battle of Gettysburg. The pavilion there burned down in 1887, and the land sat, mostly unused until 1899. In that year, the Los Angeles County Improvement Company created Chutes Park, home of the Vernon Tigers and Los Angeles Angeles baseball teams. The following year additional attractions began to pop up - a vaudeville theatre, a circus, hot air balloon rides, a miniature railroad, rollercoaster, a waterslide, merry-go-round, a seal pond, a monkey circus, Temple of Mirth, and a daily re-enactment of a Civil War naval battle. The park was sold in 1910 and reopened in 1911 as Luna Park, with Nemo's Trip of Slumberland running 600 feet along Main Street. Sold again in 1912, the park foundered until 1914 when everything was torn down. Though far earlier than the 1921 Downtown Stadium you might notice the "Recreation Grounds" area of Chutes park does note it as the location of a bicycle track.
That said, the the corner of Washington and Hill, site of the Downtown Stadium the short side of two blocks away from Washington and Main, I suspect that it was located on lands that were once Chutes Park as well.
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