Fast Digs: Fiesta Park
Fiesta Park, located in the South Park area of Los Angeles, was established in 1894 and closed in 1916. During that time it served as home to the Fiesta de Los Angeles, a celebration of the city's multiculturalism which included a well-known parade and festival. Though I have not seen it stated it is not a leap to believe the park's name derived from this relationship. That relationship was probably significant enough to grant the park its own Wiki entry, but if you read that page you will also find out that the park hosted minor league baseball games of the Los Angeles Trilbeys and Los Angeles Echoes, soccer games for the Los Angeles Rangers, and football games of various local high schools, St. Vincent's College, Occidental College, and even for USC.
What that Wiki page does not reveal is that beginning in 1909 the park also hosted bicycle, and motorcycle, racing on a wood track. But those were later years; between 1894 and the Fiesta of 1897 the area was known as "the Tribunes." It was where the Fiesta Tribune Queen held court, reviewing passers-by from a raised, elaborately created throne. Athletic events, including bicycle races, associated with the Fiesta were held at Athletic Park. It wasn't until the finish of the 1897 Fiesta de Los Angeles that plans were devised that would transform the Tribunes, under the general management of Louis W. Buckley, into Fiesta Park "enclosed by a tight board fence ten feet high," providing "appropriate entrances, a stage, bicycle track, offices, dressing rooms, in fact everything necessary to make it first-class in every particular."
this 1909 'birds-eye view' of Los Angeles shows the track at Fiesta Park
track and infield with some of the grandstand
Promotion for the first races at the new "Fiesta Stadium Track," described as a five-lap "saucer" track, began on 9 May 1909. Though riders, including motor-pacers, had been practicing on the new track over the previous ten days, the 9th was the first day it would be opened to public spectating. Among the racers expected to participate in the opening day festivities were, Baldy Staver, J. G. Walker, Senhouse, Acorn, Billie Palmer, Furman, Hoffman, Jones, Long, and Emil Agrez. Track Manager, Pickering, believed that the flurry of pre-race activity, preparation, dialing in the track, would result in "records [being] smashed." Races planned for the first day included the novice one mile, amateur one-half mile, professional one and one-half mile, amateur two-mile, and a professional ten mile motor-paced event.
Unless I have missed it somehow, there was never any follow-up to the opening day races at Fiesta Park. As it turns out this may have been a prophetically bad omen.
However, a week later a lengthy recap of races held on 16 May was printed in the Los Angeles Herald, in which Australian champion J. G. Walker won two of the professional races. "In the professional one-mile handicap race Walker, with a handicap of ten yards sprinted away from a field composed of the best bicycle racers in the world." The race was reported as the most exciting of the day's events, the crowd going "frantic when Walker began his spurt in the last lap." Up to that point the riders had all played the waiting game, "none seemingly anxious the do the pacemaking." All Walker had to do was wait for the opportunity to make his jump. "Ivor Lawson, the Salt Lake City champion; Charlie Crebs, also of Salt Lake, and Saxey Williams, the New York sprinter gave chase, but Walker was not to be beaten... winning with two yards to spare." Walker's countryman, Billie Palmer came second, and Lawson third.
In the three-mile professional race Walker again took the win, which was an especially fast and action packed race with the management putting up a $1 prime at each half lap. Newly sanctioned pro, Crebs grabbed a quick seven dollars at the start, leading the entire time, but the furious pace proved too much and he dropped out before the end. "Walker rode a careful race and held his strength in reserve, not participating in any of the spurts... At the half-way post it looked like a sure win for Samuelson, but again Walker came to the front in a phenomenal bust of speed and breezed across the tape a winner. Samuelson finished second. Lawson third, though it was "evident this great rider has not yet struck his gait."
"That the revival of bicycle racing in Los Angeles is appreciated was evident from the enthusiasm manifested in yesterday's contests" wrote the Herald reporter.
Those two pro races (and their qualifying heats) were the main events, but the other races generated much excitement as well. The first race of the day, for instance, was the one-mile novice race. In it Monier, of Los Angeles, the youngest and smallest rider in the bunch, won by a full half-lap and "putting the crowd in good humor for the other races."
"A novel race, called the amateur pursuit race, followed. In this race the contestants were placed equal distances apart about the saucer track. The rule of the race was that as soon as a contestant had been passed he must retire. The last man on the track that was not headed by any contestant was declared the winner. The race caused much amusement on the part of Berryessa, Florentine, and McNeill. McNeill had the staying qualities and after three and one-half miles of sprinting overtook Berryessa and won the race. Florentine finished third. The time for the three and one-half miles was 9 minutes 30 seconds."
The first day of racing at Fiesta ended with a ten-mile motor paced race. "Duer, the Buffalo endurance rider, paced by Lingenfelden, won the event by a single lap. Emil Agraz, who came from San Francisco especially to win this race, finished second and Steve Senhouse finished in a rear position... Agraz paced by Samuelson, soon obtained a slight lead. In the sixth mile Duer began to draw away from his opponents, and by the hardest kind of sprinting gained the lap which decided the race. The finish of the race was spectacular. The three riders were bunched closely together, making a pretty scene as they tore around the track. Senhouse made strenuous efforts to regain his distance, but Duer, never varying his pace, held the lead until the race was over. The time for the ten miles was 14 minutes 25 seconds."
A week later another ten races were run at Fiesta Park. Some extra excitement occurred this time when F. Florentine, believing his 175 yard handicap in the second heat of the one-mile amateur race to be unfair, left the track and was fined $20. When he refused to pay, Referee Charles F. Gates, banned Florentine from racing at the Association's tracks for a period of six months.
"The closest race of the day was the half-mile professional finals between Iver Lawson, W. E. Samuelson and J. W. Walker. Samuelson took an early lead, but was soon passed by W. A. Bardgett, who led the field until the last lap, when Iver Lawson, with a terrific sprint, gathered the long end of the purse from Samuelson, a scant foot behind."
"The three-mile professional handicap race, in which Walker, Lawson, Bardgett and Palmer had all been handicapped heavily, the head man, Gunn, starting 330 yards ahead of Walker proved the feature event of the afternoon. A prize of a dollar was offered for the leading man at each lap. Rivalry was intense between those having the larger handicaps for the lead... Walker moved gamely up and at the head of the stretch in the last lap looked like a winner. A whirlwind finish, however, between him and Pedlar Palmer, who had come from nowhere, resulted in the decision being awarded the latter."
In one final note from the races of May 23: Buoyed by the quality of the racing and the size of the crowds who turned out to watch, the track management decided to add arc lights to the stadium to enable evening racing to start in June and lasting through the summer months.
This is where things, apparently, began to take a turn for the worse. The next week high heat during the daytime races kept the racers away, and the number of spectators low. Even so there was still a novice one-mile race, a professional half-mile handicap race, half-mile amateur race, a professional two-mile point race, and an amateur two-mile handicap. For a third straight week M. Monier proved to be the crowd favorite, though after winning the amateur one-mile open the previous week, he was this time forced out due to exhaustion after giving a great start.
True to their word the track managers held night races on the 5th and 15th of June, which included both bicycle and motorcycle racing. Neither evening was well attended, though it was reported that the enthusiasm of the crowd more than made up for the deficit. The bulk of race coverage, for both nights, relates to the motorcycle races. Night races were, again, scheduled for the 17th, but numbers dwindled for a third straight night leading the management to cancel most of the races and suspend future events until a big meet planned for the 4th of July. There is no indication that those races ever took place.
Considering the effort and expense that must have gone into constructing a wooden track at Fiesta Park it must have been disheartening to see the numbers fall off race by race until holding them became a loosing proposition. Among the reasons for the decline must have, in part, been the cyclical nature of the sport; the first two decades of the 1900s were a relative down time for cycling between the highs of the late 1800s and the big Six-Day boom of the 1920s and 1930s. Another strike against the track was likely the failure of the national (motorcycle) commission to sanction races of the most powerful racing motorcycles at Fiesta, citing the danger of racing them on a five-mile lap track. Before reaching two full months, bicycle racing at Fiesta Park reached its end.
Bill Furman (Los Angeles) at Fiesta Park track
Billie 'Pedlar' Palmer at Fiesta Park track
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