Fast Digs: The Seal Gardens Saucer Track

Contrary to what is largely regarded as a down time for cycling, the period between the demise of the (original) Los Angeles Velodrome in 1901 and the next bicycling boom of the late 1920s and early 1930s, Los Angeles continued to foster an active bicycle racing community. Races continued to be held periodically at Agricultural Park through the 1910s, the Los Angeles Amateur Athletic Association expected to open a new five acre facility including a bicycle track, and road races took place throughout the region. More significantly, perhaps, was the opening of two new wood tracks - Fiesta Park, which opened in May 1909 (some preliminary findings have previously been presented in the post Fast Digs: Fiesta Park) and the track at Seal Gardens.

Located in Long Beach and promoted as a resort for city residents and tourists alike, the six acre Seal Gardens was opened in 1904 with shaded groves, playgrounds, a stage and pavilion for theatrical and musical performances. Located on the Pacific Electric Red Car line, the park was well situated and a mere fourteen minute ride from downtown Los Angeles. From the very beginning, plans were formulated for an eight-lap bicycle saucer track surrounded by bleachers seating upwards of 4000 spectators. C. R. Caudle and E. Pickering (who previously managed the Salt Palace track in Salt Lake City), were given charge of finishing the work at the park, including construction of the track.

Plans may have been in place but they did not equate to immediate construction. Two years later, February 1906, improvements for Seal Gardens (now twenty-one acres in size) were again being touted. These included a 10,000 seat concert facility, a dance pavilion for 2500, a bathing plunge capable of holding 2500 people, an ice skating rink, baseball and football fields, and picnic grounds for 30,000 people. Upgraded plans for the bicycle track increased the seating to 6000.

Put those plans on hold, then jump ahead another two years. It is now June 1908 and both bicyclists and motorcyclists are training on the finished track for opening day races. Throughout the first decade of the 1900s motorcycle racing on tracks had grown in popularity, with the Fiesta Park and Seal Garden tracks designed to host both. On the 29th of June an event card of seven races, not including qualifying heats, was announced, five of which were for bicycles. Those races included one-mile open race for professionals, a three-mile race for amateurs (with one mile qualifying heats), lap races for professionals, and an amateur two-mile race.

Race day came with 2000 enthusiastic people watching from track-side. The one-mile open professional race was the first event of the day; qualifying heats of one-half mile were run and won by Walter Bryson and H. Graham respectively, with George Smith and Ray Mattheur finishing second respectively to advance into the finals as well. Bryson won the final with a time of 2:33, and Smith finished 2nd. F. J. Hoffman, a veteran racer of the old Los Angeles Velodrome, won a professional one-mile race in a time of 2:31 3/5; it was an easy win for Hoffman who "loafed" until the final lap sprint. Two one-mile qualifying heats preceded a three-mile final for amateurs. Frank Florentine, another old-time veteran, won the first heat, with R. Williamson taking 2nd. In the second heat Walter Bryson won ahead of H. Graham. Also qualifying was Bob Backrath. In the final Williamson crashed out in the twenty-third lap, and Florentine went on to take the win, with Backrath 2nd. A lap race for professionals came up next, with racers winning a dollar for each lap won, and $25, $15, and $10 for the first three on the final lap. Veteran racer, Furman, won the first lap; Ray F. Dues set the pace and won laps three through nine when he gave way to J. P. Gunn, who won laps ten and eleven. At the end Hoffman took 1st and $25, while Furman had to settle for 2nd, and Dues took the 3rd place prize money. Another lap race, this one for amateurs, finished the bicycle events for opening day, with lap winners getting fifty cents for each. "Williamson set the pace for six miles, when Bryson took it only to give it up on the next mile to Backrath, who lost it again to Bryson for two more laps. Backrath and Bryson then alternated for the next four laps, Bryson taking the last two and winning in 4:43 2/5. "

With interest at a high, both on and off the track, the success of the opening day races suggested a bright future for the Seal Gardens Saucer Track.

*This edition of Fast Digs, like the others before it, is a brief preview of the forthcoming book Fast Digs.

1904 - the Seal Gardens Pavilion