Fast Diggers: Ralph C. Hamlin

Ralph Cunningham Hamlin (October 17, 1880-July 5, 1974)

Most of the men (and a very few women) who raced bicycles in Los Angeles during the earliest years of the sport are, today, remembered as little more than a few spots of ink on old newsprint. Perhaps there are still families who, with fondness, can recall great-great-grandpa so-and-so, who raced bicycles in the 1890s, or maybe even far enough back as the 1880s. A select number of men, those who found some success in the sport, had a paragraph or so written about them, maybe had a sketch drawn by a newspaper reporter, or a photograph taken at a race, and have some more tangible means of being remembered. Some others may have made a name for themselves outside the world of racing bicycles - as successful businessmen or civic leaders; invariably among memorializations of their business acumen are found the quotes of their being among the earliest of the city's bicycle racers.

One such man was Ralph Hamlin. Hamlin was sixteen years old when he began racing wheels, about ten years after his family moved to Los Angeles from San Francisco. He was an almost immediate presence on the race tracks of the city and region, and within a few years was winning enough in prizes to establish his own bicycle repair shop.

From bicycles he, like many racers in those early years, transitioned into racing motorcycles and then automobiles; in 1912 Hamlin established a new record, racing between Los Angeles and Phoenix in a not-fast-by-todays-standards 18 hours, 20 minutes.

In 1901 Hamlin opened a sales room at 1806 S. Main Street where he sold motorcycles, Orient Buckboards, Lozier and Scripps-Booth automobiles. Within another four years he became the Southern California dealer for Franklin automobiles, selling those cars from a showroom at 1040 S. Flower Street. Ultimately he would become Franklin's most successful dealer, selling between 500 and 800 autos each year through his outlets in Hollywood, Pasadena, Glendale and San Diego.

With a little hope, a little luck, and a little perseverance, the Ralph Hamlin collection at the Seaver Center, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History will again become available to researchers. I look forward to digging through the collections to find tidbits of information about Hamlin's racing years, and adding them to Fast Digs: Bicycle Racing Venues of Los Angeles - coming soon.

Hamlin (and his mechanic) behind the wheel of his Franklin automobile