Fast Digs: Culver City

 Lynn Slater, of Los Angeles, could be counted among the favorites of just about any race he entered. On the 27th of April 1925, the race was a quarter-mile contest for senior (as opposed to junior) racers, held in Culver City. At the time, Slater was the reigning Los Angeles city champion. That quarter-mile race, and others that were run that day, were a part of the annual bicycle week competitions. Slater was followed across the finish tape by Walter Phipps of Long Beach and Robert Jordan of Van Nuys, and won in a time of twenty-seven and four-fifth seconds, a time that was noted in the newspapers as an "unofficial world record." While the caption does not specifically identify the scene as the finish of the quarter-mile, if the look and posture of the first rider does not say victor, I don't know what does.

The Culver City course was used for races over a period of several years, and included everything from local events to the state championships but, until finding this photo, I was never sure where they took place. You may know that there was at one time a horse racing track in the city that lasted for a very short period of time, but was replaced with a mile and a quarter automobile oval, and later converted to wood. I believed the races might have taken place at those venues - this photo (and another from the same day) are pretty clear evidence that the races were simply held on the road.