rivergames
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Jack Prince and Art Pillsbury built the Beverly Hills Speedway in 1919 on 275 acres of land, at a cost of $500,000. The 1.25-mile wood oval, which featured 45-degree banked turns, was funded by a group of actors and others in the industry known as the Beverly Hills Speedway Syndicate.
The track was inaugurated on February 28, 1920, but after only four years the 70,000-seat stadium was disassembled to make room for other improvements in the newly incorporated city of Beverly Hills, holding its last race on February 24, 1924 before a crowd of 85,000. The Beverly Wilshire Hotel now occupies part of the former speedway track.
The developers eventually moved the racetrack to Culver City, and it was located at the intersection of Culver Blvd and Overland Blvd, right across the street from MGM Studios. It was at this "new" location and "new" track where Red Cariens was involved in a fatal crash on November 29, 1925. It was also at this location where Mickey Rooney's classic racing movie "The Big Wheel" (1949) was shot. This speedway was built at a time when car races were popular, so popular in fact, that there were radio broadcasts from the speedways. California had approximately six wooden track speedways, also known as "toothpick track" speedways.
Culver City Speedway operated from December 14, 1924 to March 6, 1927; it was eventually removed to make way for movie studios.
The Beverly Hills Speedway was notable for having only three fatalities, one of these, famously, was Gaston Chevrolet who was killed there in 1920, having just won the Indianapolis 500.
By now Gaston and his brothers Louis (founder of the Chevrolet company) and Arthur had established the Frontenac Motor Corporation, building, ironically, cylinder heads for the model T Ford.
Kinda cool we tiled the new Waldorf Astoria Hotel right on the Corner of Santa Monica Blvd & Wilshire Blvd. Also done a bunch of tile at the Beverly Hilton next door. Hell, If I pulled up a current map, there are a bunch of buildings and commercial projects that we have tiled in this area.
The track was inaugurated on February 28, 1920, but after only four years the 70,000-seat stadium was disassembled to make room for other improvements in the newly incorporated city of Beverly Hills, holding its last race on February 24, 1924 before a crowd of 85,000. The Beverly Wilshire Hotel now occupies part of the former speedway track.
The developers eventually moved the racetrack to Culver City, and it was located at the intersection of Culver Blvd and Overland Blvd, right across the street from MGM Studios. It was at this "new" location and "new" track where Red Cariens was involved in a fatal crash on November 29, 1925. It was also at this location where Mickey Rooney's classic racing movie "The Big Wheel" (1949) was shot. This speedway was built at a time when car races were popular, so popular in fact, that there were radio broadcasts from the speedways. California had approximately six wooden track speedways, also known as "toothpick track" speedways.
Culver City Speedway operated from December 14, 1924 to March 6, 1927; it was eventually removed to make way for movie studios.
The Beverly Hills Speedway was notable for having only three fatalities, one of these, famously, was Gaston Chevrolet who was killed there in 1920, having just won the Indianapolis 500.
By now Gaston and his brothers Louis (founder of the Chevrolet company) and Arthur had established the Frontenac Motor Corporation, building, ironically, cylinder heads for the model T Ford.
Kinda cool we tiled the new Waldorf Astoria Hotel right on the Corner of Santa Monica Blvd & Wilshire Blvd. Also done a bunch of tile at the Beverly Hilton next door. Hell, If I pulled up a current map, there are a bunch of buildings and commercial projects that we have tiled in this area.
