In 1910, promoter Jack Prince constructed a circular high-banked pinewood board track and grandstands in what is today Area B of the Ballona Wetlands State Ecological Reserve, just west of the Culver-Jefferson “wye”. A venue for numerous auto and motorcycle races, the Los Angeles Motordrome race track entertained spectators arriving via a dedicated rail spur of the Pacific Electric Railway’s Los Angeles-Playa del Rey line.
Very new contraptions in those days, motorcycles were little more than beefed up bicycles with single-cylinder gasoline engines. Indians, Merkels and Excelsiors (the latter owned by Ignatz Schwinn of the bicycle company) screamed around the track at “breakneck” speeds. In May of 1911, "Texas Cyclone" Eddie Hasha set a new 1-mile motorcycle record at the L.A. Motordrome, reaching 95 miles per hour. Automobiles driven by famous racers of the day also competed at the L.A. Motordrome.
It all came to an end after only 3 years, as reported by the San Francisco Call on August 13, 1913: “The motordrome at Playa del Rey, scene of many thrilling speed contests, was destroyed by fire late today. The pavilion was constructed at a cost of $16,000. It inclosed a saucer-shaped board track. It was announced tonight that the motordrome would not be rebuilt.”
Today, dry and degraded saltmarsh dominated by non-native vegetation covers the area where the motordrome once stood, isolated from the tides for decades by the Ballona Creek channel levee. Just to the west, lush saltmarsh is nourished by tidal channels flushed twice daily from a single mechanical tide gate in the levee.
Enjoy your Ballona Wetlands!
www.ballonafriends.org
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