06/21/2025
1924 aerial view of the Culver City Speedway, home to auto races between 1924 and 1927. Source: LAPL
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 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. 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.
