Women, barred from wagering, quickly make ‘friends’ to place their bets for them
Supervisors refuse to close the track, which the Express calls a ‘running sore’
Fire chief praises effectiveness of a new, city-made, 65-foot water tower
The Detroit Jewel gas range at McWhorter Bros.
The Edison Phonograph, $10 to $50, sold on easy payments

Los Angeles in the 1900s

January 1906

by
George Garrigues
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Click on either of the two Ascot stories to read the text.
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Editor’s Note

The Los Angeles Express was L.A.’s only progressive voice.

Its owner, E.T. (Tobias) Earl, lived in the next mansion over from Times publisher Harrison Gray Otis, but after a while they rarely spoke to each other and instinctively took opposite sides of most political issues.

(Source: Gottlieb and Wolt, Thinking Big.)

The Express was published Monday through Saturday, leaving the Sunday field open to the other newspapers — the

Times, the Herald and the Examiner.

In 1905 and 1906 the Express was campaigning against the evils of gambling and particularly the kind that was going on at the Ascot Park raceway.

In the days before parimutuel betting, gambling at the track was handled by individuals or groups of bookmakers.

According to the Electric Railway Historical Association, the Ascot Park race track was at Slauson and Avalon (then known as South Park Avenue), outside the city limits.

The ERHA Web site says:

“Ascot Park was closed in August 1908 and horse racing in the Los Angeles area then was carried on at Lucky Baldwin's new track at Arcadia.”

In reading these Express diatribes, I am struck by how much fun the hard-bitten newspapermen of that era must have had in writing them, before they could go over to the nearest saloon, smoke some seegars and toss back a few beers or a couple shots of whisky.
From the Los Angeles Express, December 29, 1905

ALARM IS SOUNDED AT ASCOT

Every Effort Being Made to Cloak the Evils of the Resort in Order to Prevent, If Possible, Closing of the Track

Ascot backers, alarmed by the turn of the tide of public sentiment against that gigantic gambling establishment and especially perturbed by the announced determination of the county supervisors to visit the racecourse and investigate affairs there personally, are making every effort to cover their tracks.

The management Wednesday ordered the soft pedal put upon all operations in the betting ring . . . .

The ancient and oft-repeated order forbidding women to place wagers upon the races was circulated again . . . .

“Of course we cannot prevent a woman from placing a wager through her escort,” one of the officials is quoted as saying.

And there are so many “escorts” at the race track. Women who go to the track unattended find them on every hand . . . .

Although the members of the gentle sex may never have seen her “escort” before, she has no hesitancy in adopting him on sight and asking him to do her the favor of wagering her money. . . .

But now even this “escort” system must cease. The supervisors are expected. They must be shown that Ascot is an innocent pleasure resort where “the best people of the city,” as well as “tourists attracted here by the races” go merely for the purpose of seeing the ponies run.

It must be a track where no “touting” is allowed, no betting by women and boys is sanctioned for an instant, no

 howling mobs placing their money on “favorites” (which seldom win) are observed. . . .

How far the management, anxious bookmakers and Pinkertons will be able to impress the county officials is a question. . . .

The swarms of gorgeously arrayed women, as well as inexperienced youths, cannot be hidden; the popping of corks in the women’s cafe will resound as loudly as ever, while the rank and file about the public bar will continue to brace themselves against ill luck as in the past.

But outshadowing all . . . are the police and Superior Court records of crime, including embezzlment, insanity, suicide and ruined homes . . . [in] the plague spot of Southern California.
From the Los Angeles Express, Janury 9, 1906

DOOM OF ASCOT IS SOUNDED

Friends of Reform Confident the Gigantic Gambling Resort Will Be Ordered Closed at the Next Meeting of the Supervisors
DELAY OF MAJORITY WILL FAIL OF PURPOSE
Refusal of Graham, Wilson and Patterson to Order Draft of Ordinance Yesterday Is Denounced on Every Side
THE VOTING

 Supervisors Patterson, Wilson and Graham tried to adjourn the meeting without taking a vote.

Supervisor Alexander questioned their motive and moved that the
petitions to stop gambling at Ascot be granted and the district attorney instructed to draw up an ordinance covering the question. . . .

Another attempt to adjourn brought Alexander to his feet with a motion
to take the petition under advisement for two weeks . . . .

The meeting broke up with cries from the audience of “We’ll settle this at the polls.
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It was the close of suppressed excitement in the meeting of the supervisors.

. . . the roots of the great running sore on the flesh of Los Angeles, known as Ascot Park, were exposed . . . [and] hope for remedy from those responsible for the disease was made all the plainer by the weakness of its defense.

But for the seriousness of the principle at stake, the afternoon speech of attorney George P. Adams would have been amusing in the extreme. . . .

He regarded it as a convincing argument that the ranchers near Los Angeles furnished the hay and straw and oats for the 800 horses brought to Ascot this season.

The goodness of the horsemen was featured when he told how liberal and even prodigal are the race-track men in spending money and giving it away to charitable institutions. . . .

All England is talking about Los Angeles and advertising the city simply because of the unequaled racing facilities, according to Mr. Adams.

No crime has been committed at the track and none that could be traced to the club, he said. He admitted that the jockey club employs twenty-five Pinkerton detectives. . . .

Mr. Adams was ludicrous in his statements that simple games of chance at church

 fairs are as bad as gambling at Ascot and that the church fair is a menace because youngsters learn to gamble there. The innocent “fish pond” is a pool of vice, as Mr. Adams sees it. . . .

In the speech by Mr. Gates, which followed, every feature touched upon by Mr. Adams — and all of those which, for obvious reasons, he had left unmentioned — were torn to tatters by the leader of the anti-Ascot forces. . . .

[Even as] . . . Mr. Adams’ so-called arguments apeared ridiculous at the time of their making, they were placed in the light of misrepresentation and subterfuge by the answers made by Mr. Gates. . . .

From the Los Angeles Express, January 9, 1906

A witness confronts the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
From the Los Angeles Examiner, January 23, 1906

SUPERVISORS REFUSE TO CLOSE ASCOT PARK

The attempt of Supervisors Alexander and Brady to prohibit pool selling, book making and gambling in Los Angeles County was yesterday voted down by Supervisors Patterson, Wilson and Graham.

. . . over a hundred representatives of churches, civic organizations and women’s societies were on hand. . . .

“It seems to me, ” interpolated Supervisor P. J. Wilson, “that there has been gross misrepresentation in this matter.

“We have been told by the leaders in this movement that there were 20,000 signers to these petitions [but] there were only about 6,000 names.”

Chairman C. E. Peterson said: “. . . The Legislature meets in the winter. That’s where this question belongs.”

At this juncture a vote was taken. [The motion lost.] . . . Then came the cat-calls, hisses, groans and yells. . . .

“I’ll bring this matter up again in two weeks,” insisted [Supervisor] Alexander as he turned to Wilson.

“You can’t. It’s settled,” answered Wilson.

“Don’t you believe it,” retorted Alexander. “I’ll bring it up whenever and as often as I like.”
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From the Los Angeles Express, January 27, 1906
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For a personal look at Los Angeles in the 1920s and 1930s, click for a new book by George Garrigues
He Usually Lived With a Female: The Life of a California Newspaperman
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