In 1919, an organization calling itself the Beverly Hills Speedway Association built a wooden motor car speedway race track on a swath of land between Wilshire and Olympic Boulevards. This aerial photo was taken the year it opened and as we can see, much of the land that is now blanketed with the pricey, sprawling homes of Beverly Hills was wide-open space. But not for long. The speedway closed four years later because the price of real estate started to climb and the land was just too valuable. In the upper-right corner, we can see West Hollywood, which at the time was known as Sherman.

Susan M says: “My dad always told me this one closed because the newer Culver City Speedway, was a far superior venue. It drew all the big names in racing. None of the top racers wanted to use the BH one after Culver opened its doors in (I think) ’21. He used to say, the Culver Speedway was a really exciting place to go to. Whereas BH was not outfitted as well for spectators.”