Being a golfer and having an interest in local history I enjoyed the recent posts on the Sunset Fields golf course. It got me thinking about Chester Washington Golf Course at Western Avenue and El Segundo Boulevard, formerly known as Western Avenue Golf Course. It is now run by L.A. County Department of Parks & Recreation. The county renamed the course in honor of newspaper publisher Chester L. Washington in 1982.
Here is a recent aerial view looking north.
Google Maps
The Eastern edge of the course runs along Western Avenue which is on the right of the screen and the western edge runs along Van Ness Avenue on the left.
I've played here for years and have heard bits and pieces from the old timers about the history of the course.
I've heard numerous times that the course started out as a private club before the county took it over which makes sense as this was a somewhat common occurrence with private clubs. Rancho Park in L.A. and Recreation Park in Long Beach have similar histories.
Being familiar with the layout of the course it is obvious that it has been altered over the years because there are a few quirks to it now. I have been told that originally there were a few holes west of Van Ness and although not easy to see, this 1952 view from Historic Aerials seems to confirm that.
Van Ness, which was possibly known as Arlington Avenue then runs up the middle of the screen and those are golf holes just above the "HISTORIC" in the middle of the screen. This confirms holes west of Van Ness and partially explains the quirks in the current layout. Van Ness or Arlington probably was not much more than a small lane north of El Segundo Boulevard back then And I don't think it extended north beyond the Southern Pacific Rail line which runs along the northern border of the course.
I found some information recently that the original Western Avenue Golf Club was at the corner of Manchester and Western and was designed by John Duncan Dunn, a somewhat famous golf course architect who also designed the Catalina Island Golf Club. Strangely the Western Avenue course at Manchester seems to have only lasted two years before it was redeveloped. I have not been able to determine the date.
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/i...=54866.15;wap2
The Western Avenue Course has quite a history and for a long time along with other courses such as Fox Hills was a home for top African American golfers who were not allowed to compete on the PGA Tour because of its "caucasians only" clause.
Years ago when golf prize money was nothing near what it is now many PGA pros supplemented their income by playing money matches early in the week in whatever town they were in. Legend has it that when the pros came to L.A. they could always find a match and a worthy opponent at Western Avenue.
The Gardena Valley Open, a smaller scale professional event was played at Western Avenue in the '50s and '60s and attracted all of the top black golfers, Charlie Sifford and Lee Elder among them. Up and coming local white golfers such as Billy Casper and Al Geiberger also competed.
Here is the cover of the 1964 program.
scan of my program
There is also a very nourish chapter to the course's history. The lover's lane mentioned in this article about the case of two El Segundo Police officers killed in the line of duty in 1957 apparently was on the golf course property.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/30/us...-officers.html
If anyone can add any additional information from the early days or history of the course I would love to hear it.