Hi all.
As I mentioned before, I've polished off a few fields since the start of the year but haven't posted them (yet?). I think this one could be of more general interest, though, so here you go:
Maier Park c. 1918, home of the PCL Vernon Tigers
One of the things I've enjoyed about making these parks is that I learn all sorts of neat history about places during the research and preparation phase.
The history of Vernon in particular as a tiny independent enclave of drinking and carousing (and as an industrial dystopia) inside of an alcohol-free Los Angeles was one I never knew or suspected.
Anyhow, the
Vernon Tigers were LA's second team in the PCL from 1909-1925, save for a couple of years when they were based in Venice (which was the only other place in the LA area that allowed legal alcohol sales). This park was used for Tigers baseball on most days, with the team sharing the Angels' park on Sunday.
If you're interested in more detailed history of the team, especially around 1919-1920, I'll point you to this article at the
official site of Minor League Baseball as a start.
There's not a lot of photo documentation of the park, but I used what I could. There was an old insurance map. This is another of those situations where they stuck a park in-between a bunch of factories so the view isn't as pretty as it could be, but if the game drags on you can always
head to Doyle's bar (the longest in the world, I'm told!) via a special entrance in left field!