When the circus comes to town, it is generally an exciting time. Did you know we had land used by a circus in Culver City in the 1920s? The western portion of Culver City, known as the Walnut Park Annexation, became a part of Culver City in 1925. It fit perfectly in the context of Harry Culver’s plans for a balanced community. Although Culver began by acquiring property centered about the little Main Street, he established his city with broad concerns in mind.  First, he chose his city’s location between the growing “pueblo” of Los Angeles and Abbot Kinney’s resort of Venice. Culver’s plan included business to support the residential and it was all with transportation in mind. One of his early newspaper ads reads: “All roads lead to Culver City.”

Walnut Park was one of the largest single additions to the city. It was 484 acres, or about 3/4 of a square mile. It spanned from Venice Boulevard down to Havelock, but the most remarkable part of the annexation was the long slender piece extending to Walnut (the street prior to Lincoln Boulevard), which at one point is just 300 feet across.

Over the years there have been several landmark businesses in that area.  At Berryman, from Washington Boulevard south, the Al G. Barnes Circus used that land as its winter quarters when it returned from traveling around the country. Many residents in the area have found buried in their back yards, rings, which were used to tie the animals. Some even remember the elephants! 

In 2002, cousins Fred and Pat Machado pinpointed the circus headquarters  as situated between Washington and Culver Boulevards at Berryman. Pat said it faced Washington. The circus was located in Barnes City early on. Although they had a council and a city hall at Centinela and Louise, later Centinela Feed, they were legally in question and dissolved in 1927.

In 2002, “Venice Joe” Lescoulie (cousin to our Culver City Joe Lescoulie) recalled that the “circus was housed in regular buildings, like a permanent camp.” He remembered it was open to the public and that they charged admission. He had vivid recollections of hearing the lions roar, which could be heard as far away as the Lescoulie Dairy, west on Glencoe (Ocean Park Avenue at that time). He said that the animals were brought in “on the rails down by Culver Boulevard for the winter quarters. Some stayed all year – perhaps they were sick or too old.”

The sign on the front of the building notes that it is the winter home of the Al G. Barnes Circus. The owner’s full name was Alpheus George Barnes Stonehouse. Barnes claimed it was the home of Tusko, the largest elephant in the world and Lotus, billed as the largest hippopotomus in the world. According to the signage on the structure, it operated as a zoo, with daily hours from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Their monkeys, opposum and baby elk were also part of their advertised draw.

The circus, in which local resident Ben Pitti performed his rope and knife-throwing tricks, eventually folded into American Circus Corp., which then became a part of the Ringling Brothers Circus.

Julie Lugo Cerra is the council-appointed city historian of Culver City and author of three books and hundreds of articles on local history.