1932 Los Angeles Olympic Athlete's Village - Baldwin Hills

In particular, I have found accounts that mention two differentlocations, more than a mile apart from one another. One is in theNorthwest part of the Baldwin Hills in an area called Blair Hills thatis now part of Culver City, and the other referrence is to an areanear Creshaw and Vernon avenue in the South East part of the BaldwinHills called View Park. The second location appears most consistentwith the drawings and photos of the village itself.One account places the village in the Crenshaw or Angeles Mesa district , in thehills to the west of Crenshaw Boulevard south of Vernon Avenue. Theroads Olympiad Drive and Athenian Way in this area commemorate itshistory.

The village comprised between 500 and more than 600 two-roomdwelliings and included post and telegraph offices, an amphitheater, ahospital, a fire department, and a bank. The village was buult onbetween 250 and 331 acres that was loaned by the heirs of the estateof Lucky Baldwin. The buildings were removed after the games.

While I have not wandered the streets in either of these areas lookingfor remnants of the village, I do not think that there is anythingactually that remains in terms of structures. From some accounts, thebuildings were temporary , and I found reference to two of them beingphysically moved to some other location in California.

During the games, the Olympic Committee obtained permission to use theshooting range of the Los Angeles Police Revolver and Athletic Club(LAPRAAC) for the pistol and rifle competition. When the games wereover, the Department was given a dormitory building which had beenused at the Olympic Village in Baldwin Hills. This building wasdismantled by off-duty offices and moved to the Elysian Park site,where it was reassembled for use as a clubhouse and now served as partof the present Academy restaurant and cafe.

The pictures on this page were gathered from other sources on the web,and clicking on the pictures will bring you to those sources. Othersources of information that discuss the athlete's village are listedbelow.Let me know if you findmore information and I will add it to this page.

More sites that mention the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Village:

• One of the most complete descriptions of the Athlete's village can be found starting at the bottom of the first page in apaper by Mark Dyreson available on the web site of the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles.
• Experience in the Olympic Village byFrank Wykoff
• Photos from the LA Public Library ofLegacy of the 1932 Olympic Games.
• The site of the Swedish Olympic Committee describes the1932 Los Angeles Athlete's Village
• about.com describes the 1932 Olympic games and mentions the Athlete's village.