Carbon Canyon Historic Artifact #53: Los Serranos Country Club Scorecard

As noted here before, even though Los Serranos Country Club is outside of Carbon Canyon, their histories are intertwined.

Though created in the mid-1910s as a shortcut from the Inland Empire to coastal regions, Carbon Canyon Road was unpaved and not well-built when it opened to the public.

In 1924, Long Beach investors purchased a portion of Rancho Santa Ana del Chino, known as the "Home Ranch" where Joseph Bridger's 1870s adobe still stood, for a subdivision, lake, and golf course, all given the name of Los Serranos.

Almost immediately, the country club's promoters worked to have Carbon Canyon Road substantially improved so that there would be a time-saving alternate route to their facility from Los Angeles.  At the time, the main route was to come out on Valley Boulevard through the San Gabriel Valley, then on Pomona Boulevard into Pomona and down the route of the old Butterfield Stage road to the club.

A vastly improved and fully paved Carbon Canyon Road, however, would significantly shave distance and time to get to Los Serranos.  By the end of the 1920s that work was done and by 1934, the road had been added to the newly created state highway system, though the assignment of a commonly used number (142) didn't take place for some thirty years.

So, with the fates of the two tied together, here is a score card from Los Serranos Country Club that appears to date from the 1960s, not long after the facility was purchased by tennis legend Jack Kramer, whose family still owns and operates it.

The rear cover has a map of what was then a single course, it now has two, as well as four rules for water hazards, lost balls, fences and holes and mounds.  Inside the card has the back and medium tee distances for each hole by gender, the par for men and women, including handicaps, and the total par for the course, which was rated at 70, and listed at 72 for men and 73 for women.

The front cover, which lists a 714 area code in those days when there were enough numbers for wide areas, is most notable for its unfortunate use of a Latino figure taking a siesta next to images of crossed clubs and a ball and a flag.

For the club to mention that the 300-acre facility was on a remnant of the Rancho Santa Ana del Chino granted in the Mexican era (1841) to Antonio María Lugo is one thing, but the napping figure in the big sombrero?  Whoa.