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Show I 8EN'S TROUBLES . I Y' ON. THE PSCiriC COHSt V y H- Wi'HeMrrea. impresario and man-er man-er - bicycle gpeed artists Is back 1 ; . !m a thre weeks trip to the coast I I if VlltKl Lo AngeJes. 8a Jose, San -j FYanclaco, Sacramento and Portland In ! i tn order named. V, "Before leaving- for tho coast I o f , tained a. franchiso. for a saucer track ! tL? 1 1x39 Ahgelei from the N. C. A. There 1 examined Scheutsen pkrk. the circus iy - grounds and the airship yards. The two H nm are too small for the installation Icr a saucer. I was offered the airship yards, a whole block and admirably euited for my purpose, at $300 a foot. No, the offer was made in all serl6us-ness, serl6us-ness, and I Just as seriously turned It . down. Los Angeles Land Crazy. "Los Angeles people seem to be land crazy. "Why, out Long Beach and ? Santa Monica ways, four and five miles ff? the city, they sell lots at from $1000 to $5000. You will hear of a man buying a lot today for $1000 and selling it tomorrow for $1500 or $2000. Just sand lots. They're sure real estate es-tate mad. "Finally Charles Mann, who was In on the deal with me, found a man with a new hotel and grounds at Blmlni Hot Springs, four miles from the city, for which he wanted $55,000. The idea was to have on the ample grounds, a baseball base-ball diamond, a cricket ground and a fight arena. Jumped $20,000 Over Night "Mr. Mann went to see the man th day after he had offered to sell at the price named. Well, sir, would you believe it? the price of that hotel grew to $75,000 over night. . I left Mr. Mann and the pwner trying to come to some arrangement, and all the time the value of that hotel growing like Jack's wonderful won-derful beanstalk. I reckon it must be somewhere near the $100,000 mark now. Politics in San Francisco. "San Jose was too small. San Francisco Fran-cisco is all right and races could be run there every night on a paying basis. I looked up Ed Holden. who rode here, and we slsed up all the likely places. For Central park, opposite the city hall, right In the heart of the city, they wanted $500 rental a month. At Eighth and Market a good place could be had for $200 a month. I would have closed on either of these places for a long lease, but on investigation I found I was up against it in the fact that Frank Ballo, a friend of Mayor Schmidt, had procured a franchise from the N. C. A. and I could , not get one. Ballo has no money himself.. He will build with th Mayor's money if he builds at all, and he will not build unless un-less Schmidt is re-elected. If he is reelected re-elected I have been offered the management man-agement of the saucer. If Schmidt Is not re-elected I can go in and get a franchise, as Ballo will not build. It Is Ballo's intention to run a fighting club and pull off great athletic events in case his principal Is re-elected. People Want Sports. "It would be a great paying venture to open a strong racing card in San Francisco. The people all have money and they are sports of the first water. Why, in the skating rinks there the floors are crowded and it costs 40 cents to put on a pair of roller skates. "Salt Lake-City is a sporty little town for the size of the population, but I am compelled to take off my hat to the city of the NaUve Son. Until after election I shall remain In Salt Lake; if things go right I may jump in on San Francisco and get the game to going at once. It would pay big." |