Site of the Initial United States Air Meet

The second air meet in the world, after Reims, and the first in this country. For eleven days in January 1910 something like 254,000 people rode the Pacific Electric out to Domínguez Hill, paid fifty cents, and sat in a grandstand watching men fly. Louis Paulhan took a Farman to 4,164 feet for the altitude record and Glenn Curtiss ran 55 miles an hour. The Wrights stayed away and then sued, and the courts made Paulhan pay damages for having flown at all. The state set this bronze on the fiftieth anniversary, to the day.

What the plaque says

About one half mile southeast of this spot, on Dominguez Hill in historic Rancho San Pedro, the first Air Meet in the United States was held during January 10-20, 1910. Subsequently, this area has evolved into one of the world's leading aviation-industrial centers. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 718 Plaque placed by the California State Park Commission in cooperation with the City of Compton and the County of Los Angeles, January 10, 1960.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mission San Gabriel Arcangel — 18 mi
  The fourth Alta California mission, built on Tongva land with Tongva labor, rebuilt after arson and now telling that story straight.
• Santa Monica Pier — 18 mi
  Where the Mother Road runs out of continent, and where the End of the Trail sign gives the drive somewhere to finish.
• Colorado Street Bridge — 20 mi
  Beaux-Arts concrete arches curving 150 feet above the Arroyo Seco, opened in 1913 and later a link in Route 66.

More markers nearby

• Domínguez Ranchhouse — 1.1 mi
• Heritage House — 2.2 mi
• Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site — 2.7 mi
• Hay Tree — 4.5 mi