Al G. Barnes Circus was an American circus run by Alpheus George Barnes Stonehouse that operated from 1898 to 1938.

History Stonehouse started his show in 1895 with a pony, a phonograph, and a stereopticon. By 1929, the "Al G. Barnes Wild Animal Show" had grown to five rings and it was purchased by the American Circus Corporation. American Circus already owned the Sells-Floto Circus, John Robinson Shows, Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, and Sparks Circus. That same year John Ringling, the owner of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, bought out the American Circus Corporation.

The five circuses that were part of that acquisition continued to tour under their own names, but were closed one-by-one during the Great Depression. In 1937, the Al G. Barnes Wild Animal Show and Sells Floto were combined into one circus. That circus, Al G. Barnes Sells-Floto toured in 1937 and 1938.

In 1938, the co-owned Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows was experiencing labor problems which ultimately led to the circus being closed after performances in Scranton, Pennsylvania on June 22. After regrouping at the circus winter quarters in Sarasota, Florida the Ringling-Barnum circus trains were dispatched to Redfield, South Dakota where the two circuses met and were combined into a yet larger circus featuring many of the major stars from Ringling-Barnum. The circus toured from July 11 until November 27, 1938, as "Al G. Barnes and Sells-Floto Circus Presenting Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Stupendous New Features. Among the attractions that were featured were big game hunter "Bring 'em Back Alive Frank Buck" and the gorilla Gargantua. When the show finished its season however, rather than returning to its own winter quarters in Baldwin Park, California, the circus trains traveled to the Ringling winter quarters near Sarasota, Florida, never to emerge again.

Animal trafficker and media personality Frank Buck claimed to have “provided Barnes with the bulk of his collection.”

Notable performers Although the Al G. Barnes Circus featured many traditional acts associated with circuses, it was known for its wild animal acts. Mabel Stark, the tiger trainer was associated with the circus for many years. Stark joined the circus in 1911, first presenting a horse act. In 1916, she began presenting tigers in the center ring of the wild animal show. Although she left the circus in 1922, she returned in 1930. Bert Nelson was another wild animal trainer who appeared on the circus in the late 1930s. For many seasons, the elephants were trained and presented by Frank "Cheerful" Gardner. Eddie Woenecker became the circus' bandmaster in 1913 and stayed with the circus through 1922. He returned to the circus in 1936 and continued to perform in that capacity through the 1938 season. Louis Roth was a noted lion tamer with the circus.

Ethnic exhibits Per Barnes' memoirs, Al G. Barnes Circus included "circus Indians," said to be Flathead and Sioux. In 1924 an advance article stated that "three tribes of Indians, Washoe, Escondido, and Apache," were traveling with the circus. In the circus's 1926 route book, the cast listing for "big show performers" has three categories: ladies, gentlemen, and Indian tribes.

Nabor Feliz, a Puebloan artist, sold his creations as part of the Barnes sideshow.

George and Willie Muse were two albino African-Americans who were exhibited as the "sheep-headed boys" and called Eko and Iko. They played mandolin and guitar. The lives of the Muse brothers are the subject of the book Truevine by Beth Macy.

Barnes imported a dozen Igorot people from the Philippines because they ate dog; "We could buy stray dogs from the pounds of various cities and give them a humane death... their exhibition created a greater sensation than I had imagined."

Sideshow "freaks"

Per Barnes' memoir: "A woman with two bodies, both perfectly formed from the shoulders down. We found her in the backwoods of Texas where she was living on a ranch with her husband and three children. Two of her children were born from one side and one from the other. She traveled with the show for several years…after the show she permitted [curious women] to examine her." Her husband worked as a ticket taker. After experiencing health issues she reportedly returned to Texas where she died. Klinkhart's Talented Midgets, managed by Oscar Klinkhart High Bill, giant Liu Yu Ching, giant Clifford Thompson, giant. Cliff was with the circus in 1931.

Animals

One of their more famous animals was Black Diamond, an Indian elephant whose unpredictable temper resulted in the deaths of several people and was shot between 50 and 100 times in 1929, before his own death. Lotus the Hippopotamus was a perennial attraction; she was sometimes harnessed to a cart for parades. Photo illustration 344 of Barnes' memoir appears to show three trained polar bears in addition to performing lions and dogs.

Barnes Zoo

The Al G. Barnes Circus was known as a "Wild Animal Show," and in December 1923 the Barnes Circus Zoo opened at the corner of Washington Boulevard and McLaughlin Avenue in Culver City.

The zoo cost $79,000 to build and at the time was kept open even when the show was touring.

At that time, the zoo had a lion, a leopard, jaguars, pumas, wolves, coyotes, 20 Bengal tigers (including eight new" ones said to be "cubs" unused to human interaction—their trainer described them as "cute little rascals"), a hippopotamus, Tusko the elephant who and was claimed to be "ten tons" or , another elephant named Ruth,SPRING is HERE if you don't believe it look at the pictures. (March 28, 1926). Los Angeles Times. a herd of Bactrian camels, a herd of at least eight zebras,"HOME with the CIRCUS FOLK at Barnes City." Los Angeles Times, March 27, 1927. llamas, alpacas, peccaries, elks, polar bears, seals, a boxing kangaroo named Fitz, a chimpanzee named Joe Martin, actuallyJoe Martin (orangutan), a “monkey” named Jiggs who appears in an accompanying photo to be a juvenile orangutan and is elsewhere called a “jungle man”, and “horses of every breed” including 12 Arabians and one called Billy. The live bird collection included American eagles, “black swans from Africa,” ostriches, storks, white peacocks, sauris cranes, pheasants, guinea hens, cockatoos and pigeons.

Winter quarters

Venice

Barnes once told the Venice Vanguard newspaper that Abbot Kinney first brought him to Venice in 1910. & At that time the Barnes team was composed of 506 humans and 600 animals. The Barnes Circus wintered in Venice every year but one between 1911 and 1919. Having observed that the Sells Floto Circus wintering in Venice increased visitor traffic, Pacific Electric Railway Company built Barnes a building for the animals, located between the Venice Lagoon and Abbot Kinney's pier. According to Barnes, PE built "the necessary barns and animal pens" and furnished water, light and "extra equipment." The circus was able to earn additional revenue and keep the animals in practice with weekend and holiday shows for tourists visiting the amusements. In 1911, their site was described as "just east of Trolleyway and south of Windward Avenue."

As Barnes told it in 1927:

Barnes City

Barnes wintered at Venice until November 1920 when the circus trains returned for the winter to a new location on Washington Boulevard between Venice and Culver City, California, the former Sbacha Ranch. He stated, ""I bought the site on Washington boulevard when there were only a few houses between Venice and downtown Los Angeles." Barnes named the area where the winter quarters and zoo were located Barnes City, California.

The Los Angeles Times profiled and photographed the Barnes City menagerie several times between 1925 and 1927, reporting that it was a site that contained over 4,000 animals, with a staff of more than 1180, 750 of who were performers in some 200 acts.Read, Kendall. "Winter Home of Circus Holds Thrills Galore: Quarters of Al G. Barnes show Teem with Activity as Crews Prepare for New Season on Road; Animals Furnish Center of Interest; Secrets of Sawdust Ring." Los Angeles Times, January 31, 1926. (In a later report from late 1927 Barnes claims 83 acres, “the largest unplatted section” of Los Angeles.)"MUSEUM TO STAND ALONE: PROPOSED AL G. BARNES REPOSITORY IN PORTLAND INDEPENDENT OF SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION." Los Angeles Times, June 5, 1927.

The writer of the 1926 report described “all-steel box cars, pullmans, and flat cars ready for the day the circus goes out"; the circus used the neighboring Redondo Beach via Playa Del Rey tracks to move in and out of the area.

Attempted municipal incorporation The effort to incorporate Barnes City as an independent municipality within Los Angeles County, California has been described as "extremely confusing." As one history puts it, "Barnes City was never a community. It was instead a legal device to protect a circus and zoo from attempts to regulate its activities. It lasted as an incorporated entity for less than a year."

Barnes voted for incorporation in February 1926 but faced community resistance."TOWN FEARS SIMIAN COGNOMEN: IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION FIGHTS INCORPORATION OF CIRCUS HOME AS BARNES CITY, DREADING NICKNAME SUCH AS MONKEYVILLE TOWN FIGHTS INCORPORATION." Los Angeles Times, October 4, 1925, pp. 2."BARNES CITY DECIDES FOR ANNEXATION: COUNT SHOWS ALMOST TWO TO ONE IN FAVOR OF UNITING WITH LOS ANGELES." Los Angeles Times, September 15, 1926."BARNES CIRCUS RETURNS HOME: AGGREGATION BACK TO ENJOY SOUTHLAND WINTER GOES TO NEW QUARTERS AT BALDWIN PARK FREE PERFORMANCE TODAY TO COMPLIMENT TOWN." Los Angeles Times, November 22, 1927. Another account states, "At the time of the vote, there were 692 voters in Barnes City, 254 of the voters were employed by the circus. It is said that Al Barnes changed his entire circus schedule on election day so that the monkeys could vote without leaving their cages. Dissatisfied homeowners demanded a new election, but the Board of Directors, hand picked by Al Barnes, refused. The citizens took their case to the California Superior Court. They then circulated a petition seeking annexation to Los Angeles." Moreover, residents of Walnut Grove, the so-called “shoestring strip” along Washington Blvd., had voted to be annexed to Culver City in hopes of obtaining bus service to and from their neighborhood; this community's union with Culver City cut in half the proposed area of Barnes City. In September 1926, the population voted for annexation to the city of Los Angeles. At the time of the Los Angeles annexation vote in September 1926, the "circus city" was said to be in area and have a population of approximately 2500 people, although that may have been a bold overestimate. Per a neighborhood historian, "Unlike Mar Vista and Venice, which joined Los Angeles for water and other services, the homeowners of Barnes City sought freedom from living in a city built around a circus, run by the circus owner, whose brother was the mayor."