The Angels, along with the Portland Beavers, Oakland Oaks, Sacramento Solons, San Francisco Seals, and Seattle Indians were charter members of the Pacific Coast League which was founded in 1903.

Both the team and the park were founded by James Furlong "Jim" Morley (1869–1940), an entrepreneur involved in bowling, prize fighting, billiards, and gemstones as well as baseball.

In 1918, the team finished second in regular season play, but won the postseason series against their cross-town rivals at the time, the Vernon Tigers.

In 1921, the team was purchased by chewing-gum magnate William Wrigley Jr., the owner of the Chicago Cubs of the National League.

The Angels began play at Wrigley in 1926, and responded by winning their eighth PCL pennant, 10+1⁄2 games ahead of the second-place Oakland Oaks.

[4] They finished at 137–50 (.733), 35+1⁄2 games ahead of the Mission Reds on an annualized basis (the PCL used a split season format that year).

Led by their portly, popular first baseman Steve Bilko, the Seraphs finished 101–61 (.623), sixteen games ahead of the runner-up Seattle Rainiers.

Opening day in 1919 featured a preliminary "game" which included Arbuckle, Tom Mix, and Buster Keaton.

With the ratification of the 18th Amendment and the criminalizing of alcohol consumption, however, crowds became sparse and the Tigers were sold to San Francisco interests and moved there for the 1926 season.

This first version of the Stars, though supposedly representing Hollywood, actually played home games as tenants of the Angels at Wrigley Field.

In 2010, the franchise was purchased by San Diego Padres' principal owner Jeff Moorad, after the Portland City Council chose to renovate PGE Park as a soccer-only facility for the Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer rather than continue as a joint-use baseball and soccer stadium.

[6] Moorad intended to have the team play in Escondido, a suburb northeast of San Diego, starting in 2013; however, those plans fell through.