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Remembering Hollywood Park : Personal memories of the landmark Los Angeles area horse racing track of yesterday.
When I was a young teenager, back in the 1970’s, my dad became pretty obsessed with horse racing (something he had been interested in as a boy, though my grandma wasn’t too keen on his interest). My parent’s were divorced around 1973 and my dad ended up taking an apartment in Inglewood for several years to be near the racetrack, Hollywood Park!
A trek back in time! A few things I remember about Hollywood Park in those days:
- It was really, really crowded on the weekends! Whenever I was visiting with my dad he would take us to the track. If we got to the track too late, we parked at the very outskirts of the parking lot (at the very brink of being full). And that was a HUGE parking lot. The grandstand was just about packed to full too, in those weekend days of yesteryear. People would save their seats with newspapers.
- The old-fashioned feel of the place – Hollywood Park always had a timeless feel of a “good old days” racetrack. Being inside was sort of like stepping back in time, in a way. It seemed very intact/unchanged even in later years.
- The air was filled with the scent of buttered popcorn, hot dogs, and something sweet (cotton candy?). Almost like being at a carnival! Even those later years of Hollywood Park, up to the last happy days, I could still smell the old-fashioned, wonderful smells of the “midway” concession stand foods.
- Andy’s Pizza – on Centinela. We would get Submarine Sandwiches to go, bring them into Hollywood Park for lunch. My dad didn’t like to pay the prices for the food sold at the track (I admit I was longing for one of those Hollywood Park hot dogs sometimes) but the Subs from Andy’s were super good. I wish I could find more about Andy’s (and some photos of that food I remember!) but there’s not much online about it that I could find (except that I did find that the original “Andy” was owner Andrew Vinciguerra who started the business with his wife, Marcia.)
Anyone remember Andy’s? - My first losing ticket!
“The First Ticket I ever lost on at the horse races.” A Saturday, May 17th, 1975 was the eventful day (note: I was a kid, my dad made the bet for me!). From childhood scrapbook of mine. Side note: There were thousands of losing bet tickets thrown out all over the place at the track in those days, right on the ground and inside too (where were the trash cans?!). My sister and myself would scrounge around the concourse picking up tickets and hoping to find a winning ticket someone had thrown out. I don’t think we ever did.
- Sometimes you’d see a celebrity or movie star – over the years I’ve seen several including Jackie Cooper, Sam Yorty (mayor of L.A.), John Forsythe, Dick Van Patten to name a few. My dad once saw Cary Grant at the track – wow! (Just to note: I’m not sure, memory is a little sketchy on this point, which exact track I saw these celebrities at : Hollywood Park or Santa Anita or both.)
- Later years – Hollywood Park was fairly empty most of the recent years I had been there, even on a BIG race day. But the place still seemed so much the same as I remembered from years before. The parking was free, the popcorn was cheap and yummy. Box seats were inexpensive too.
I went to Hollywood Park on closing day, December 22, 2013, for one last day at the track. I took some photos, mostly near the end of the day. Here are a few interesting ones:
