Hollywood closing now official..
 

Letter out today identifies 12/22 as closure with no plans to apply for 2014 dates..

that's sad..

Yea, pretty iconic place, guess that would be about equal to Aqueduct closing down.

Bay Meadows, part deux.

It is a very cool place. Had to grow on you, though. Not fair to compare it to the 2 other iconic tracks in SoCal. More of a city track.

Very sad to hear this... I always had hope that, somehow, it would be saved. :(

Places like this with so much history shouldn't be allowed to fade away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35bBboP-hqg

steve-

any idea where they'll replace all the stalls? i read a few months back that close to 1000 horses will need to be relocated when it closes.

that would seem to be an impossible number to handle if true.

Renovation forthcoming at San Luis Rey apparently, plus potential expansion of Pomona. Los Al another resource..

A lot will depend too on how much more racing they'll do at Del Mar. Santa Anita overdue for total rehab of their barns.

Steve Anderson's DRF piece..
http://www.drf.com/news/hollywood-pa...close-end-year

Regarding stalls: In addition, the closure of Hollywood Park will lead to significant changes in stabling for Thoroughbreds in Southern California. There are approximately 3,000 Thoroughbreds based at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park. Santa Anita has stabling capacity for approximately 1,900 horses. Barretts Racing at Fairplex Park has capacity for 1,200. Officials with that track have stated a desire to host year-round stabling.

Santa Anita is owned by The Stronach Group, which owns the San Luis Rey Downs training center in northern San Diego County. San Luis Rey Downs is scheduled to undergo a four-month renovation of its barn area and main track beginning in June to make the facility more suitable for offtrack stabling.

The world needs another Walmart :rolleyes:

I always loved the shots with the Forum in the background.

i told eric to go by there when he gets to cali, since i won't get a chance to.
a shame, and i agree with geeker! guess you can't have too many c-stores, walmarts, etc... :(

Have not been to HP in a long time, but from I recall its in a really bad area, so people are going to want to move into houses in a bad area next to LAX? I guess so but hardly seems like a high end property for houses, nothing like SA or DMR.

It's directly under the landing path, not the most desirable area even without that issue.

It's located right in the heart of Crenshaw and 10 miles away from Compton. Two of the meanest areas in So. Cal.

Nice photos Rev......
I hit my largest payoff at HP singling Game on Dude with the infamous Undaunted Rally anchoring the P4 on Gold Cup Day. At least we will have the photos :(

a lot of history going away when it closes..

probably my best memory of hollywood park was having seats at the finish line for the 1st breeders cup at just $15 each. they brought in temporary seating on the apron so we had to sit in the sun all day but i still can't believe how well positioned they were for that price.

i still have the program which i was wise enough to write all over so it has absolutely no value as a collectible and i can never forget the dopey bets i made.

i don't really have any particular sense of tragedy at it's closing though. i regret what it may mean for the future of socal racing overall. but i haven't set foot there since a devo concert 3 years ago so it's hard to bemoan it's passing. it never had the spot that santa anita or del mar do to most local race fans.

If Del Mar goes from 40 dates to 100 dates its going to ruin that place as well.

What happens to the Hollywood Gold Cup wall and the Native Diver monument? The final resting places of Great Communicator and Landaluce, the statue of Swaps... what happens now?

The first time I ever went to the track was for the 2004 Hollywood Derby. I was awestruck and those horses were always my favorites to follow.

Inglewood or not it's a fantastic place overflowing with history. Not a great neighborhood but once you're inside the track itself it is its own world.

I'll miss going there.