Wow, viewing those photos made me feel unexpectedly melancholy (baby...
..)
My wife grew up less than 5 miles from Bay Meadows, but had never been until she married me...and then went for the first time (since I've been called a corrupting degenerate gambler......
..) and developed a wonderful appreciation of the place.
Bay Meadows wasn't even a blip on my radar screen until I moved to California 8 years ago.
I was a Cleveland guy who cut my teeth (literally....pacifier years with my Mom and Dad) at tracks that began disappearing in the 1960's. I thought I was something when I finally graduated to the ranks of Hialeah, Gulfstream (of the 70's), Churchill Downs, Belmont, Saratoga and Del Mar.....and more tracks around the country than I can name without at least a moment's thought.
But anyhow, Bay Meadows surprisingly grew on me in my 8 years here.
It fit like a favorite pair of old jeans, always felt warm in the paddock no matter how damp and cool the Bay Area fog, and consistently reminded that it came before 9 of our 11 revered Triple Crown Winners.
And it was with us before Gone With the Wind, Casablanca and the Wizard of Oz.
I may try to head over on Saturday. I believe I'd like my own three dimensional remembrance. I'm not picky.
I won't think of the day as a funeral.
Thank goodness I'm Irish, cuz I know all about wakes.