Cynthia House
California State Office of Historic Preservation                                                       March 13, 2006

1416 9th Street

Room 1442-7

Sacramento, CA 95814

Hollywood Heritage strongly supports the nomination of Santa Anita Park (Park) for the National Register of Historic Places. The nomination by Historic Resources Group covers many points, all of which we endorse.

Our particular points of interest involve “Feeling” and “Association” of the site and its structures and their relationships to Hollywood’s history. The Park was a creation of the Golden Age of Hollywood and an important symbol of a successful Hollywood society that was able to endure in the midst of the Great Depression. The lead promoter behind it was legendary film producer-director and studio owner, Hal Roach. Roach was an active member of the polo clubs that were in Hollywood, the San Fernando Valley, and Beverly Hills that included many cinema greats, such as Will Rogers (whose property was deeded as a public park and includes a polo field), 20th Century-Fox head Daryl F. Zanuck, Victor McLaglen, Harpo Marx, and Walt Disney.

They looked at polo and racing as sport, not a method for gambling. They gambled making movies as a living, racing and polo provided a competitive type of entertainment for them. It was only natural that their interests would turn to the creation of a facility such as Santa Anita when it became possible to build such a place. The movie colony’s interest helped bring investors and patrons.

Roach and his friends viewed this as another form of entertainment, and they knew how to promote it. They built a stylish facility the same way they would a movie palace and went after the best talent in racing, again as if they were casting a film. Man ’O War, Seabiscuit, Citation—all were, and still are, legendary names that were prominently involved with Santa Anita Park. Here the masses and Hollywood royalty came together at the same time to be entertained. At no other place in the world did these two groups co-mingle so freely. Publicity at the Park was constant as the studios promoted photos or highlighted newsreels with scenes of stars enjoying themselves at the track, just like the average person in the grandstands or a patron watching the film clip in the theater.

Beside the frequent newsreels, the Park was a popular filming location for everyone from the Three Stooges to The Marx Brother (A Day at the Races) to Hepburn-Tracy (Pat and Mike) to A Star is Born (1954). Santa Anita Park was definitely considered an important part of the extended Hollywood community. Its graceful architecture and scenic location are just as welcoming and memorable today as they have been for over seven decades. Other similar gathering places for the stars and the public are gone—Gilmore Stadium, Gilmore Field, Wrigley Field. Santa Anita Park retains its integrity to the point that Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, or Clark Gable could return today and seem right at home.

Besides the design and market connections to its Hollywood roots, HRG notes major innovations that also reflect directly on the cinema. One was the creation of the “photo-finish.” Not just a technical innovation, but a term that has become a popular phrase in the English language. The other was the advent of live radio broadcasting of races from Santa Anita, providing free advertising for the Park and the use of broadcasts that cost next to nothing to produce, two things definitely favored by movie industry leaders.

I talked with Hal Roach in 1979 about many subjects, and he always had a strong feeling for his part in creating Santa Anita Park. He felt it was still an important contribution to the community and to horse racing, helping to legitimize it at a time when it needed legitimacy. He and his Hollywood cohorts would help to give a “clean image” to the tainted sport. They enjoyed the races, and it was closer than going to Mexico, where they would have to go prior to the building of the Park. He viewed it as an extension of their entertainment empires and, indeed it was, as described herein. Through these Hollywood connections, it became one of the most famous and successful horse racing venues in the world, and an important part of Hollywood’s heritage. As such, we, again, strongly support its nomination.

Sincerely,

Robert W. Nudelman
Director of Preservation Issues
Hollywood Heritage

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