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Hollywood Park records
LSC.2254
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Hollywood Park records
Creator:
Hollywood Park Operating Company
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.2254
Physical Description:
364 Linear Feet
(5 boxes, 104 shoe boxes, 189 cartons, 86 flat boxes, 117 oversize flat boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1928-2009
Abstract: The Hollywood Turf Club, later renamed Hollywood Park, opened in 1938. Known as the Track of the Lakes and Flowers, it served
as home for a number of talented jockeys, trainers, and prominent thoroughbreds. The collection consists of minute books and
ledgers; stock certificate books; scrapbooks; negatives; press clippings; and chart books.
Physical Location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Box 312 is restricted and may be unavailable for use. Inquiries regarding these materials should be directed to UCLA Library
Special Collections.
Many scrapbooks are in fragile condition due to clippings and/or photographs falling off pages.
Conditions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
7857452
[Identification of item], Hollywood Park Records (Collection 2254). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Hollywood Park Racing Association, 2014.
The Hollywood Turf Club (later renamed Hollywood Park), opened on June 10, 1938. Constructed on close to 315 acres, it was
built to accommodate 30,000 people and 1,250 horses. The race track itself was an oval one mile distance and 90 feet wide.
A year earlier, in 1937, the Los Angeles Times reported that there were two applications for a Los Angeles horse racing track:
one submitted by the Golden State Jockey Club, the other from the Hollywood Racing Association. Ultimately the Golden State
group was awarded a provisional permit to build. Golden State changed its name to the Hollywood Turf Club and selected a West
Los Angeles location near the intersection of Sawtelle and National to build the track. Although granted a provisional permit
from the California Horse Racing Board and approval from the Los Angeles Planning Commission to begin building in September
1936, there were "floods of protest" from the West Los Angeles community that led the Hollywood Turf Club to withdraw its
application for zoning in West Los Angeles and select the Inglewood location that would be the home of Hollywood Park.
In January 1938, Hollywood Turf Club officers and directors included Hollywood industry figures and Los Angeles businessmen
such as Walter McCarty (Beverly Wilshire Hotel), Jack Warner (Warner Bros), Earl Gilmore (Gilmore Oil Company), J. I. Schnitzer
(Western Costume Company), Raoul Walsh (motion picture director), Roy Wilcox, Al Jolson (radio artist), C. M. Rood (oil operator),
James Duffy (Santa Fe railroad), Thomas Simmons (oil operator), and Alfred Green (motion picture director). According to Jack
Warner, the Hollywood Turf Club was to provide another outstanding attraction for visitors and tourists to Southern California.
The infield of the track was beautifully landscaped with lush gardens and small lakes. The Hollywood Park Goose Girl tradition
began during the park's first season in 1938. Each year a Goose Girl was chosen and in addition to posing for photographs
and making publicity appearances, she would walk among the geese (and other birds) that populated the infield or coast along
on the lake in the small boat, the Miz Clementine, feeding the birds. The tradition was discontinued in the 1970s and brought
back for a very brief time in the 1990s. In May 1949, less than two weeks before the opening of the track's spring racing
season, a fire severely damaged the original grand stand and Club House. The track reopened a little more than a year later
in June 1950. Known as the Track of the Lakes and Flowers, Hollywood Park served as home for a number of talented horsemen
and eminent thoroughbreds. Among the horses were Seabiscuit, winner of the inaugural Hollywood Gold Cup in 1938, three-time
Gold Cup champions Native Diver and Lava Man, Triple Crown winners Citation, Seattle Slew and Affirmed, Great Communicator,
Landaluce, and Zenyatta. Jockeys Eddie Arcaro, Jerry Bailey, Jerry Lambert, Donny Longden, Laffit Pincay, Jr., Bill Shoemaker,
Mike Smith, Gary Stevens, and George Woolf; and trainers Charlie Whittingham, Barrera Lax, Bob Baffert, and Doug O'Neill also
worked at the park. Three legendary horses, Landaluce, Native Diver, and Great Communicator were interned at the race park.
Hollywood Park closed December 22, 2013, ending 75 years of continuous racing in the Southern California region. It was demolished
to make way for a residential development.
The collection consists of material related to Hollywood Park and the California racing community. Included are minute books
and ledgers; stock certificate books; scrapbooks; negatives; press clippings; and chart books. The minute books and ledgers
represent annual and special meetings of the Hollywood Turf Club and Hollywood Park. The stock certificate books comprise
stock certificate sales for the first decade of the track's operation. The scrapbooks and press clippings document media coverage
of Hollywood Park, as well as other racetracks such as Santa Anita, Los Alamitos, and the California horse racing culture.
The negatives represent Hollywood Park racing seasons and track events. The chart books provide racing statistics regarding
horses, jockeys, and odds mostly for the other regional race tracks, with only one chart book representing Hollywood Park.
The collection is arranged in the following series:
- Series 1: Minute Books and Ledgers
- Series 2: Stock Certificate Books
- Series 3: Scrapbooks
- Series 4: Negatives
- Series 5. Press Clippings
- Series 6. Chart Books
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Horse racing.
Hollywood Park Operating Company -- Archives