It looks like it’s all good news at Santa Anita Park these days:
Scott Hettrick
The likelihood of 2-4 months of additional racing dates starting as soon as 2014 as a result of the demise of Hollywood Park.
The upcoming Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 1-2 for the second consecutive year.
Significant physical improvements to the track this summer to enhance the customer experience.
Officials are apparently willing to retain the most significant elements of the historic, iconic, Chandelier Room, even without the demonstration of what recently began with official public comments of concerns and petitions and was rumored to be heading towards protests and picketing.
Chandelier Room during Chamber of Commerce Citizen of Year Dinner
Santa Anita officials will host a public meeting at 6 p.m Tuesday in the Chandelier Room to describe the planned remodeling and upgrading at the track and address concerns of many local residents and some track employees and horse racing folks about the reported initial plans to remove the chandeliers, bar, and palm trees from the Chandelier Room and turn it into more of disco with a circular bar. If those plans were ever considered for the Chandelier Room, it appears they are no longer being considered. A recent initial design review application filed with City by Santa Anita indicates that the changes planned for the Chandelier Room and the rest of the structure, which is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, will not have a significant effect on the environment with mitigation incorporated (and specifically based on the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Buildings. But a final ruling by the City, which will incorporate comments from the public at the May 14 meeting and by phone, e-mail, mail, or fax, will be made by the City on May 28, with the City Council then having the option to further consider the matter.
Long wooden bar in the Chandelier Room
(Direct comments to Assistant City Manager/Development Services Director Jason Kruckeberg: (626) 574-5414; jkruckeberg@ci.arcadia.ca.us; 240 West Huntington Drive, P.O. Box 60021, Arcadia, CA 91066-6021; fax: (626) 447-3309.)
Changes to the Chandelier Room are said to be limited to the “floor, ceiling, and wall updates, new A/V equipment, new clerestory windows, and a balcony.”
Other changes are planned for the Main Event Room, Turf Club, an outdoor seating area next to the Turf Club, the Director’s Room, the Arcadia Suite, the Turf Club entry way from the parking lot, and a portion of the Owner’s boxes. Those changes will include renovations of the grandstand, new flooring, wall, and ceiling finishes, new electrical and mechanical equipment, new audio-visual equipment, and new bathroom fixtures. On the south-facing facade of the grandstand, a small viewing porch adjacent to the Turf Club is planned.
All changes are said to be “consistent with the historic nature of the grandstand.”
As a board member of the Arcadia Historical Society, I should note that the Society made a statement last month to the City Council expressing concern about reports of changes to the elegant Chandelier Room that many consider to be the classiest venue in the San Gabriel Valley. I should also note that I have a more personal connection with the room where my daughter was married on New Year’s Eve of 2007. It provided a stunning setting for the wedding and photographs. But I also understand the enormous financial challenges facing Santa Anita and that Arcadia has been closer to losing the entire track in recent years than ever before. So, I applaud and support almost any changes the track needs to make to remain a viable entity. Having said that, there must be numerous other changes that could that would have a more tangible impact. It’s hard to imagine that any changes to the Chandelier Room would make a profound impact on the bottom line at the track. So I’m glad to hear that is not a focus of the changes now being discussed.
The Chandelier Room, which opened with the track itself in 1934, features a parquet floor, majestic staircases, an lengthy elegant wooden bar, and is adorned with stunning namesake antique chandeliers, eye-catching decorative gilt palm trees, and a collection of sporting art.
A blog by horse racing expert and history buff Mary Forney called the Chandelier Room “one of the most beautiful places on the grounds of the historic Santa Anita Racetrack.” According to Forney, Santa Anita Racetrack founder, Dr. Charles H. “Doc” Strub, brought the chandeliers from England and the golden palm trees (pictured) from Versailles in France. The Room has served as the location for dozens of movies and TV series dating back to 1946 for a scene with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in “Notorious,” and for a scene in the original 1937 “A Star is Born,” starring Fredric March and Janet Gaynor that was re-created for the 1954 remake of the same film, this time starring Judy Garland and James Mason (see highlights of the scenes below).
More recently it was the setting for a reception at which Sally Field made a speech for the TV series “Brothers and Sisters.”
During races, well-dressed bettors contemplate their next bets and converse with others over drinks in the Chandelier Room while sitting comfortably in overstuffed chairs and sofas framed by antique coffee and end tables. In non-racing hours the room is nearly constantly booked, not only for weddings like my daughter’s that create a lifetime of memories, but also alumni reunions, corporate dinners and receptions, the annual Mayor’s Breakfast and the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen of the Year Dinner, and myriad affairs of local and race industry organizations.
Planned improvements for the fan experience at the track are exciting, encouraging, and necessary. Like this season’s changes at Dodgers Stadium, every stadium in every sport needs to undergo a face-lift periodically and adapt to an evolving customer base. It’s even better when property owners balance those fiscal realities with the preservation of historical treasures.
Meanwhile, the biggest and most promising news is the potential addition of up to 2 1/2-months of additional racing dates at Santa Anita, which will mean far more betting, parking, horse stable business, and merchandising revenue to the track, hundreds of thousands of additional dollars for the City of Arcadia, and more customers for local restaurants, hotels, and other businesses.
While no one takes pleasure in seeing the announcement of the end of one of Southern California’s trio of premier and historic horse race tracks — the historic Hollywood Park created in 1938, four years after Santa Anita Park opened, by hundreds of shareholders including Hollywood studio titans such as Jack Warner and Samuel Goldwyn will begin to be torn down to make room for housing and other development following its final day on Dec. 22, four days before Santa Anita’s main meet — the prospects of Arcadia’s Santa Anita Park extending its main winter season from mid-April through as late as mid-July could mean as much as eight or nine months of racing here in town. And those spring dates mean fewer winter rain-out days. Hollywood’s fall meet dates between Santa Anita’s Autumn and winter meets from early November through Dec. 22 are also up for grabs.
And with the Breeders’ Cup back for a second consecutive year for the second time in five years, prospects seem brighter that Santa Anita could finally become the permanent home for the premiere worldwide competition. After several years of consistently getting up off the mat after suffering a succession of body blows, it appears that Santa Anita Park is finally winning a few rounds that could lead to the world’s most beautiful being declared the winner and still champ.
— By Scott Hettrick