When the State of California allowed horse racing and Arcadians voted to allow the sport to operate in the city (July 1932) the sport was “off and running again.”
Dr. Robert Strub was instrumental in the development of another Santa Anita Park on the Baldwin Ranch to open on December 25, 1934.
Twenty-seven years earlier, “Lucky” Baldwin’s Santa Anita track opened on December 7, 1907 on land that is now Arcadia County Park. (It closed on April 18, 1909 when the state banned the sport.)
Strub’s track opened with 32,777 in attendance and set the bar for excellence in future racetracks. For 82 years Arcadia’s Santa Anita Park has been a vital part of the city’s history.
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Carol Libby and Karen Hou
Carol Libby & Karen Hou Arcadia Historical Society