Hollywood Park Racetrack

Hollywood Park was a thoroughbred race course located in Inglewood, California, about 3 miles (5 km) from Los Angeles International Airport and adjacent to the Forum indoor arena. In 1994, the original Hollywood Park Casino was added to the racetrack complex. Horse racing and training were shut down in December 2013 though the casino operations continued until a new state-of-the-art casino building, the new Hollywood Park Casino, opened in October 2016.

The track was demolished in stages from 2014 until 2016, and the area is now the site of a master-planned neighborhood in development named Hollywood Park after the former track. The most prominent parts of the development are SoFi Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL), YouTube Theater, a 6,000-seat performance arts venue, Hollywood Park Casino, and the NFL Los Angeles building, which is home to the NFL Network, NFL RedZone, NFL.com, and the NFL app.

History

Aerial view of Hollywood Park in 2006. The L.A. Forum is visible to the upper left.

Founding and early years

The track was opened on June 10, 1938 by the Hollywood Turf Club the racetrack was designed by noted racetrack architect Arthur Froehlich. Its chairman was Jack L. Warner of the Warner Bros. film studio. Prominent shareholders included Jack Warner's brother and fellow Warner Bros. executive Harry, Hollywood studio executives Walt Disney, Samuel Goldwyn, Darryl Zanuck, actors Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, Joan Blondell, George Jessel, Ronald Colman and Ralph Bellamy. In addition to being shareholders film directors Raoul Walsh and Mervyn LeRoy were also founding members of the track's Board of Directors with Jack and Harry Warner and Al Jolson.

War closure and rebuilding

Hollywood Park closed from 1942 to 1944 due to World War II, where it was used as a storage facility for North American Aviation. In 1944, the California Horse Racing Board permitted Hollywood Park to hold a new charitable season. The board approved an “extensive war relief program” for both 1944 and 1945 and Hollywood Park raised more than $1 million for charities and schools. In 1949, shortly after $1 million in upgrades were made, the grandstand and clubhouse were destroyed by fire. The rebuilt facility reopened in 1950. Both Thoroughbred racing and harness racing took place at the venue.

Marje Everett, who sold Arlington Park to Gulf & Western in 1968, became part-owner of Hollywood Park.

Everett became director in 1972 and CEO in 1985. Circa 1979, the Los Angeles Times said Hollywood Park was “one of the West Coast’s largest and most popular racetracks.” Thoroughbred racing took place until July (post time 2 p.m, Wednesday through Sunday), and harness racing began in late August.

In 1984, the racetrack was extended from one mile (1.6 km) around to 1+1⁄8 miles (1.8 km) before the first Breeders’ Cup race.

By the late 1980s, the Hollywood Park racetrack, though frequented by celebrities, was near the point of bankruptcy. As of 1989, a group of investors was working to buy Los Alamitos Racetrack in California for $68 million. Los Alamitos, owned by Hollywood Park, was still under its original ownership as of 1991, though a significant portion of the stock had been bought by external investors. RD Hubbard became CEO of Hollywood Park in April 1991 after having purchased a portion of the company's stock in late 1990. He was assisted in the ouster of Marje Everett by company shareholder Tom Gamel and sports businessman Harry Ornest. In 1991, $20 million was spent improving the racetrack. That year the park earned its first profit in five years, and despite rioting in nearby Los Angeles in 1992, annual profits that year increased to $5.4 million. By 1993, the Los Angeles Times wrote that "shareholders at Hollywood Park... are enjoying substantial investment gains." A card club casino was added to the complex in 1994, as Hollywood Park underwent a $100 million expansion into Hollywood Park Casino, which opened in the summer of 1994. Also in 1994, Hollywood Park Inc. purchased the Arizona-based Turf Paradise Race Track for $34 million in stock.

In May 1995 after the departure of the Rams for St. Louis, the owners of the National Football League teams approved with a 27-1 vote with two abstentions, a resolution supporting a plan to build a $200 million, 65,000 seat privately-financed stadium on property owned by Hollywood Park for the Los Angeles Raiders. The deal was put together by Hubbard, who envisioned a sports complex with the new stadium and the racetrack together. Raiders owner Al Davis later balked and refused the deal over a stipulation that he would have to accept a second team at the stadium. After the deal fell through, the Raiders returned to Oakland, California. While the stadium plan was never realized, the site became a focus of plans by the National Football League to bring the league back to the Los Angeles Area.

Hollywood Park Inc. suffered losses in 1995, though at the end of 1996, Hollywood Park bought Boomtown, Inc. for $188 million. Boomtown operated and owned casinos in several cities, such as Reno, Las Vegas and New Orleans. Boomtown merged with the casino operator Pinnacle Entertainment in 1998. Hollywood Park was purchased by Churchill Downs Incorporated on September 10, 1999 for $140 million. Churchill Downs acquired Hollywood Park-Casino in the process, which was in turn leased by Hollywood Park Inc. (later named Pinnacle Entertainment). The previous owners of the track renamed their company Pinnacle Entertainment to concentrate on its gambling interests.

Sale and later developments

In July 2005, Churchill Downs Incorporated sold the track to the Bay Meadows Land Company which was owned by Stockbridge Capital Group for $260 million in cash. Under the terms of the deal, the company, which at the time also operated Bay Meadows in San Mateo, was to continue thoroughbred racing at Hollywood Park for at least three years. According to Bay Meadows officials, the continuation of Hollywood Park as a racing venue after that depended on California allowing more gambling, like slot machines, to the track.

Some of the Hollywood Park land was sold to real estate developers to build a new housing community called the Inglewood Renaissance. Development began in 2005.

New grass was planted on the turf course after Hollywood Park's spring-summer meet in 2005. Due to safety concerns, however, turf racing was not conducted for that year's autumn meet. As a result, several major stakes races that comprised Hollywood's Autumn Turf Festival were canceled that year.

After the conclusion of Hollywood's spring-summer meet in 2006, it was announced that a second chute would be built inside the turf course to accommodate sprint races at six furlongs. This followed a similar move by Monmouth Park to build a turf chute for sprint races.

In 2010, Hollywood Park played host for the first time to Oak Tree.

Betfair/Hollywood Park Agreement

The Hollywood Park Racing Association and Betfair US, the Los Angeles-based subsidiary of Betfair that also owns TVG Network, completed a historic agreement on March 13, 2012, intended to transform the customer experience for fans at the venue as well as online and on television. Under terms of the five-year deal, Hollywood Park was renamed "Betfair Hollywood Park" in what was the first naming rights agreement for a horse racing venue in the United States.

Sale and later developments

In July 2005, Churchill Downs Incorporated sold the track to the Bay Meadows Land Company, which was owned by Stockbridge Capital Group for $260 million in cash. Under the terms of the deal, the company, which at the time also operated Bay Meadows in San Mateo, was to continue thoroughbred racing at Hollywood Park for at least three years. According to Bay Meadows officials, the continuation of Hollywood Park as a racing venue after that depended on California allowing more gambling, like slot machines, to the track.

Some of the Hollywood Park land was sold to real estate developers to build a new housing community called the Inglewood Renaissance. Development began in 2005.

New grass was planted on the turf course after Hollywood Park's spring-summer meet in 2005. Due to safety concerns, however, turf racing was not conducted for that year's autumn meet. As a result, several major stakes races that comprised Hollywood's Autumn Turf Festival were canceled that year.

After the conclusion of Hollywood's spring-summer meet in 2006, it was announced that a second chute would be built inside the turf course to accommodate sprint races at six furlongs. This followed a similar move by Monmouth Park to build a turf chute for sprint races.

In 2010, Hollywood Park played host for the first time to Oak Tree.

Betfair/Hollywood Park Agreement

The Hollywood Park Racing Association and Betfair US, the Los Angeles-based subsidiary of Betfair that also owns TVG Network, completed a historic agreement March 13, 2012 intended to transform the customer experience for fans at the venue as well as online and on television. Under terms of the five-year deal, Hollywood Park was renamed "Betfair Hollywood Park" in what was the first naming rights agreement for a horse racing venue in the United States.

Physical attributes

The track had a 1+1⁄8-mile (1.8 km) dirt oval, plus a 1-mile 145-foot (1.654 km) turf oval. The track regularly seated 10,000 people. A new Cushion Track racing surface was installed in September 2006 to replace the existing dirt, making Hollywood Park the first track in California to meet the California Horse Racing Board's guideline that all tracks in the state replace dirt surfaces with a safer artificial surface by the end of 2007.

Racing

These races were the graded stakes races run at Hollywood Park. Most of the races were moved to Santa Anita Park, Los Alamitos Race Course, and Del Mar Racetrack after Hollywood Park closed.