Hollywood Park Race Track Closes 75 Sizzling Year

Photos top left clockwise: Terri Hatcher and daughter Emerson Rose enjoyed their annual Mother's Day tradition of lunch and racing; Emilio Estevez met jockey Tyler Baze; Bo Derek was on hand to watch Zenyatta at the finish line; in 1989 the Salute to the Shoe (famed jockey Bill Shoemaker) featured Merv Griffin, Elizabeth Taylor, Eva Gabor, and John Forsythe; legendary Seabiscuit took Inaugural Gold Cup  in 1938; George Hamilton, Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor.

Born out of the Golden Age of Hollywood and key players -- Walt Disney, Jack L. Warner (Warner Brothers,) Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, Sam Goldwyn, George Jessel, and some 600 celebrities, producers, directors and financiers-- Hollywood Park Race Track opened on June 10, 1938 and is closing its doors tomorrow night after the final race on Dec. 22, 2013. The finish line is in sight for Betfair Hollywood Park when 112 entrants finish 11 races on Sunday. Hollywood Park's 18 weeks of annual racing dates will be divided among Santa Anita, Del Mar and Los Alamitos. And the 1,900 horses, 470 full time employees and 600 backstretch workers who live in the track's stable area must move on.

The property which includes Hollywood Park Casino was purchased in 2005 and is being developed through San Francisco-based real estate investment management firm Stockbridge Capital Group,  and Wilson Meany Sullivan. Stockbridge assets and projects include the transformation of Bay Meadows Race Track in San  Mateo, the renovation of the landmark Pacific Telephone building at 140 N. Montgomery (San Francisco) which will include the new headquarters of Yelp, Burbank Studios (formerly NBC Studios,)  Treasure Island in San Francisco, Sahara casino in Las Vegas redeveloped into SLS Las Vegas, and YES manufactured home communities throughout the U.S.  In Inglewood the 238-acre mixed use district will feature retail stores, theaters, parks and homes at the corner of Century Blvd. and Prairie Ave.