Many celebrities will gather at SoFi Stadium in Englewood, California when the Rams and Bengals meet in the Super Bowl on Sunday. And although the stadium is only two years old, the location is no stranger to charm.
The stadium is built on a site a few miles east of Los Angeles International Airport that was once home to Hollywood Park, an Art Deco race track that infused the royal sport with Hollywood royalty.
Backed by a group of collaborators that included such prominent Hollywood actors as Jack Warner, Samuel Goldwyn, Walt Disney, and Bing Crosby, the track opened on June 10, 1938, effectively becoming a national holiday among the studio group. .
The 265-acre Lakes and Flowers Trail, as it was affectionately called, was a place to see and be seen, especially at the members-only turf club, which was frequented by such stars as Cary Grant, Joan Crawford, Fred Astaire, Mickey Rooney, Bob Hope, John Wayne, Alfred Hitchcock, Tony Curtis, and Carol Burnett to name a few. While the stars watched the track, the flamingos inhabited the stadium.
The track has also hosted many famous racehorses and jockeys. In 1938, the year of its opening, the Seabiscuit won its first Gold Cup. In 1951, the Triple Crown Citation winner added the Gold Cup to his resume, becoming the first million-race racehorse Dollars. In 1977, Seattle slaw came out of their Triple Crown campaign, upset in the Swab Stakes. In 1979, Certain won the Gold Cup and became the first horse valued at $2 million. In 1984, the inaugural Breeders’ Cup was held at Hollywood Park. He returned in 1987 and 1997. In 1999 at the track, Lafitte Pinky Jr. surpassed Bill Shoemaker’s jockey record for wins.
In 2007, a horse named Zenyatta, owned by record producer Jerry Moss and named following The Police’s album Zenyatta Mondatta, debuted. He went on to win 19 races in a row, eight of them at Hollywood Park. As his streak and the legend of him grew, the electric machines on the race track were like the glory days of yore.
On December 22, 2013 he played the last trumpet “Call to the Post” followed by “Hooray for Hollywood”. California Chrome, the fourth California-bred to win the Kentucky Derby, won the final stakes race. On May 31, 2015, the iconic amphitheater was demolished, making way for a 298-acre mixed-use development that includes the stadium, hotel, commercial and retail space, condominiums, and park.
Nowhere to be found is the statue of Shoemaker and Swaps, a California native who won the 1955 Derby and set four Hollywood Park records, three of which were world records, once adorning the club’s entrance and intended to be developed.
But some remnants of that old Hollywood era remain. The flamingos were taken to a nearby zoo. The graves of famous horses buried on the track were moved to other trails or farms. The ficuses that were scattered on the ground near the stadium have been replanted. Pincay Drive, in honor of Pincay Jr.’s victories, which entered Hollywood Park more than anywhere else, intersects east-west between Crenshaw Boulevard and Prairie Avenue.
And the show goes on, and the accompanying celebrities, of course.