The history of the peafowl from Indian and Java that live in Arcadia is presented. Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin imported three pairs from India in the 1880s. His daughter Anita Baldwin added some birds from Java. The peacock is official bird of Arcadia, is protected, and should not be fed. See also VF "Peacocks" for copy of article.
Historical information on Baldwin Lake, the four-acre body of water that adjoins the Queen Anne Cottage in the historical section of the Los Angeles County Arboretum, is presented. The history of lake extends from time of the Native Americans (they called their village Aleupkigna), to Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin's ranch in 1873, to the movies and television shows in which it has appeared. Baldwin Lake played host to movie stars Johnny Weismuller, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. The lake has appeared in Safari, Roots, and Fantasy Island. See also VF "Arboretum" for hard copy of article.
Lou Carno has been an Arcadia resident for 53 years and is a longtime horse trainer. One of his early jobs was working as a groom for race horse Seabiscuit's owner, C.S. Howard. Carno served in the U.S. Marine Corps, earned his CA Trainers License in 1952. He trained for celebrity horse owners such as Betty Grable, Desi Arnaz, and Burt Bacharach, and others. He is 83 now and semi-retired.
Race horse Apollicee, a 4-year-old California-bred son of Apollo, is enjoying his 15 minutes of fame and occupying the same stall that famous race horse Seabiscuit did back in the 1930s.
Writer Charles Cooper recounts the history of the Los Angeles County Arboretum, including previous landowners Hugo Reid and Elias J. ("Lucky") Baldwin.
Arcadia City Council has put out a design contract for landscaping and streetscape design on Baldwin Avenue between Duarte Road and Naomi Avenue. The contract went to Willdan, not to exceed $64,410. Another project proposes widening of the street to four lanes, 75 feet from curb to curb, with landscaped median, curb parking and additional landscaping, along with street resurfacing, to cost $380,000.
Governor Gray Davis has signed into law a bill allowing telephone and Internet wagering on horse races in California. The bill was authored by Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg.
The City Council chose an appropriate depiction of racehorses in full gallop with their jockeys hunched low, designed by artist Paul Tzanetopoulos, for the artwork to span the Huntington Drive/Second Avenue railway bridge.
Santa Anita Park Race Track owner Frank Stronach has met with city officials about Arcadia's concerns with the track expansion plan and future sessions will be held. The concerns centered around plans to build new barns on the north side of the property, the internal connections between the track and Westfield Shopping mall traffic and people, and architectural compatibility with the track.
More than $1.2 million was bet across the state in the first 11 days that computer and telephone betting was approved in this state. It is known as account wagering. There is no way of telling yet if this is affecting attendance and live betting at Santa Anita Park. Two providers of online betting, XpressBet and TV Games, where approved by the California Horse Racing Board. Xpress Bet is owned by Magna Corp., which owns Santa Anita Park.
Arcadia City Council has gone on record as supporting the building of a new city hall that would be built on the other side of the Civic Center property. Out of three options presented by city manager Bill Kelly, the council consensus was for a new building at a cost of $6.6 million and adjacent to Huntington Drive West.
Magna Entertainment Corporation, owners of Santa Anita Park race track, is bidding to purchase the September race dates at the Los Angeles County Fair for September 13-29. The Breeders Cup will be returning to Santa Anita Park next October after a gap of ten years.
Dr. Charles H. Strub brought horse racing back to Arcadia. After the state made it legal again in 1930, Anita Baldwin tried to revive her father, Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin's dream of a Santa Anita Racetrack. She worked with Joe Smoot but he couldn't achieve this, even though Arcadia City Council licensed his Santa Anita Jockey Club. San Francisco dentist Charles H. Strub (pronounced Stroob), owner of the San Francisco Seals baseball team, got a license for the Los Angeles Turf Club and founded Santa Anita Park with Hal Roach and other promoters. The track was designed by Gordon Kaufman and opened December 25, 1934.
Charles Cooper continues his series "Memories of Arcadia" with a story about the Santa Anita Assembly Center for the Japanese, where at its height, it housed more than 18,000 people. Japanese had a long local history, dating back to workers on the Santa Anita Ranch, and local residents had the uncomfortable feeling of seeing friends behind the wire at the track.
Arcadia's transportation program has just put into service four new 20-passenger Dial-A-Ride buses. Four additional new buses will be added later this month.