Santa Anita Park set a record for total attendance (2,690,834) and had it highest daily average attendance (31,289) since 1948, as the 1981-82 meeting closed April 21. Facts and figures about the racing season are presented.
Santa Anita Companies has announced earnings for the year ending December 31, 1981. Revenues were up 23.5%. Shares of the two companies, Santa Anita Operating Company and Santa Anita Realty Enterprises, Inc., are offered on the New York Stock Exchange under the name Santa Anita Realty Enterprises.
The L.A. County Board of Suprevisors chose Santa Anita Associates to manage and make roughly $750,000 worth of improvements to the Santa Anita Golf Course. They are expected to renovate and expand the clubhouse and add a new banquet room and cocktail lounge.
As part of a $2.6 million capital improvements program, Santa Anita Park race track has built a 2-story addition to the east end of the club-house. The 2nd story patio will be open during the Oak Tree meet, with a third story to be constructed next year.
Santa Anita Park enjoyed its most successful opening day ever. Attendance, including the satellites, was 75,071 and $10,795,574 was wagered. In Arcadia, 65,164 passed through the turnstiles, betting $9,275,840.
Drive-In Liquor closed its doors to make way for a mini-mall. When the mall opens next year, the liquor store will be among the 7 new shops at the corner of Huntington Drive and Santa Anita Avenue.
A moratorium on new liquor store construction has been extended. The original moratorium would have run out before the August 2 date set for a public hearing before City Council.
Sometime at the end of this year, Vons Grocery Co. plans to open one of its new Pavilions grocery stores just west of the Hinshaw's Department Store on Baldwin Avenue.
Judge John H. Saunders of Santa Anita Municipal Court chose the annual Christmas dinner of the Foothill Bar Association to announce his plans to retire in May of this year.
The Santa Anita Inn was purchased 2 weeks ago by developer Charles Bluth, who is already implementing plans to turn the hotel at the corner of Huntington Drive and Colorado Place into a four-star inn. Renovation (with a New Orleans motif) should be completed by January.
Local 280 of the Parimutuel Guild of California voted not to strike Santa Anita Park on opening day. The track had made contingency plans in preparation for the threatened strike but the clerks endorsed the proposed contract raising clerks pay at satellite wagering sites.
Plans to add a Nordstrom Department Store to Santa Anita Fashion Park received a set-back when the Arcadia Planning Commission voted down a request to reduce the required number of parking spaces at regional shopping centers.
The 1980 Oak Tree Racing Association season set records in attendance, parimutual handle, wagering and horsemen benefits. Awards for the meet are enumerated: John Henry was voted Horse of the Meeting. Sandy Hawley won the riding championship.