Ninety-three year old fighter pilot Edward J. Lopez publishes "flight of a Hell Hawk," his memoir. He is a World War II veteran and purple heart recipient.
Paul Graf, 90, of New Albany, Indiana, came back to Arcadia to see Santa Anita Park again. He had been based there as a United States Army staff sergeant during World War II, when the track was turned over to the Army Ordnance Corps for training purposes and was officially renamed Camp Santa Anita. Graf said he used to run for exercise on the Anita Chiquita training track, which was eliminated when the Santa Anita Fashion Park was built in the 1970s. Graf had arrived at Camp Santa Anita around November 1942, after the site had already been used as the Japanese Assembly Center. Photo shows Graf holding an issue of Man O' War, a newspaper issued by army personnel at Camp Santa Anita.
Arcadia Vietnam War Monument placed in Arcadia County Park. It is 22,000 pounds. From 1966-1972, 14 U.S. servicemen from Arcadia became casualties of the war in Vietnam. There are 4 plaques on the monument honoring veterans from World War I, World War II, the wars in Korean, Vietnam, and Afghanistan. See also Arcadia Weekly, p. 1, 17, June 2, 2016.
Honorary degrees were awarded to Japanese-American former Pasadena City College students who had their educations cut short by internment during World War II. Japanese-American "nisei" students at what was then Pasadena Junior College never got the chance to graduate with the Class of 1942. One honorary graduate, Fusae Hamane (died in 1997), born and raised in Pasadena, was told to report to Santa Anita Park race track before being sent to a camp in Gila Bend, AZ. The graduation came 68 years later.
30th annual Breeders' Cup World Championships brings exciting racing to Santa Anita Park. Record crowds filled the stands. Sierra Madre jockey Gary Stevens came out of retirement to win the Breeders' Cup Classic aboard horse Mucho Macho Man.
World War II internees reunite. Japanese Americans detained at Santa Anita Park before being sent to camps share photos, memories and friendship, at 75th anniversary event in Little Tokyo. See hard copy in VF Assembly Center.
Revisiting Anita Baldwin. Margaux Viera (photo) of Riverside, the great-great-great granddaughter of Arcadia founder Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin, has unexpectedly come into possession of some personal items that belonged to Anita M. Baldwin, the only daughter born to Lucky Baldwin and his third wife, Jane Virginia Dexter. The items were discovered by a farmer on a rural, central Nevada ranch once owned by the Baldwin estate. The items include Anita Baldwin's daily journal from 1935, a gold calligraphy pen and Art Deco glass bottle used as an inkwell, an address book with her name and signature, a leather passport holder with her name and a wallet containing several of her identification and membership cards. See hard copy in VF "Baldwin, Anita."
Actor and activist George Takei, 75, famous for his portrayal of Sulu on television series Star Trek, will talk about gay rights and a childhood spent in internment camps at Santa Anita Park (assembly center), Tule Lake and Rohwer, Arkansas, during World War II. He will be speaking at Cal Poly Pomona on Tuesday.
World War II veteran Joe Sciarra, 95, makes history come alive at Holy Angels School in Arcadia during a Veterans Day assembly. Other veterans in attendance were Julian Andrews, 86 of Temple City (a veteran of the Korean War) and Darren Parsons, 45, a former U.S. Marine.
Breeders' Cup seen as good bet for Southern California. The 2019 Breeders' Cup World Championships will take place at Santa Anita Park. The two-day event is expected to generate as much as $100 million for the SoCal economy.
Fall of the House of Baldwin. Part 1 of a 6 part series about Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin's younger daughter Anita Baldwin. By Galen Patterson. See hard copy in VF Baldwin, Anita
Race horse Majestic Harbor, ridden by jockey Tyler Baze, wins the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita Park yesterday. The Gold Cup was formerly known as the Hollywood Gold Cup when it was run at Hollywood Park race track.