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. Hollywood Stands Destroyed by Fire Estimate ,000,000 Loss; Transfer 50-Day Meet to Santa Anita; Opens May 24 ALBANY, Calif., May 6.— The Hollywood Turf Club, whose Inglewood plant was razed by fire Thursday night, will receive the California Racing Boards approval to conduct its forthcoming meeting at Santa Anita, it was announced here this morning by the boards secretary, Alfred B. Fiske, who departed immediately for Los Angeles. The Hollywood Turf Clubs meeting is scheduled to begin May 17 and will run 50 days through July 23. The racing board, Fiske stated, already is invested with the authority to switch meetings from one track to another within a limited locale, as in the present situation, and he added that the commission now is seeking legislation to enable it to shift other meetings, such as those between Bay Meadows and Tanforan on the peninsula, and Golden Gate Fields here at Albany. Loyd Wright, chairman of the racing board, today was understood to be con- LOS ANGELES, Calif., May 6.— Loyd Wright, chairman of the California Horse Racing Board, announced today that officials of Hollywood Park and Santa Anita had reached an agreement to use the latters facilities, and that the race meeting would open Tuesday, May 24, one week later than the scheduled opening. Wright also stated the full 50-day meeting would be run. The principal equipment of the American Totalisator Company was not damaged and all the equipment will be in readiness for the opening. tacting the other members of the commission, Dwight Murphy and Nion Tucker, to get official approval by telephone of the transfer of Hollywood Parks meeting to the Arcadia course. Dr. Charles H. Strub, executitve vice-president of the Los Angeles Turf Club, already has offered the Santa Anita facilities to the Hollywood Turf Club, according to information received here this morning. Before his departure for Los Angeles this Continued on Page Sixty-Two i Hollywood Stands Destroyed by Fire Estimate ,000,000 Loss; Transfer 50-Day Meet to , Santa Anita; Opens May 24 J p ; Continued from Page One 12 i morning, Fiske issued the following state-.. 10 ment in behalf of the racing board: ; "The California Horse Racing Board J wishes to express its regrets to the man-■ agement of Hollywood Park. A full and J complete investigation of the fire has been I undertaken by the boards bureau of in-1 vestigation. Under a reciprocal agreement :■ between the two Los Angeles racing asso-; ciations Hollywood Park will fulfill its rac- ing dates, May 17 to July 23 at the Santa ! 11 " - Anita race track." ■ 7 r- INGLEWOOD, Calif., May 6.— On the eve of the scheduled opening of its most ambitious and most promising horse racing j _ season, the spacious grandstand and club-J house at Hollywood Park were completely destroyed by fire late Thursday night, with i a a loss estimated as high as ,000,000. In the holocaust, two firemen were injured, one of them critically, but more than 500 valuable thoroughbreds, on hand for the scheduled inaugural of the meeting a ] week from next Tuesday, escaped without i injury as the wind drove the leaping flames ; the full length of the grandstand and away • from the stable area. The fire was discovered in the elevator shaft of the luxurious clubhouse shortly after 11 p. m. by nightwatchman Joseph Conn, who immediately turned in an alarm. Before sufficient fire-fighting equipment could be brought into action, the flames had spread throughout the clubhouse and the luxurious turf club above it and were being wind-driven into the im- t mense grandstand, part of which had just been completed. Within less than one hour the entire 1,200-foot length of the structure was an inferno of seething flames, against which the inadequate fire fighting forces, handicapped by a shortage of water and low pressure, battled in vain. The entire fire fighting equipment of the City of Ingle- , wood was dispatched to the scene and they , were aided by two companies from the Los Angeles City Fire Department and two from the Los Angeles County Department. Clifton E. Freeman, 30, of the Inglewood department, was critically injured when, trapped on the roof by flames, he jumped for a palm tree, but missed and plunged to the ground. John Beugnot, 57, head of the track fire department, suffered burns and a neck injury. Arson was definitely suspected, according to Inglewood Fire Chief B. A. Roberts, and two youths were being questioned by Inglewood police. The status of the meeting scheduled to 1 open on May 17 has not yet been officially decided, although Gwynn Wilson, general ■ manager of Santa Anita Park, immediately , offered the full facilities of that plant. Santa Anita Park can be made ready for opening day without difficulty, Wilson 1 declared. While the totalisator equipment at Hollywood Park was completely destroyed, ! the permanent installations at Santa Anita, plus the mobile equipment I now at Golden Gate Fields, which was to have been moved to Hollywood Park at the , conclusion of the Albany meeting a week [ from tomorrow, should be able to meet the needs of the situation. Administrative details, . such as box and season reservations, may also cause some minor difficulties 5 since the physical layouts of the two , courses, with respect to seating, were very f dissimilar. The California Horse Racing Board met t in San Francisco yesterday but the members - are expected to be called into session l as soon as possible to make known their r decision with respect to transfer of the 5 meeting to Santa Anita. Hollywood Park, first opened in 1938, , was one of the largest and most luxurious s race track plants in all the world. The 5 1,200-foot six-storied grandstand and clubhouse had a combined seating capacity of f 19,171. The infield with its lakes and waterfalls and the spacious grounds, profusely ornamented with flowers, trees and shrubbery, gave the plant an unexcelled reputation for beauty and charm. Its facilities were modern in every respect and the improvements to the clubhouse section last year and the new addition to the grandstand which was to have been opened this year were the last word in comfort and luxury for race track patrons. The structure was "fire proof" in the generally accepted sense of the term, constructed as it was entirely of steel and concrete. However, the vast number of wooden seats, plus other luxurious furnishings were perfect materials for the flames with the acres of fresh paint adding to the combustibility. The heat generated was sufficient to twist and warp the solid steel beams to a mass of twisted wreckage. In addition to help from a favoring wind, the stable employes, organized as a volunteer fire fighting body, were instrumental in saving the valuable thoroughbred stock from danger. They manned the hose lines in the stable area, thoroughly wet down all the barns and kept a vigilant watch for vagrant sparks that might have caused trouble.
