Bay Meadows - gone but not forgotten...

[jurneeka]

The San Francisco Chronicle's website (SFGate) had a wonderful article on the closing of this grand old track this morning.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 12CUL8.DTL

Check out the video featuring Sam Spear...I have been watching his recap shows since I was a kid.

Hubby and I paid our final respects on Saturday (hubby is a musician and had a gig on Sunday, so could not make it to the Last Dance, although I recorded TVG on my DVR). Although we were not regular attendees, you could feel the neighborly friendliness permeating the track, down to the hot-dog vendors and the valets (we splurged and went for valet parking...hubby was a parking lot attendant at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park in the 80's and has great memories of standing on the back of the pickup truck bumper to fetch cars after the day was done...he had a nice few minutes chat with the valets, what great guys!).

Although the "Friends of Bay Meadows" have another lawsuit or hearing scheduled for 10 Oct, the development company has already scheduled an auction of the contents (from the photos of Hoedown's Day in the Turf Club down to the toilets in the jockey's locker room) for this coming weekend. I am planning on being there to attempt to bid on a piece of not only my hometown's history, but an indelible part of my childhood. Perhaps they'll allow us to walk on the track and scrape up a bit of the dirt as a free souvenir?

Fortunately I live in the north side of San Mateo, which has retained the neighborhood feel derived from its vibrant downtown area and Central Park. I will never be able to drive down El Camino past Hillsdale Blvd and seeing the new boring development (more offices??? don't they realize how many vacant office space has been sitting fallow for YEARS in the city limits??) without thinking of the glory that was there.

And we are definitely going to stop by the Seabiscuit Ranch in Willits the next time we go to Mendocino.

It's just damn sad. We were chatting with a resident of Fiesta Gardens (the development next to the fair/BM property) who feels that the track would still be active had the city agreed to allow slot machines in the facility.

[George William Smith]

I lived in San Mateo in the Shoreview area and grew up at Bay Meadows. Everything there reminds me of my dad and mom, now both gone who lived their free time there. My sister sold her house right above Bay Meadows for a solid million and I could have seen Bay Meadows being closed then in a land grab, but then housing went off the cliff and all the reasons for not closing that green area are as strong as ever, yet Bay Meadows closes.

Talk about brain dead humanity. With all the liberal policies that weren't there when I was, you would think that development would be stopped in its tracks for a historical site, yet the liberals go green on what items they can make bucks

Sad, very sad.

We need only 1% of those on earth now. Horse lovers, of course.

George Smith
originator of the GSV and GRASP scores for determing thoroughbred genetic strength.

[majxmom]

Something I thought was very interesting: They were selling historical race DVDs at Bay Meadows yesterday for $5 to support CARMA, the retirement fund for horses. 10,000 people there, and not one DVD on EBay today. Apparently people wanted to keep them!

[zinn21]

You can still get the DVD by sending in $6.00 donation to Bay Meadows with money going to an equine retirement entity. Only about a week left to get the DVD.

Mail to:

Bay Meadows
P.O. Box 5050
San Mateo Ca. 94412

It is a minimum $6 donation-$5 towards donation and $1 for shipping and handling. You can donate more at your discretion.

[Tucumcari]

Jeeper, don't be scraping up the surface!!! Santa Anita might need it after the Breeder's Cup!!!

[zinn21]

Played golf today with a few of my BM buddies who told me they could have watered the track with the teers from employees yesterday. Pretty sad..

[Tucumcari]

My husband was there. Rough day for all involved for sure.

[majxmom]

You can still get the DVD by sending in $6.00 donation to Bay Meadows with money going to an equine retirement entity. Only about a week left to get the DVD.

Mail to:

Bay Meadows
P.O. Box 5050
San Mateo Ca. 94412

It is a minimum $6 donation-$5 towards donation and $1 for shipping and handling. You can donate more at your discretion.

Thanks, zinn! I didn't know that, and I'd much rather give the money to CARMA than to an EBayer.

[geowarrior]

'Historic Site' doesn't mean anything. I'm doing a research project into the history and sad ending of Playfair Racetrack in Spokane. The grandstand was built by Spokane's most revered turn of the 20th Century architect, Kirtland Cutter, but the application for historic designation was denied and the place was demolished lickety split, before anyone could even think what was happening. That was 2004. Since then the City has proposed that a sewage disposal facility, a dump, a prison and some other low grade use that I've forgotten be put there. They paid more than 6 million for the site and intend to auction about 43 acres of the 60 acre area and bury water waste tanks in the part they are keeping. The auction has been set and put off several times. The cost per acre that was paid almost ensures that the City will make a substantial loss, and there are quite a few awkward aspects to the site that will make it difficult for the City to effectively market. So far the pitch has been less than scintillating. The track oval is still there, and I keep meaning to go and collect a bag of the historic sandy loam (the track was built in 1901).

So much for history - and the same goes for Hialeah, and no doubt many other historic tracks that haven't survived.

Communities cry quietly.

[jurneeka]

I hear ya on the historic site thing - the FOBM and Save Bay Meadows bent over backwards to try and save the track including eligibility as an historic site...however the City of San Mateo seemed to be bound and determined to have it torn down.

Anyone here planning on going to the auction this weekend? I am planning on attending, if only to be in the grand old HISTORIC place one more time. Maybe we should've gotten those tree-sitters at UC Berkeley (you locals know who I'm talking about!!!) to do a "track-sit" instead.

Speaking of the auction -I am amazed that they are apparently selling EVERYTHING including those historic (again with the historic!) win photos, etc etc. You would think that the San Mateo County Historical Museum would get first crack at those, or the developers would donate the significant relics but apparently not...the least the developer could have a memorial wall or something. I'm betting that, just like the other part of the development (training track and barn area, now developed) there will not be ANY indication that the track was there. Damn.

Edit to add...they've posted the auction catalog...

http://www.sellauction.com/ga/dispcat.a ... s/ga082308

Today is the inspection however I'm stuck at work so can't go darn it...I would rather go today than watch the contents be picked apart piece by piece...

[majxmom]

I'm watching the BM auction. God, this is going to be a long day. I think this guy doesn't realize that he's in the company of hundreds of people who regularly go to auctions. JUST GET ON WITH IT! Lot number 1 (the jock scale) has taken about 5 minutes, and the auctioneer is constantly saying dumb things. "Today is a celebration, I promise you." "Russell Raze and Johnny London got on this scale." Arrrghhh!

[jurneeka]

I watched bits & pieces of it today. Did it end early? Hubby and I went out for our Saturday lunch date/motorcycle ride at 1:30 and got home at 4:30 - tried to log back in and assumed the day was over as I was connected but no video server.

Of course all those lots of chairs and tables, etc that they were auctioning during the afternoon probably went really quick. i wouldn't have minded having one or two BM chairs but with a 1 BR apt I definitely don't need 4 or 12!

Did you see that they are even auctioning off all the DIRT on the track on Day 3? With all the tracks in CA going synthetic WTF is someone supposed to do with dirt? I'm curious to see how much that item will go for.

The memorabilia is going for a pretty penny indeed. I stopped by the track on Friday during the 'inspection' for about an hour and there were a lot of locals milling around and reminicing. I was teaching a class when the auction started - my husband watched the first few items being auctioned off. Apparently the auction site has opted not to list the winning bid prices. I would have liked to know how much those huge Stone paintings which were hanging in the Turf Club and Clubhouse went for! They were simply gorgeous!

I'm going to miss the first 30-40 minutes of tomorrow's auction as I have another class to teach, they are starting off with the scales in the jockey's room and a lot of paintings and photos.

There were actually still a few horses and horsemen in the barn area - I didn't have time to wait for the shuttle to take me in there but had the opportunity to talk to the guard and one of the horsemen at the gate. Needless to say they are not happy about this (that is a gross understatement!). I feel miserable about the entire deal as Bay Meadows is basically the only place in the southern part of the city that has any history/personality to speak of. It's awful to think that by this time next year construction will be well under way for another slew of faceless office buildings, overpriced condos, and yet more retail to join Hillsdale Shopping Center across the street. Ugh.

I am planning on going back tomorrow afternoon as I am sure that it will be THE VERY LAST TIME. Somehow I doubt that BMLC is going to allow the citizens of San Mateo to come out one last time and walk around the track before they do a final tear down. I will be bringing a little baggie with me in an attempt to grab a handful of track dirt - I'm sure it won't decrease the value of Lot 2121 very much. Sheesh how penny-pinching can a company get where they have to sell the freakin' dirt?

[Diane]

Did anyone happen to see what lot 157 A-N went for? Lots of 200 rubber pavers and then a pallet of looked like brand new unused pavers...I missed that day completely. I am curious as hell though to see what the dirt goes for,LOLOL. There was a lot of 7 boxes of black fibrillated fiber, any clues as to what that is?

[majxmom]

The dirt went for $20,000. Stalls went for $200 (with no roof), and one guy bought all of them. The fiber was over $1000. The coverall over the receiving barn went for $4000. Any kind of memorabilia went for $400 or more, insane prices for posters, but other stuff went really cheap or not at all. However, everything did NOT go. There were quite a few things I thought about that didn't go through the sale. Casual Lies pictures, Simply Majestic pictures, the bust of John Longden in the winners circle (thank God). Maybe they let employees have a few things.

I was also interested in the pavers, but YOU HAD TO DIG THEM UP. They were sold in place, and you had to remove them on Tuesday. So when I heard that, I lost interest. The pavers in the winners circle went for $2 apiece, and you had to dig them up. The two pallets of pavers went for around $800 for both, I think. I would have bid higher, but I was online and I had no idea how many were in a pallet. You can get them installed for about $5 a square foot, so $2 a piece was a little pricey when you had to uninstall them under a deadline, even if they did have a history.

I would have really like to have had one of those green metal benches, but you had to buy them in lots of 2. Then the auctioneers group things together to make it go faster, and I'll bet one metal recycler bought them all. This whole weekend has just broken my heart.

[majxmom]

There was a lot of 7 boxes of black fibrillated fiber, any clues as to what that is?

I didn't know what the fiber was either. Maybe the sports grid fiber they put in a few years ago? Except that was white, not black. They didn't explain, but it was in sealed boxes, unused.