June 10, 1938: A crowd of 40,000 turned out for opening day at the Hollywood Turf Club, now known as Hollywood Park.
Barbara Stanwyck crowned W.E. Boeing’s horse Air Chute after it won the first race.
The audience included a galaxy of Hollywood stars, many of them shareholders of the club, whose first chairman was Jack L. Warner. “The Bob Hopes, Milton Berle, the Ernst Lubitsches,” Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler were there, The Times reported.
“One of the most conservative bettors is Harold Lloyd,” The Times said. “He never places more than $2 on a race.”