Los Alamitos Race Course In All Its Decaying Glory
Kentucky Derby Winner California Chrome’s Home Track Is Where a Suburban Kid Fell for a Rough-and-Tumble Pastime
Sometimes a thing so special needs to be approached slowly, in small steps that get closer over time.
I grew up a few short miles from Los Alamitos Race Course in Garden Grove in Orange County in the 1960s and 1970s. My earliest memories of the modest track—now in the news as the unlikely home of Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome—are seeing it from the back seat of my mother’s car as we drove down Katella Avenue to the Pasty House for Cornish meat pies. Who were the people, I wondered, …
