Posted on 01/12/2012 6:37:04 AM PST by ml/nj
Hialeah Park Lives !
Barbara Livingston has posted an extensive photo essay. I picked out just a few of her pictures to post here. The rest are at the link, and that's just part one! Links there take you to parts two and three.
Hialeah lost the political battles for the "prime racing dates" (i.e. Jan-Mar when the South Florida population swells) to Gulfstream. (Another racetrack, but just a racetrack to my mind. Gulfstream was rebuilt several years ago to be something else and I refuse to go there now.) First they tried to race in April and May, and then the place closed altogether for a number of years.
Beginning two years ago they began to refurbish Hialeah and offer quarterhorse racing (as opposed to thoroughbred racing) in December and early January which is before I ever get down there. But this year their "meet" extends into February and I will get to visit the weekend after the Super Bowl.
I'm somewhat affraid about what I will find there. Barbara Livingston's report gives me hope.
ML/NJ
ping !
Ping
When I was on Spring Break in Fort Lauderdale many years ago (1989), a buddy and I decided we’d drive down to Hialeah and lose a few bucks on the horses. I don’t know if we took the shortest route or not, but all of a sudden we were in a part of town where EVERYTHING was in Spanish. Everything. And the locals were giving the two college kids in the late-model Toyota Celica with Virginia plates the real hairy eyeball. We were seriously scared.
Worst part, we got there, and it was closed. I think they were running at night. I would’ve have driven back down there at night if you’d paid me and given me a winning trifecta pick. We contented ourselves with losing money at the jai-alai place instead.
}:-)4
I liked Hialeah...about 50 years ago.
I doubt it. Hialeah never had lights, SFAIK.
As to the neighborhood, that was frequently one of the ways of running the place down in favor of Gulfstream. I really never noticed much change from the late 60s to the 80s when I was last there. And once one is inside the hedges the outside world disappears anyway.
ML/NJ
I’ve been all over Hialeah from high school days on (early ‘60s). I got new tires on my pickup at Wally Mart there yesterday. Language barrier - yes, but I’ve never had an evil eye cast my way - ever. Day or night.
That having been said, driving* in around Cubans will make you crazy - they have hair triggers on their adrenalin glands. Rule one: Never, for any reason, use your turn signal - it means you’re from out of town and don’t know where the hell you’re going ;o)
Up until the late ‘60s, Hialeah was redneck city. The “Latinos” (Cuban immigrants, really) began displacing them.
Remember the “Will the last American leaving Miami please bring the flag” bumper stickers? By the time Jimmuh Carter’s Mariel boatlift was over, there wasn’t a redneck within 50 miles of Hialeah - they’d all moved “up North” to central Florida. BTW, here’s a good Mariel/Miami immigration summary:
http://www.miamibeach411.com/news/fleeing-cuba
* Do-gooder Dade County Sheriff E. Wilson Purdy encouraged this. See my post #17 at:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2802934/posts
We only got there once, years ago, but it was wonderful. I’d love to see it again. Unfortunately, I just got back from Florida, but the gulf coast, instead of the east. Wonder about quarter horse racing. Haven’t seen any of those yet.
Nor I. Though I did spend an afternoon there via the Internet a couple of weeks ago when this was still possible for me. I had the Form and was all set to try a few $2 bets but for some reason the NJ system reported errors whenever I tried. So I was relegated to mind bets. I did have the track feed and I did get to see the flamingos fly that day. But that was it. The next time I tried even the video feed had been delisted from the sources I use.
ML/NJ
Well...at least as far as Broward Co., next county to the north. Those who moved to Broward were called “Broward Cowards.” I guess the rhyme was convenient.
My second ex-wife and I moved from Stanford CT to Pembroke Pines in far southwest Broward Co in early 1982, right after the Time Magazine article entitled “Trouble in Paradise” hit the stands featuring all of the blowback from the Mariel boat-lift.
My Ex commuted down Flamingo Rd to get to Ryder System just west of the Miami airport and I went down Flamingo to get into the heart of a run-down Hialeah warehouse district just a few blocks from the racetrack where I worked at Coulter Electronics, which was located there due to an historical accident (and later sold to Beckman Instruments for $800M to form Beckman-Coulter).
WOW! What a TREMENDOUS photo essay by Barbara Livingston! Thanks for posting, ml/nj.
I wish I was there with you to enjoy the quarter-horse races. I was at Calder once in the early ‘70s when I was on vacation. I was at Pompano Park once ‘96 or ‘97 while on vacation. I’ve been to many tracks, harness and thoroughbred. I’ve bet on quarter-horse races on the local simulcast tracks in Michigan, mostly Northville Downs (harness). It’s fun watching/betting live racing on a warm day. Great entertainment. I’ve never bought a program on those races (I’ve just bet the odds), but I do favor post positions 1&2 and the outside 3 in many of the fields. It’s tough to go with anything other than the top 3 favorites, unless you’re betting pers/tris/supers Have a great day.
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