Title supplied by cataloger.; Herman J. Schultheis was born in Aachen, Germany in 1900, and immigrated to the United States in the mid-1920s after obtaining a Ph.D. in mechanical and electrical engineering. He married Ethel Wisloh in 1936, and the pair moved to Los Angeles the following year. He worked in the film industry from the late 1930s to the mid-1940s, most notably on the animated features Fantasia and Pinocchio. His detailed notebook, documenting the special effects for Fantasia, is the subject of a 14-minute short-subject included on the film's DVD. In 1949, he started employment with Librascope as a patent engineer. Schultheis was an avid amateur photographer who traveled the world with his cameras. It was on one of these photographic exhibitions in 1955 that he disappeared in the jungles of Guatemala. His remains were discovered 18 months later. The digitized portion of this collection represents the images Schultheis took of Los Angeles and its surrounding communities after he relocated to the area in 1937. Santa Anita Racetrack, located at 285 W. Huntington Drive, is the oldest racetrack in Southern California. The 'first' Santa Anita Racetrack was built on Elias Jackson ("Lucky") Baldwin's immense estate of "Rancho Santa Anita" and opened on December 7, 1907, but closed just two years later when horse racing was banned in California. In 1933, Hollywood director Hal Roach and San Francisco dentist Dr. Charles Strub formed the Los Angeles Turf Club and raised funds to build a new track. Designed in an Art Deco style by Gordon B. Kaufman, the "new" Santa Anita Park opened December 25, 1934. In 1942, racing at Santa Anita was suspended and Santa Anita was used as a Japanese American internment center from 1942-1944. The park is one of eleven detention camps included on California Historic Landmark #934. A downhill turf course was added in 1953 and in the 1960s, major renovations included a much-expanded grandstand as well as additional seating. In 1974 the Westfield Santa Anita Mall was built on the site of the old barns and training track. In 2007 the park added a synthetic "cushion" track to the existing turf course. The Park contains 61 barns, which house more than 2,000 horses, and an equine hospital. A crowd walks away from the walking circle where they have finished viewing the horses in the show stables (visible in the back right of the image), through manicured topiary walks towards Santa Anita Racetrack. This western area of the park has been changed.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;11 x 15 cm. Photographic prints
Santa Anita Park (Arcadia, Calif.) Stables--California--Arcadia Parking lots--California--Arcadia Crowds--California--Arcadia California Historical Landmarks Arcadia (Calif.) Schultheis Collection photographs Kaufmann, Gordon B
If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.
Share your story
Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.
