Hialeah Park: A photo album - B. Livingston

[Sightseek]

Beautiful work as always...

http://www.drf.com/blogs/hialeah-park-photo-album

[Danzig]

i was very saddened when the decision was made to shut that track. it's always been beautiful, and historic.
would love to see it returned to it's former glory, complete with racing dates.

perhaps a petition should be started to have the bc held there asap!!

[Travis Stone]

I went while I was at Gulfstream Park. It's true what they say... you drive through some pretty rough neighborhoods, then turn on a street and enter a pure paradise of trees, architecture and racing. I can only imagine what it was like there when thriving... but even just a taste during a QH meet was enough for me.

[Merlinsky]

Exquisite work by Barbara as always. Loved the one of the fox with the corn. The track is so beautiful, and I hope we get to see it as it once was, Thoroughbreds and all.

It's a shame the neighborhoods around Hialeah are so rough. I had heard that. Is there no way developers could do something to the point that things would be more appealing for travel to the track? Surely rough neighborhoods don't also have high property values. What's to stop them from buying up some of that land in a way that encourages growth in the area?

[tector]

Actually, the neighborhoods around Hialeah are not "rough" (not by local standards, anyway) --they are working class neighborhoods, with most of the signs in Spanish, which is enough to freak out the average all-American doughball. It is basically the same neighborhood as around CD, just in Espanol.

Most of Hialeah is working class, and it and neighboring Medley (to the south) are packed with light industrial businesses and warehouses, with a lot of import/export businesses. It is not really an area ripe for redevelopment and gentrification. When Hialeah gets its casino, there could be some improvement in the very immediate area but, unlike the old days, it's crowd will be largely from the central and western parts of Miami-Dade County, most especially when gaming is established toward the beach. People from Boca, Broward, Aventura and Miami Beach who have no problem going to GP are NOT going to Hialeah. Period. So there is a very definite limit to the market--it will be largely Latin, and almost all from central and western Miami-Dade. There is no way to reinvent the old days from that. Brunetti can make a lot of money as a casino on that model, but horse racing can never be more than a sideshow.

I've tried to explain this here before, having lived here for most of 50 years, but everybody else seems to think they know better. OK, whatever.

[Indian Charlie]

Originally Posted by tector

Actually, the neighborhoods around Hialeah are not "rough" (not by local standards, anyway) --they are working class neighborhoods, with most of the signs in Spanish, which is enough to freak out the average all-American doughball. It is basically the same neighborhood as around CD, just in Espanol.

Most of Hialeah is working class, and it and neighboring Medley (to the south) are packed with light industrial businesses and warehouses, with a lot of import/export businesses. It is not really an area ripe for redevelopment and gentrification. When Hialeah gets its casino, there could be some improvement in the very immediate area but, unlike the old days, it's crowd will be largely from the central and western parts of Miami-Dade County, most especially when gaming is established toward the beach. People from Boca, Broward, Aventura and Miami Beach who have no problem going to GP are NOT going to Hialeah. Period. So there is a very definite limit to the market--it will be largely Latin, and almost all from central and western Miami-Dade. There is no way to reinvent the old days from that. Brunetti can make a lot of money as a casino on that model, but horse racing can never be more than a sideshow.

I've tried to explain this here before, having lived here for most of 50 years, but everybody else seems to think they know better. OK, whatever.

WWJD?