The Journal of San Diego History
SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY
Fall 1989, Volume 35, Number 4
Thomas L. Scharf, Editor
Book Notes
Raymond Starr, Book Review Editor
Del Mar: Its Life & Good Times.
By William Murray. Del Mar: Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, 1988. Illustrations. 49 Pages. $5.00 Paperback.
The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club has published a very entertaining little book on the fifty years of the Del Mar race track. It is a fun story involving many people from the Hollywood crowd such as Bing Crosby, Pat O’Brien, Joe E. Brown, Gary Cooper, Jimmy Durante, Betty Grable and Harry James. It is also an important story in that race track has been and still is a major social and economic factor in the life of San Diego and Del Mar. Although much of the focus of the book is on the celebrities associated with the track, the fact is there is more to Del Mar than that. The track has also made its mark on horseracing, especially in training and sales, as well as in competition on the track. The very readable story (told in anecdotal from without documentation) is supplemented by a large number of black and white photographs, which are stars of this booklet.
