I was the assistant manager there in 1970-71…the grandstands were a wreck even then, totally unsafe…it should be noted that Syufy Enterprises(owners of the theatre)did NOT own the land there, any more than they owned the land under any of their drive-ins.
Can’t swear to this, but we were told that there was a clause in the land lease that gave the owner the right to take back the land at any time if dog racing were to become legal again…
Regarding the safety of the place, it wasn’t the greatest area, but in the two years I was there no employee was ever mugged, let alone injured…nor (so far as we knew) were any customers…however I’m told it kept going downhill…
I was the assistant manager there back in 1970-71, when “Marty” Osborne, then “Mr. C.” were the managers. It was still a single screen then, and was still a pretty cool place, no real problems…maybe a fight or two a year…no stabings or shootings or anything like that. I’m told things got much worse in later years. The grandstands remained because the land-owner was convinced that dog racing would be made legal again someday, and he planned to evict the theatre and start racing again, it was in the land-lease…still waiting. It was a pretty cool place to work back then, I still have fond memories of the crew and the place after 38 years…
I was the assistant manager there in 1970-71…the grandstands were a wreck even then, totally unsafe…it should be noted that Syufy Enterprises(owners of the theatre)did NOT own the land there, any more than they owned the land under any of their drive-ins.
Can’t swear to this, but we were told that there was a clause in the land lease that gave the owner the right to take back the land at any time if dog racing were to become legal again…
Regarding the safety of the place, it wasn’t the greatest area, but in the two years I was there no employee was ever mugged, let alone injured…nor (so far as we knew) were any customers…however I’m told it kept going downhill…
I was the assistant manager there back in 1970-71, when “Marty” Osborne, then “Mr. C.” were the managers. It was still a single screen then, and was still a pretty cool place, no real problems…maybe a fight or two a year…no stabings or shootings or anything like that. I’m told things got much worse in later years. The grandstands remained because the land-owner was convinced that dog racing would be made legal again someday, and he planned to evict the theatre and start racing again, it was in the land-lease…still waiting. It was a pretty cool place to work back then, I still have fond memories of the crew and the place after 38 years…