COMM552/Santa Anita field notes

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Santa Anita race track field notes, 2 March 2010.

Contents 1 First impressions 2 Just inside the gate (~11:20) 3 First floor 4 First impression of this main space 5 Walking further down the hall 6 Broadcast center 7 First impression of track 8 People in the primary space 9 Returning outside 10 Watching race on TV (~12:00) 11 Preparing my own bet (~12:30) 12 Outside at the track (~12:50) 13 Between races (~1:15) 14 Approached by a stranger 15 Hierarchies of seating 16 TV and music 17 Second bet 18 Second race 19 Post-second race (~2:00pm) 20 Leaving the racetrack

First impressions

• Huge parking lot
• Hierarchy of attendees begins at the gate: 3 parking options that get you closer to the track
• Very few people there when we arrive (~11:20)
• First people I see pass through the gate:
  • Man in sharp Texas cowboy style:
    • Cowboy hat, dungarees, ostrich leather belt, boots
  • Pair of young women in t-shirts and jeans

Building

• Large and green
• Deco style
• MUCH bigger than I expected

Just inside the gate (~11:20)

• Newsstand selling
  • Newspaper ($5)
  • Program ($2.50)
• Woman running the stand is friendly and joking with everyone else
  • With me, she is surprised that I want to buy the newspaper along with the program
  • Another distinction: those who want the extra detail, analysis, statistics
• Manicured gardens, fountain, dirt path leading into the track

First floor

• Not an obvious point of entry
• Escalator walk up
• Inside I see an older white man in tshirt chatting about bets with a younger black man in a suit
• Elevator leads into a dining area
  • Lots of screens
  • Low key Deco style
• Pass through glass doors into a brightly lit area

First impression of this main space

• Bank of TV screens
  • Two with classic 80s style info about the upcoming local race
  • Network feeds from races at other tracks
    • Is this exclusive? Can people get this at home?
    • Which tracks are included, which not?
• One wall is covered with "Cash and Bet" windows
• Most are closed
• In the open video, you can see a little cash-register-like machine and people working in a room beyond
• There are snack counters with a variety of concessions
  • Friday is $1 snacks: coffee, beer, popcorn, hotdogs

Walking further down the hall

• Second row of windows, marked "Self-serve"
• Some windows are for vouchers
  • Deposit cash or credit card, get a receipt with a barcode
• Some are for betting
  • Insert your voucher, go thru menus
• Bar areas with cross-branding to race-related brands

Broadcast center

• Much further down, there are large banks of TVs with many different sports, not just racing

First impression of track

• Grand and impressive
• Mountains are beautiful
• Huge grandstands
• Very beautiful, relaxing place to sit
• Smells good
• Some people chilling in their seats

People in the primary space

• Sparse attendance
• Feeling like we are very early
• Lots of people traveling alone or in pairs
  • Pairs tend to be gendered (2 men, 2 women)
• Slightly older attendees but plenty of young people, too
• Surprisingly balanced mix of racial appearances: white, black, brown, asian...
• Clearly more men than women
• Cheap eats but lots of people carrying food
  • Multiple older men with clear plastic bags hanging from their belts with fruit inside

Returning outside

People gathered on a set of benches

• Man on a stage with a whiteboard
• Offering recommendations, advice
• Talking to people about "having fun", "enjoying yourself"
• Reaching out to beginners
• Very friendly, approachable
• Talking about it as a whole-day experience
  • Hanging out, chatting, "getting a hot dog", "rooting for each other"
• Encouraged a pair of men to pool their money and bet together, share the winnings

Watching race on TV (~12:00)

Attendence inside swells

• Considerably more people
• Gathering in space between:
  • Concession stand
  • Cash/bet windows
  • TV bank
• People watching a race on TV
• NOISE
  • Pairs talking to each other
  • All eyes on the screens
  • Murmurs, "who are you supporting"
  • As race comes to close, people start to call out numbers in English and Spanish
  • "Three two! Three two!"
  • "Tres siete! Siete!"
• There's a moment of pause when the race concludes as everyone waits for the finish
• Lots of questioning, strangers talking to each other
  • "Was it three? Three-seven?"
• Once the finish is known, the group quickly disperses
  • Some go to the windows
  • Some go to edges of the space, outside
• People are also talking to each other about the returns, bets
  • Lots of talk in Spanish about how much one could/would have one on which bets
  • Peer education seems a big part
• Many fewer people appear to bet on the TV races compared with those who are watching
  • Is it an opportunity to talk and learn about betting, racing?

Different kinds of people watching,

• Some with papers under their arms
  • Pencils
  • Receipts
  • Betting forms
• What's the distinction among self-serv and human agent?
  • Same services appear available from both

Preparing my own bet (~12:30)

• Watching people lined up at both the Cash/Bet windows and self-service kiosks
• I'm intimidated by not knowing how to use the system yet so I get in line at the kiosks
• Shoulder surfing the people around me, more than half seem familiar with the machines
• The people in front of me are in a small group
  • Laughing about their confusion with the machine but figure it out
• When I step up, I try to put my credit card into the slot but can't figure out which slot it goes in
  • I'm afraid that I've charged something by accident
• I opt to enter cash and put 6$ into the cash slot
• I click "finish" and a small voucher prints out
  • The voucher reads "6$" and has the race track logo + a bar code on it
• I turn to my right and get into a different line for the self-service betting machines
• This time, everyone in front of me knows what they are doing and the line moves swiftly
• Notably, no one else is in line behind me
• Up at the machine, there is a clear slot into which I slide the voucher
  • The screen acknowledges that I have 6$ to play
• The system is a touch screen like an ATM
  • There are several layers of menus and multiple steps to place a bet
  • I'm confused largely because I am still not sure what the different kinds of bets mean
    • Trifecta, Perfecta, etc
• I end up betting on the same horse twice by accident
• I return to find Ben reading the racing newspaper by the bar
• At this point, I have placed a bet and I am starting to feel more like a participant
• We meet up with Neta and Jove and decide to find a place to sit outside to watch the race
• En route, we stop at the concession stand
• I decide to buy a beer and popcorn. Both of these items are on the $1 discount menu.
  • Buying them feels similar to betting
  • With the slip and the beer and the popcorn, I feel more like I fit in with everyone else

Outside at the track (~12:50)

• We are trying to decide where to sit to watch the race
• The grandstands are only on one side of the track
• It's not clear where the race will start and end
• Some of the seats have computer screens and cup holders, others are typical bleachers, and some a simply concrete steps
• We initially try to get seats with screens but it's difficult to access them and we are afraid of missing the start of the race
• We find seats in the bleachers and, no sooner are we settled, than the horses start
• Guys behind us talking
  • One friend explaining race to other
  • How betting works, what's at stake
  • Who they bet on, who should win
• As the horses run, more and more people come outside to see the result
• Although the race is short, there's a long build-up to the finish
• None of us can see the finish and there's another moment of confusion
• The results are displayed on a huge electronic board
• None of us win anything
• We take some pictures

Between races (~1:15)

• The first race drew people outside
• Small groups of people are relaxing on the steps, leaning on the railing
• Mostly pairs of men still but some women
• Larger groups tend to be younger, 20-somethings
• I notice that there are more younger people in general
• Several groups and pairs of college-aged men carrying 2 or 3 $1 beers each

Approached by a stranger

• As I am reading the results with Jove, a man comes over and starts talking to us about the winnings
• Looking at Jove, he switches from English into what I assume is Chinese
• She hasn't said anything and doesn't say anything
• He smiles and walks off
• Jove says that he is confirming that, had we bet on the right horse, we would have made a lot of money

Hierarchies of seating

• After walking around a bit, we talk to some of the guards and learn that to get to the seats with screens, we need a stamp
• The stamps are given at the front gate
• In order to get a stamp, you have to pay more
• Although this gives you access to some kind of clubhouse or restaurant, the seats are not much better than the free ones

TV and music

• Near the finish line, we can see a small outdoor TV studio set up
• There is a man dressed in a suit holding a microphone under a tent
• He is directly in front of the finish line
• I recognize him from the TV screens inside
• Is this a closed-circuit broadcast?
• Is he broadcasting to other tracks?
• He's not on camera at the moment and he smiles nervously to me from across a walkway
• Beyond the TV studio, there is a man carrying a long trumpet
• He wears a bright red suit that makes me think of the british royal guard
• He plays a reveille a few minutes before each race begins
• At the request of a guy standing next to me, he plays the USC fight song!

Second bet

• Before the second race begins, I run inside to place a second bet
• The interior is now packed with people!
• There are at least 3 times as many people near the Cash and Bet windows as there were before the 1st race
• More windows are open
• The lines for self-service are longer
• I get in line to make a voucher and do it without a problem
• A group of twenty-something white people in front of me is laughing and cajoling each other to bet more
  • 2 men, 2 women
• I am determined to win so I try to bet $1 on each possible permutation of a trifecta
  • Error: I bet twice on the first permutation by accident and have to sacrifice the last one
• Rush back outside to watch the second race

Second race

• Watching from down front, leaning against the rail
• Holding up my camera and trying to capture crowd response to the race
• This time there is much more energy in the space
• People move forward toward the railing to see the horses as they run by
• Much more immediate, material relationship to the race this time
• Unfortunately, the one permutation I did not bet is the one that wins
• Too bad because none of us won a bet

Post-second race (~2:00pm)

• Atmosphere is much more jovial after the second race
• Many more people milling around and lounging in the stands
• We make a video walking from one end to the other
• The crowd is noticeably younger now
• There are several mixed gender groups of young people hanging out on the concrete steps

Leaving the racetrack

• Walking out through lounge, many more people relaxing with drinks watching TVs
• Outside, the next set of horses are being lead around a small dirt ring
  • There are more families with children outside watching the horses
• The parking lot is much more full