Earl Warren Showgrounds

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It seems that my interest in the events at the Earl Warren Showgrounds pattern closely a Titan weather report. For those not in the NASA circle, about every 15 years there is a change…quite similar to how I viewed the showgrounds.It began for me as a concert venue, in the days of black lights, bell bottoms, recreational drugs [alledgedly]. I was only in my first year of Junior High, but thankfully my friend had an older sister and we got to join in on many an adventure I probably would have missed otherwise. From the Greasy Slough Duck Club, the Trout Club, and the Earl Warren showgrounds.

So the Titan weather report calls for rock concerts; Led Zepplin, Cream, Blind Faith, and a list of others that I can’t recall. I don’t know why the concerts stopped, or maybe I did and they didn’t. But it just seemed like the music got smaller, and moved to the Santa Barbara County Bowl, the Arlington Theater, anywhere other than Earl Warren.

Titan weather report [15 years later] – not exactly ‘yee haw’, ‘howdy pardner’, but life in Sonoma County had put California country into me. Boots, cowboy hats and a haircut. Not just a haircut, the first one in about 9 years. Visiting Santa Barbara every so often, I’d actually check out the rodeo held in the summer. Who’d believe that 15 years later my boot would be side stepping a pile of horse manure in the same spot where I’d been frozen in a daze, standing under a stack of Marshall speakers watching Jimmy Page or Eric Clapton perform guitar magic.

Titan weather report [15 years later] – Off track betting on the horse races. It’s really not a part of the showgrounds, but operates on the showground property. Doesn’t matter to me though, it serves my purpose. Now the marquee usually seems to be advertising a dog show, cat show or flower show. Doesn’t matter to me. As long as I can place a wager if I need to, then I’m happy. Of course, there is no substitute for actually being at the track, especially down along the rail, but in an emergency, when you know you’ve got a winner and you need to drop some green, you’re in Santa Barbara…all roads point to the entrance off Las Positas.

1 reply
  1. Dave says:

    Sign above an entrance-exit at the Earl Warren Showgrounds. Although it most likely relates to being able to gain admittance only if you have a particular badge. ‘Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges! I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ badges!’ But there was a time when that sign could have easily been posted for those who indeed passed out. None during the Dog or Horse Shows, maybe one or two at the flower show from a combination of heat, humidity and old age…but during the concert years – that’s a different story.

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