Del Mar Racetrack, 1936

Bing Crosby (left, in the white jacket and straw hat) at the Del Mar Racetrack’s setting of a memorial stone, 1936. (The track opened the following year.) To the right of the hoist chain, the tall man is Frank A. Merriam, 28th governor of California. Merriam took office in 1934 — at the height of the Great Depression — following the death of his predecessor. To maintain his seat he defeated socialist/Democrat Upton Sinclair in general elections held the same year.