California is beautiful in general. The mountains are lovely. But a racetrack (even a historic one) is no Versailles. So it would be nice if at least the CC was somewhere iconic to LA. And Griffith Park is pretty iconic!
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Public transport in Los Angeles? Itās pathetic 
Idk if youāve been to Paris but the public transportation is insanely amazing, like better than NYC! I donāt expect it to be like 1984, a lot has changed in that time! Paris is a very tough act to follow for LA!
Again, the IOC and FEI REQUIRE all equestrian events be held at a single facility. No ādifferent venuesā for XC and such.
To build a 4* short XC course from scratch takes about $1 million with fence costs ranging from $2k to $60k on (about 40 fences on a course). With track layout and ground prep. Figure more than a year for design, building, running test rides,ā¦ so maybe 2 years to build a solid Olympic course.
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Agree Santa Anita is no Versailles, but still iconic.
And a Versailles-type solution isnāt in the cards bc of the desire to use existing infrastructure.
Griffith Park is iconic but I donāt know how iconic it would look on TV unless they figured out a way to gallop past the Hollywood sign, the observatoryā¦ It would be doable, and the roads around there arenāt that steepāIāve walked up from the observatory with a camera and a tripod and Iām no Olympic athlete. I would hate for habitat to get destroyed though.
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Yes, I have been to Paris. And London and NYC and Boston, etc. And Temecula and Arcadia and probably wherever it ends up if not Santa Anita. Iāve also been on a lot of LA freeways.
No, our public transportation isnāt on par with Paris but itās better than it was. And shuttles will get added. And you donāt need to get everyone off the freeways to make them flow better. Think about the difference bw a school holiday (or even a state holiday that many people donāt have off) vs normal. I could have told you that LAUSD was off when it was just from the freeways.
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Different dimensions all around- outfield, basepaths, from pitcherās mound to home plate (also thereās no āmoundā for softball).
I donāt understand how moving literally halfway across the country can be ok for some sports though given the reasons presented for equestrian not being outside of LA proper.
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And there is a rumor, which I suspect is more true that one of the Stronach family had a specific say in their changing from Galway to Santa Anita. 
If the idea is to develop more of the property, what better way to increase value by being highlighted in the Olympics, even if you have no plan. This is not about horses. These folks donāt actually care about the horses (specifically the IOC and the LAOC).
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Definitely cheaper for Galway to build an Olympic stadium than it is for a cross-country course to get built elsewhere.
IIRC you knew where they were planning to site the stadiumāwas it in the track infield (yes, Galway has a track, in case thatās not known by other people who havenāt been there) or were they planning to combine some of the existing rings? Thereās a slope up from the existing GP ring, but itās not undoable.
I found a FEI document online when they were pondering sites that said it was highly desirable to have all disciplines together but it indicated there was a way out. But what the FEI/IOC say and what they do is not necessarily a match.
One thing I knew for sure when they announced the original sites was that equestrian was never going to be in the Sepulveda Basin as originally proposed as that would have building everything. And I think the weather is worse than Temecula or Arcadia. 
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Consider that at most the total visitor count may be 40,000 per day for a week (likely 20k-30k). As I stated. I live in a smaller town and we make work. Given the world economy etc. I doubt there will be that much of a draw.
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The stadium was going from the VIP pavilion to the road, where Hunter upper and lower ovals are. They would grade out the site. Very doable. It would then have room for 2-3 dressage rings, or two hunter rings, or a GP ring.
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And SURELY there had to be options other than Oklahoma, I say as a former Okie?! Like WTH, talk about HOT and miserable in July.
Iāve ridden to the Hollywood sign and canāt really imagine how that would work into a CC course, without uprooting a lot of the natural environment? Maybe if they zoom way out as a horse canters by below it? But that seems like a reach.
Instead of cantering across a bridge over water a la Paris, part of the course could be galloping through one of the concrete tubes under the freeway
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Or over the infamous swinging bridge.
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100% would pay to see
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Of course Versailles is nicer given no expense was spared in its location, layout, construction, furnishing and gardens. Today it is a signature attraction when visiting Paris.
Hard to match that with more utilitarian facilities.
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A few things-
The heat. I definitely agree Temecula in Aug can be VERY hot, but then again so is everywhere these days. I grew up in MD and it can be 90+ with humidity in the summer months. Same with Kentucky. Is there anywhere in the US that doesnāt have the potential to be in the 90s in the summer any more? Even Oregon and Washington last summer were on fire in heatwaves.
Do IRC that at Atlanta they did a lot of work and somewhat groundbreaking research on keeping horses cool in summer Georgia temps/humidity?
I also saw an article today that several sports besides equestrian have not confirmed siting. Surfing is considering either Trestles in San Clemente or Huntington Beach. I lived in San Clemente for a few years when I first moved to CA and they will have even more of an access problem than Galway. One might think/wonder would surfing draw a big crowd and I think YES considering the SoCal surf culture. This problem is not unique to equestrian.
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After Atlanta some of the giant misting fans appeared at HITS Ellenville, transforming that benighted backwater into a refreshing beachfront facsimile. We never wanted to leave. No seriously, they were a game-changer.
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The walk into the venue was just incredible in every way. As some have mentioned shuttle buses, to get to Versailles there was a direct train with no stops other than Versailles. Once there they showed you where to go to shuttle buses which took you to the back side of Versailles. When we got off the bus we were in the middle of an incredible forest and it was probably 1/2-3/4 mile walk to the actual venue facilities! It was absolutely so picturesque even before you got to the stadium 
I hope for LA they can figure something out that is special, but yeah Paris spared no expense whatsoever and they had over 45,000 volunteers, which were selected from 300,0000 applicants. I hate to say this as an American but I hope thereās as many wonderful people willing to help in LA as there were in Paris! They were so incredibly happy to help everyone!
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Yeah. The LA equestrian venue isnāt going to be Versailles and anyone who wants that just shouldnāt come. 
Paris was more money than LA plans to spend. Plus itās simply a city with a different look and feel.
The only people I know of who complained about Paris were some of the photographers for the opening ceremony. They were tired, hungry, and wet and the format of the ceremony and controls on the photographers made it hard to get a variety of photos. It was glorious on TV though.
LA 84 had about 30K volunteers. The city is capable of stepping up despite its reputation.
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Yes. And it was immensely useful going forward. Establishing that cooling horses with cold water, including the use of cooling stations was a safe and effective method, contradicted what was previously thought.
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