continued - Charter Helicopter Tour
Historical Eagle Rock
Not too far east of the Hollywood Sign in the town of Eagle Rock, a small district of the City of Los Angeles, sits the actual historic Eagle rock. Here the Native American’s who made their homes nearby, may have lived in the shallow caves that nature carved in this huge granite rock in what used to be called Eagle Rock Canyon. Parts of the rock face have fallen away over the years causing it to look like an actual eagle.
Annandale Golf Club, Pasadena, CA
The Annandale Golf Club is a private club established in 1906. It is a par 70 course and was designed by Bill Bell, Sr. with a rating of 74.0 with a course of 6,461 yards. It has been a qualifying site for the Los Angeles Open. Famed golfers Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen were frequent visitors. Christopher Granger is the general manager.
Santa Anita Race Track
Our Silver State Robinson R-44 helicopter flew eastward to the Santa Anita race track in Arcadia, Calif. The world famous track opened in 1934, quickly gaining fame with its Santa Anita Handicap, at the time the richest handicap in the country, with a purse of $100,000. Today the handicap is a Grade 1 listed race with a purse in excess of $1 million.
The handsome design is another reason for its attraction to the thousands of fans from around the world who flock to the track. Numerous celebrities have owned horses at the track. They include: Big Crosby, Louis Mayer, and Alex Trebek. Santa Anita was also the home of the famous winning
thoroughbred Sea Biscuit.
Queen Anne Home Featured in TV series "Fantasy Island"
Just to the west of Santa Anita we spotted the Los Angeles Arboretum, a famous place where in-season flowers and rare plants are grown. Also to be seen overlooking the lake is the Queen Anne house which was shown in the TV series “Fantasy Island.”
Seven Oaks Dam, located on the Santa Ana River, 4 miles northeast of Redlands, Calif. is a giant earthen flood control dam. Construction began in August 1994 and was completed in November 1999 at a cost of $250 million. It was built by Odebrecht Construction Company of Sao Paolo, Brazil after winning the bid put out by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It is said to be a major structure in the flood control along the Santa Ana River which travels nearly 75 miles from the San Bernardino Mountains down to the Pacific Ocean at Newport Beach. At the time of completion, it was the 10th largest earth-filled dam in the United States.
Bear Creek Canyon
On our way back to Big Bear we elected to fly up Bear Creek which travels from Redlands through the wide canyon to Big Bear Lake. Our round trip around Southern California was a total of 471 statute miles.