Big box retail lines Palm Springs Mile, and Let It Ride shot its racing scenes at Hialeah Park's Renaissance Revival grandstand.
What Hialeah looks like
West 49th Street runs straight across the city as the retail corridor, a line of big box stores set behind wide parking lots, their signs mounted high on plain stucco walls. A rounded parapet marks a former department store that now holds a Burlington. The city keeps its own numbered street grid, separate from the rest of Miami-Dade County, so this same road appears on a county map as NW 103rd Street. Elsewhere in the city, a disused rail spur runs through grass between royal palms, its rusted rails still in place.
A block off the retail strip, Miami Dade College's Hialeah campus rises four storeys in white stucco with ribbon windows and rows of royal palms along the entrance drive. On , a smaller two storey office in terracotta stucco has arched window heads on the upper floor and canvas awnings over its ground floor windows.
Hialeah Park's clubhouse curves in pale stucco with round arched windows and a colonnade, reached by a stone staircase with a turned balustrade. A tiered fountain plays in the gardens behind it, and wrought iron fencing rings the paddock beyond. Royal palms line the entrance drive from East 4th Avenue.
The runs along the western edge on raised concrete piers, six lanes wide under a canopy of billboards. Near the Metrorail station on East 21st Street, an elevated guideway crosses above the street on concrete columns, with a glass shelter and bus stop below.
Shot in Hialeah
Let It Ride shot its 1989 racing scenes at , using the grandstand and clubhouse much as they stand today. The production also filmed in the betting booths and inside the Turf Club restaurant, with Richard Dreyfuss in the lead role.
Let It Ride, 1989
The clubhouse and Turf Club
Let It Ride shot on Hialeah Park's own track, using the grandstand and clubhouse much as they stand today. The production filmed inside the betting booths and the Turf Club restaurant as well, both real rooms rather than built sets.
What Hialeah can double for
Longchamp Racecourse in Paris, France
The walking ring at Hialeah Park was designed after Longchamp Racecourse in Paris, so the paddock circle and its rail already carry a grand European racecourse look. Royal palms stand in where Longchamp itself lines the walk with chestnut trees. Keep the frame tight on the rail and the walking ring itself, since the palm trees and Florida light give the location away in a wider shot. Try searching grand European racecourse now.
Casino de Monte-Carlo in Monaco
Hialeah Park's own balustrades were fashioned after the casinos in Monte Carlo, so the stone staircase and its turned stone balustrade already carry that look. The pale stone and the clipped hedges around it match closely. Monte Carlo's own casino faces the sea, so keep the harbor out of frame and hold the shot on the balustrade and staircase alone. Try searching turned stone balustrade now.
Ascot Racecourse in Ascot, England
The sweeping staircases and tree lined paths at Hialeah Park were designed after Ascot, so the palm lined entrance drive already echoes that grand racecourse approach. The stonework and hedges along the walk match in scale. Ascot's own trees are not palms, so keep the canopy out of a wide shot and hold on the stonework and the paths themselves. Try searching grand racecourse approach now.
