Investors Clamor to Replace Cornfields With Polo Fields

A cornfield in the Sepulveda Basin has been creating excitement among polo enthusiasts lately in Los Angeles, as well as in places as far away as Illinois and an island off the coast of Washington state.

More than a dozen persons have so far expressed interest in converting the cornfield, one of the basin’s largest pieces of undeveloped property, into polo fields.

Officials with the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks have tentatively decided that it is a good idea. Within the next several weeks, the city will solicit proposals for the project, which park planners say would not only benefit polo players, but other park visitors who would like to use the fields.

Benefits to City

“We think it’s an opportunity to create playing fields in high demand, and we think having polo in there is a good activity,” said Joel Breitbart, assistant general manager of planning and development at recreation and parks.

The city is intrigued by the proposal because its limited resources have historically slowed efforts to fully develop the basin for recreation, Breitbart said. Not the city, but the investor chosen to create the polo fields, would pay to replace the 50- to 60-acre cornfield with grassy lawns.

The city would further require that the fields be made available to picnickers and those who play soccer, football, softball and other sports.

The land is situated east of Woodley Avenue, south of Woodley Avenue Park, west of the Haskell Channel and north of Burbank Boulevard. The owner of the property is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has preserved the open space in the basin for flood control purposes. The corps leases much of its land there to the city for recreation.

First New Fields in Decades

These would be the first outdoor polo fields built in Los Angeles in decades.

Polo used to be a big draw in the 1930s in Los Angeles, attracting several thousand spectators to games, polo historians say. But real estate prices and the scarcity of open space has largely forced outdoor polo from the area. For starters, property equaling nine football fields is necessary to build just one field, which one real estate developer estimated could cost $25 million to $50 million today.

In Los Angeles County, only one outdoor polo field remains, at Will Rogers State Historic Park. And that field, which the late humorist had graded with mule teams and which is protected by terms of his will, can accommodate no more than 40 players.

Consequently, many players in the Los Angeles area and their polo ponies must travel to Santa Barbara or Indio in the Coachella Valley to pursue their hobby.

“It’s really a disaster,” said Tracy Lewis, a local polo player who favors introducing the game into the basin. “It’s like not having one regulation golf course in the entire city.”

No one is sure how many polo players live in the area, but interest seems to be growing, especially among novices. Many suggest part of the increased popularity can be traced to the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Griffith Park.

The center serves as home to the Los Angeles Colts, a professional indoor polo team. And the staff teaches the game indoors to 50 to 100 people a week at what its operators say might be the country’s largest polo school.

“We’ve been credited with having an impact in the resurgence of polo in the area,” said J. Albert Garcia, president of the Equestrian Centers of America Inc., which runs the facility.

The corporation filed for reorganization with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in 1984. The case is still open, but Garcia said he would be interested in getting involved with the basin polo project.

Other Contenders

Others who have expressed interest include Joel Ladin, a Century City attorney who runs the polo club at Will Rogers, and his friend and polo teammate, Leonard Jaffe, a real estate developer. Another possible contender is Don Tipton, a former polo club operator at Will Rogers, who has formed a charity on Bainbridge Island, Wash., to ship food and supplies to Third World countries.

In addition, other inquiries have come from inside and outside the state. City officials say they are unsure how many proposals they will ultimately receive.

At this point, competing investors are revealing little about their proposals.

Perhaps the most novel idea comes from Tipton. He said he has talked to investors about donating money to build one field, charging polo players for its use, and then directing most of the profits to help battered and abused children. Other profits would be used to build additional fields.

Jaffe and Ladin say they envision building several polo fields and a horse stable on the site.

City officials would only speak in generalities about their project requirements.

Ted Heyl, assistant planning officer at recreation and parks, said, “These people seem to be quite inbred; they all seem to know each other. They have various opinions about each other. We don’t want anyone to get their hands on this before the other,” thus prompting competitors to cry foul.

Breitbart said an important selection factor will be the amount of time the polo people propose to allow for the play of other sports. “More is better,” he said. “The less exclusivity, the better we’ll like your proposal.”

Heyl said the city would accept proposals for about a month. The plan chosen by the department would have to be approved by the Corps of Engineers, the Los Angeles City Council and the city’s Recreation and Park Commission. The developer probably would not begin the project until late 1987 or early 1988.

Study Shows Need

The city started exploring the idea of welcoming polo in the basin after two groups independently approached the city a year or so ago about establishing the sport there. The city’s research indicated that fields were needed.

“Everybody who is a patron of a particular sport say that theirs is the biggest growing sport, blah, blah, blah, but there does seem to be interest,” Heyl said.

Potential investors acknowledge that the public probably would not sympathize with polo players looking for a new place to romp. They say they are sensitive to the perception that polo players are wealthy and elitist, but they hope the public will accept the idea because everyone will be able to use the manicured lawns.

Ladin said, “To be totally candid and totally fair, this is not a proposal . . . to satisfy the needs of polo players.

“This is a situation where a select few will basically fund privately the renovation of some property so that the majority can utilize it.”

And Tipton noted that polo can be fun even for those who know nothing about it. “It is really lovely on a Sunday afternoon, to take your boyfriend, spread a blanket and watch nine horses thundering down the field.”