Hollywood Park Summer Concerts

Hollywood Park Summer Concert Series
1050 South Prairie Ave
Inglewood, CA 90301
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Type: Outdoors
Category: Entertainment, Music, Drinking, Gambling
Company: Large group of friends
Cost: $15 admission, $1 beer (til 9pm), $1 hot dogs and soda all night.

Quickie: Every Friday night at Hollywood Park is part of the Fantastic Friday Summer Concert Series - an evening of horse racing followed by an outdoor concert.  Musical groups tend to be (awesome) cover bands of older pop acts (Prince, Neil Diamond, etc).  Check the schedule to narrow down who you want to see perform.  First race is at 7:05 PM, concert starts around 10:30 (depends on when the last race finishes). 

The Do's: 
1)  Bring a jacket of sorts; it will get cold outside, especially for the concert.
2)  Learn how to make simple bets (see below). Risk a few bucks each race and enjoy screaming at horses and jockeys.  And make at least one underdog bet.  Rooting for a 70-1 favorite is always a blast.
3)  Trust your gut feelings, coin-flips, and any other superstition you have when making bets. You don't know enough about horses to make educated guesses.  You won't figure out the sure thing.  Just have fun with your bets and hope for the best.

The Don'ts:
1)  Listen to your friend who has inside info. He doesn't.  And this way, when he's wrong, you can make fun of him and force him to buy you a dollar beer to make up for his unwarranted hubris.
2)  Take yourself too seriously.  Sure, there are hardcore gamblers there, but remember that you came for fun.  When you lose, laugh it off.  Same if you win. 
3)  Rush to get to the stage after the races.  We aren't talking about thousands of people here - you will end up with a good vantage point regardless of when you arrive.  Hang out with friends, take a restroom break, buy another beer, etc.

How to Bet: 
Betting can get complicated, with multiple horses and races involved.  But if you just want to have fun and keep each race exciting, there are only a few things to note.  

• Choose a horse and remember the number (ie the number 2 horse).  You can bet on the horse to come in first ("win"), come in first OR second ("place") or finish in the top three ("show").  Then just combine the horse and result with a dollar amount.  
• Walk up to the cashier and say "Two dollars on the number 6 horse to place" or whatever you want.  (Note that for these types of bets you need to wager at least $2.)  Hand the cashier your money and keep the ticket in return.
• Should you win, return back to any cashier and present your ticket.  If you lose, rip the ticket up and dramatically toss it in the air, as though the $2 you just lost actually ruined your night.  Then finish your beer and repeat the process. 

Upcoming Bands:  

The Wailers, June 8th
The Jesus and Mary Chain, June 15th