Film Helps Preserve The Rich History Of Longacres

You don't have to be old to make nostalgia work. Stephen Sadis, 27, has built a professional film documentary based on his nostalgic love for Longacres race track.

Just out is the result of Steve's work, a professional, 80-minute film entitled "The Miracle Strip." Twelve or 13 years ago, Steve worked at Longacres, sweeping up dead mutuel tickets, selling hot dogs and programs.

He came to love horse racing and especially Longacres.

A little more than two years ago, when he learned that Longacres had been sold to Boeing, he quit his job in Los Angeles. He was working on feature films as a camera assistant.

"Maybe I was ready to leave Los Angeles anyway," Steve said the other day. "But when I heard what happened to Longacres, I knew what I wanted to do."

Steve is energetic and tenacious. He is the grand nephew of Morrie Alhadeff, former track president, and as a boy he knew Joe Gottstein, the Longacres' gruff, rough, stubborn founder.

In a conversation we had, it was clear Steve is fascinated by the late Joe Gottstein. Early on he even came to me for research help and I gave him a thesis paper on Gottstein's life, written by Pat Dawson, a young sports writer and former employee at the track.

"Gottstein was an incredible man," Steve said. "I turned up several cases where Joe helped alcoholics at the track, paying their way through Shadel's treatment center.

"One time Joe needed some gravel for when he was building his track. A local guy came around and gave him a truck load of gravel. He said the gravel was free, but Joe said, `How can I repay the favor?'

" `You can't,' the guy said. `The gravel is on me because you're building this track.' So Joe gave the man a lifetime pass to Longacres - a pass that was honored after Joe's death and when Morrie Alhadeff took over."

Joe Gottstein founded Longacres in 1933 and had lost millions keeping it going.

"Then just when he began to show a profit," Steve said, "Governor Langlie shut him down for a year during World War II."

It was Warren G. Magnuson, then a state Senator, who found Joe the property to build the track. It was a combination dairy and hop farm owned by David Nelsen, who hinted to Magnuson that he might be willing to sell his beautiful farm.

Maggie then went to Joe and Bill Edris, Gottstein's partner, and they scoffed at the location. "Too far away from everything," they said. Magnuson said, `Well, at least you ought to go talk to the guy.' "

So they did, and Nelsen sold. As a kind of "finder's fee" Joe gave Maggie a small piece of his track - a fact which Maggie's Republican opponents tried to make a later campaign issue - the year 1956, when Gov. Langlie ran against him.

Steve Sadis spent more than two years fund raising and researching his film. He did it with grant money and small donations. He sent out hundreds of pleas for money, including applications for 14 foundation grants.

Initially, none of the money came from the Alhadeff family. They were wary after the backlash they received when they sold the track to Boeing. Later, when they saw the value of the film and its historical character, they helped.

But the biggest grant - $5,000 - came from a foundation called the Pioneer Fund in Northern California. The Seattle Arts Commission donated $1,000. But the bulk of the money, in small bits, came from horsemen, breeders, former track employees and devoted racing fans.

To produce his film, Steve enlisted the help of a childhood friend, David Buerge; also editor Jim Thompson, and David Mesler, who composed the original music for the documentary.

"They are all local people," he says.

Steve researched his documentary for more than two years. He dug up rare photographs, ancient radio recordings and some splendid footage of early Longacres races. "Miracle Strip" is really a slice of Northwest history.

He interviewed famous old-time jockeys, like Johnny Longden; he even has a segment on Helen Hansen, daughter of the man who sold his farm to Gottstein. Horsemen, trainers, starters, clockers, hot walkers - Steve seems to have the whole Longacres family represented.

The track was built in the remarkably short time of 28 days, which Steve calls "a miracle." It was designed by the famous theater architect, B. Marcus (Benny) Pritica, whose many splendid theaters include the Coliseum. Joe Gottstein built that, too, as he and Bill Edris amassed fortunes in Seattle real estate.

"There were really two Longacres," Steve says. "There was the Longacres of Joe Gottstein, well-run but a bit raffish. Then came the Longacres of Morrie Alhadeff.

"Morrie hung great art in the clubhouse and made Longacres a beautiful thing to visit. Unlike Joe, he saw the real beauty in horse racing."