Bill Plaschke on the best spot to do lunch in Los Angeles:
What I really wanted to hear, of course, was what the Dodgers thought about folks just walking into their house and hanging out in the middle of the day, so I phoned club spokesman Josh Rawitch with the news.
“I want to tell you about my favorite place to have lunch,” I said.
“Top of the park at Dodger Stadium, right?” he said.
“How did you know?” I said.
“You’re not the only one,” he said.
It turns out, other folks are aware of this place, and the Dodgers tolerate it for the good of the town.
“There are a lot of fans who refer to the top of the park as the best-kept secret lunch spot in Los Angeles, and it’s hard to argue with them,” Rawitch said. “While we don’t openly encourage it, the fact that it has become known this way is a reminder of just how special Dodger Stadium is to our fans, even when it’s empty.”
[Photo Credit: The Itinerant Fan]
that's freakin awesome.
That stadium and the fans, in my imagination anyway, make LA a way cooler place than it otherwise seems. It's seems very different from the LA I spy through the Angel's lens.
At Citi Field or Yankee Stadium, they'd have you arrested for trespassing.
I'm planning my first pilgrimage to Dodger Stadium this July (as part of the annual SABR convention in Long Beach).
4) I was there once in 2000. Dodger Stadium was like Shea Stadium gone to heaven. The only trouble is that I had a pack of my dickhead New Yorker pals with me, who were more interested in razzing the locals than watching the game. Sheff hit two dingers that day.
I love the idea of grabbing a bite in the empty upper deck. Wonder if more heads will try it now that Plaschke wrote about it. Then again, considering what a schlepp it is to get there, maybe not.
wish I knew this when I lived out there (moved back in '02). I lived very close to the Stadium in Silver Lake. I could see the top of the stadium lights over the hill from the tiny house my wife and I were renting, which also had a fantastic view of downtown L.A. When they had fireworks after the games, they would break at eye-level in my driveway. I went to a couple dozen games a year.
Anyway, had I known the upper deck was available for lunch I would have gone down to Philippe's (home of the French Dip), just a short drive away, and brought my sandwich, pickle, soda, and chips up there. Great place to get some eating done.
If you don't know about Philippe's -GO THERE!
http://www.philippes.com/
Man, oh, man how I miss Philippe's.
4) yeah, Shea gone to heaven is about right- structure-wise. They're of the same time. But the sights and smells of each are incomparable. Mountains, palm trees, and big, balmy night sky - or - industrial Queens, the intrusive roar of LaGuardia planes every few minutes, and the eggy stench of Flushing Bay. The experiences aren't even in the same, eh, ballpark.
I wish I had known about this when I was out there a couple of years ago... Well at least I was able to take in a game at the LA Coliseum.
[6] Never been to LA yet, but from what I hear filmwise I'm not in a hurry. But I will check out Philippes when I get me hence >;)
Shea sure had a warehouse/parking garage feel to it, but it still had something to it that felt intense. The new park is more like a collegial grandstand to me; homey, like watching kids play in the backyard or local little league park from your deck. Almost feels like it's not finished yet. Funny how I expected more when I haven't even been to new Yankee Stadium yet. The amenities are far better and the parking situation is rather ideal, but until the Mutts play better, I still like old Shea over new Shea.
Dodger Stadium looks beautiful. Shame about how they built it though.
8] are you holding off on the Yanks' new place, or just haven't had the chance?
7) the only game I saw there was the Nov. 1997 USC-UCLA game. Week before Thanksgiving, and it was like 90 degrees. We were shvitzing away in our USC sweatshirt, which we felt obliged to purhcase at the game.
My neighbor worked at USC and hooked us up with comp tickets on the 50 yard line (mid-way up, sunny side). We were sitting among the alumni's big-money donors - $100-grand, that type of thing. Hitchcock's daughter, Patricia sat directly behind me. My wife high-fived her after a Trojan touchdown. Nah, we didn't talk movies with her. I read a few years ago that she revealed her dad was secretly a fan of "Smokey & The Bandit," and "Benji." Go figure.