GETTING THERE: They say you can’t buy your way into heaven, but I beg to differ. You can, for less than $20.
For just $15 exactly, I spent an afternoon in my own version of paradise: Dodger Stadium.
I’m a typical broke college student, so the idea of spending some of my meager allowance at a baseball game clear across the city, near Trojan territory, with no car, sounds daunting. But as a life-long Dodger fan (I was an infant in the car listening to Vin Scully call the legendary Kirk Gibson walk-off home run in 1988, so it’s in my blood), I think I’d be willing to pay any amount of money to watch my boys in blue dominate on a warm spring afternoon.
People around here constantly complain about the difficulties of getting around Los Angeles without a car. I urge these haters to stop whining because the Metro 2 bus, with service from UCLA to Downtown via Sunset Boulevard, is one of the easiest ways to explore the city. For just $1.25, my friend and I boarded the bus at Westwood and Le Conte at 11 a.m., two hours before the first pitch.
The bus ride down Sunset itself is quite the historic adventure ““ to your left, the skid marks where Lindsay Lohan crashed her Mercedes; and to your right, that restaurant they went to that one time in “˜Entourage.’
If time is a factor, I definitely recommend attending a day game on the weekend because of traffic ““ gridlock was almost nonexistent, and since there are fewer people commuting to work, the driver doesn’t have to make as many stops.
You’ll want to get off at the Elysian Park stop, which is on the outskirts of Echo Park (definitely worth a trip in its own) just northwest of Downtown. In our case, it was easy to know when we were there, with sweet cars ““ flying sweet Dodger flags out the windows ““ packing the street, and dozens of fans in Dodger blue on our own bus getting off.
Once we got off the bus, about an hour after we got on, all we had to do was walk up a short hill for a couple of blocks and there we were, in the midst of the vast expanse of the parking lot, full of suckers who had just thrown down $15 ““ my entire funding for the day.
AT THE RAVINE: Be sure to bring your camera because the views from the top of that hill are beautiful ““ the regal skyscrapers of Downtown to your left, the green Hollywood Hills to the right, and the palm trees dotting everything ““ quintessential Los Angeles.
The atmosphere of Chavez Ravine before game time is classic. Parents and kids clutching their mitts in the hopes of snagging that foul ball, peanuts and Cracker Jack already flowing. Safety announcements from the legendary Vin Scully over the loudspeaker add to the time-honored scene of our nation’s pastime. You can almost feel the ghosts of Jackie Robinson, Don Drysdale, and Mike Piazza in the stadium’s hallowed halls.
But the organ music is the best part of the pregame fun. Dodger Stadium is one of the few stadiums left in Major League Baseball that has yet to abandon this old-school tradition. Of course, the awesome pump-up jams of the batters as they step up to the plate has still infiltrated Dodger Stadium. But in the case of Dodger center fielder Juan Pierre, when Jay-Z raps about you, I would say that’s most definitely a legitimate reason to play the song.
My friend and I had bought our tickets online, and we picked them up at will-call with no trouble. For only $8 each, we had the best seats in the house ““ the last row in the top deck, right behind home plate. This is where the blue collar, hard-core, Dodger Blue-blooded and charmingly violent fans sit. You better not be wearing the opposing team’s colors, or you might not be on the bus home. But seriously.
Dodger Stadium is literally blessed ““ Pope John Paul II conducted a Mass at Dodger Stadium in 1987. As we settled into the game, I began to truly appreciate the aesthetics of this sacred diamond, and of baseball as a whole.
Seeing the emerald of the grass, the crisp white of the foul lines and the uniforms is better than throwing down cash for a museum. It’s art. And nothing compares to the smooth elegance of a perfectly executed double play.
The one thing you must do while at a Dodger game is eat a world-famous Dodger Dog. $4.50 might sound a little steep for a hot dog, but considering you only will have spent $9.25 on the day so far, I think a splurge is in order. Scratch that ““ it’s mandatory. Plus, this is more than just a hot dog. It’s an experience. None of that pansy “sushi” business they have in San Francisco on Dodger turf. It just doesn’t belong in baseball, kind of like that “Day-O” song.
Unfortunately (and rarely), there wasn’t too much to cheer about unless you were a Chicago Cubs fan. So all twelve of them cheered whenever they scored, while Dodger fans wittily retorted, “Cubbies suck!” It feels nice to be in such an intellectually stimulating environment sometimes. But when there were rallies, like a Wilson Betemit home run in the seventh inning, and a Nomar Garciaparra RBI in the eighth, the fans were on their weary feet, whistling and yelling like crazy. The camaraderie felt with total strangers in the midst of a comeback is really something.
While my Dodgers may have lost that day, it really didn’t matter too much. Everyone knows they’re going to whoop the Giants in the standings when it comes down to it anyway, so the day was far beyond well spent. I’d go everyday if I could.
As we left the stadium and walked back down the hill to the bus stop on Sunset with the rest of the fans, I spent my last $1.25 on the ride back to the West Side. The good old Metro 2, taken over by a mob of blue, felt comforting.
Even if you don’t like the Dodgers, or baseball for that matter, going to a game in Chavez Ravine is a uniquely L.A. experience. So whenever you feel like complaining about your Westwood-induced boredom, gather ye quarters, hop on the bus, and enjoy a smooth ride to heaven in the City of Angels.