Sunday, June 28, 2009

LA Story

Today I took my wife and daughter on our yearly trek to Dodger Stadium to catch a ballgame. It was a warm and gorgeous summer afternoon -- Mackenzie informing us that today is the first day of summer according to her calendar that has "everything everyone in the world celebrates" -- and so it made for a fun afternoon. This despite the fact that our Boys in Blue lost 4-2, and our favorite, Andre Ethier, struck out twice. Despite being such miserable failure on the day we spent 80 bucks to see him hit a home run, we decided to forgive Andre anyway and on the way home Mackenzie named the free Webkins doll they handed out to all kids in attendance after him. Yes, he's already registered.

On the way out of the stadium we decided to show Mackenzie a little bit of the big city and by the time we drove down Grand Ave, past the Disney Performing Arts Center and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilian, both nestled beneath gleaming glass towers, she said from the back seat, "Now this is a city!" Earlier in the day, while on the way into LA, she had a running commentary on the ubiquitous "gar-feety" as she likes to describe the tagging that's all over the place. Apparently LA has the budget to clean only part of their town.

As we snaked through downtown LA, we were detoured as a movie crew was using a block to film a movie set in New York. A NY taxi, connected to a long beam off the back of a film truck went right past us, and given the amount of flood lights both outside and inside the dummy ride, it was obvious they were filming. I stopped and gawked. Hey, I'm as much a tourist as the next guy!

We finally found Olvera Street which dates back to 1871, the sign said. The little sightseeing walk would double as a cultural experience for our daughter and a trip down Memory Lane for Becky and me, as both of us had made several field trips to the historic site back in junior high days. It hasn't changed much. Just older than it already was.

What had changed was how I looked at the street. No longer looking for some trinket to buy out of my hard-earned allowance, I got to enjoy the smells and the color, and oh my, the color! It was everywhere! I tried to capture some of that in the images that follow. After strolling the lane, we crossed the street to check out Union Station, with it's art-deco design. It's like taking a step back in time.

This is a long post, but enjoy the images, leave a comment if you want!


Even the sky was Dodger Blue!

Dodger Stadium is now the third-oldest stadium in the Majors! Hard to believe!












1 comment:

Amanda said...

love the still shots!