Nice post of a historic structure in the old, Los Angeles area... the visible road on the right is Avalon Blvd heading into downtown Los Angeles. But, if one goes on Avalon Blvd South, it runs past the 50s Lion's Dragstrip and ends up at the Long Beach/Los Angeles harbor region waters. Hello, Our dad was a baseball fanatic. He used to play semi pro baseball after college and thought he had a career back then. A lefty thrower, lefty/righty batter with almost similar skills with right hand batting. A combination that was valuable. But, he twisted his back and never recovered. So goes a baseball career. So, as an avid baseball player, he listened to every game he could on the portable radio at home. For several games, he took my brother and me to Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. At the time, it was in the area of a lot of hot rod shops during the 40s-50s. But as little kids, it all looked like Los Angeles City. The resident club was an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs and had their own Wrigley Field. It was near the Los Angeles Coliseum location. Today, it would be called “South Central.” But, we were impressed with the seats and being in a professional baseball game. Of course we had on our kid baseball hats. One of the best players we all liked and tried to emulate, was Chuck Connors. He was super tall and had all of the great skills necessary to play pro baseball. (He also became famous for his popular western era TV show almost everyone watched during his post baseball days.) Jnaki We went to several games in West Los Angeles and they were exciting. But, our dad, as much as he could watch baseball games, he liked listening to them as well. So, we did not go to any baseball games until the Dodgers came to Los Angeles and set up shop at the L.A. Coliseum. Now, he took us to many games there as we were older and still involved in our own baseball teams as kids. YRMV NOTE: Ever see a football player get tackled in the dirt from the 3rd base line area? The college football teams played in the baseball field, if the Dodgers were going on to the World Series in October. So, yes, get tackled in the dirt was not the most fun thing to do… YIKES! Also, who would have known that my wife and I would be one of the folks that always "hung out" in that area of the university/auditorium areas for concerts and car shows to the West Los Angeles area in the 60s music scene. Music shops, low cost LP records and great food from some of the famous restaurants along this corridor were a big draw that kept us coming back for more. It was a great time to be a young 20 something adult with the evening ahead of us each time... Usually parked in front of those low cost LP record shops and in the general area of the rock concerts.
After WWII and in-between his minor league/major league baseball career, Connor's played pro basketball for a few years. A year with the Rochester Royals and a year with the then new Celtics. I'm not even remotely a basketball fan but always though it interesting he was the first player to break a backboard in I think the Celtics first game.
The Jalopy Journal
