bigmacbear (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bigmacbear) wrote2022-07-07 11:59 pm
bigmacbear) wrote2022-07-07 11:59 pm
Los Angeles, Day 2 of 5
THURSDAY
I woke up about 6:30 to use the bathroom and went back to bed, waking up for the day about 9:45. We left about 10:30 for breakfast at a hole-in-the-wall bakery called Nazo's. A not-unattractive youngish black dude was having breakfast at a table outside on the sidewalk; as we ate, he fell asleep in his seat and was still snoozing as we left. I had an English muffin with bacon, egg, and cheese with a Snapple lemon tea; Gary had a muffin with sausage instead of bacon and a raspberry tea. From there we walked around the corner to Walgreens for supplies and souvenirs. A lady was having difficulty paying for her purchases so the cashier had to call for backup as the queue grew longer. On the way back to the hotel we cut through the mall in front of Macy's, which has a Metro station entrance on the lower level. As we exited the mall we stopped to take photos of the hotel marquee sign. We returned to the room to drop off our purchases and changed clothes. As we approached the elevator we were greeted by a cute cub and his buxom lady companion making their exit. Gary waited for the doors to close before the usual "Oh, *hell* no." I observed, "Neither one of them."
We returned to the Metro station via the mall and took the B (Red) line to Vermont/Sunset to catch the bus to the Griffith Observatory. The bus driver was on a break, eating her lunch standing by the fare box. When break was over she opened the doors and informed us the trip was fare-free. We arrived at the Observatory and got pictures with the Hollywood sign and took more pictures of downtown LA and the area around the Observatory from the terraces on the south side. My leg was acting up so we sat on the patio below the entrance level on the west. Then we explored the lower levels of the Observatory, including an exhibit of the solar system, before exiting upstairs and catching the bus back to Vermont/Sunset via Los Feliz. The bus was unable to negotiate a right turn on its route because of a multiple-vehicle wreck with a car blocking the intersection and a fire truck and police car arriving on scene, so we ended up detouring a block east for a couple blocks. As we approached our stop we saw and heard the ambulance headed for Kaiser Permanente hospital, across Vermont from the bus stop, from the accident scene. We descended into the station and caught the train back to the mall.
As we checked out the mall directory looking for some place to eat, the security guard was nice enough to point out that particular mall didn't have many dining options besides Starbucks and bar food, and pointed us to the mall at Target around the corner on Figueroa. We had a late lunch at California Pizza Kitchen: original chicken BBQ pizza and smashed pea soup for me and a chicken sandwich and tomato soup for Gary. From there we returned to the hotel to charge phones, change clothes, and catch the first few selections in the NHL draft (Seattle selected fourth, and their selection, Shane Wright, had been expected to be snapped up in the first pick so that was a pleasant surprise).
We left for Dodger Stadium about five, first taking the train to Union Station and then heading for the taxi stand on the west end of the station to catch the Dodgers Express. The first bus hadn't arrived so the queue wrapped around itself a couple times and made it difficult to find the end. Fortunately the first bus was followed by 6 or 7 more, so the line moved quickly and we boarded the third bus shortly afterwards. We ended up standing up front, behind a dude wearing an LA Pride jersey with uniform numbers in the colors of the Progress Pride Flag. The bus dropped us off behind center field and we walked around to the first base loge level entrance. Of course my suspenders set off the magnetometer but the security guard figured it out right away. We entered the stadium and immediately stopped by the team store so Gary could pick up a Brooklyn Dodgers hat to wear. I waited outside while Gary made the purchase and noticed the cute cubby dude behind him in line.
As we made our way around the concourse to our seats just the other side of home plate, we were stopped by a tall, older black man who asked about Gary's Batavia Muckdogs T-shirt. He told us his last name is Muckinger, and arranged for us to visit the historic exhibit on the club level upstairs, including the Vin Scully Press Box (we could see the sign but could not enter, obviously). Once we viewed the exhibit we found our seats and settled in. The team was hosting Filipino Heritage Night, so among the pregame festivities was a quintet called Filharmonic. The center singer (lead/tenor) was a simply huge, cute cub. The Filipino national anthem was sung by a tall young dude to a recorded orchestral accompaniment, followed by the Star-Spangled Banner sung to the organ accompaniment by a local young lady of Filipino heritage who is a singer-songwriter, and the first pitch thrown by a celebrity with outrageously long fingernails in high heels; somehow she managed to get the ball to the plate on a bounce.
The very first pitch thrown to the Dodgers was to Mookie Betts, who nailed it into the left field bleachers for a home run. This was followed by a two-run homer to the right-field bullpen in the second inning and a solo home run in the fourth, all for the Dodgers. The Cubs made their first score with a two-run homer in the fifth. Meanwhile, I got us Dodger Dogs and Diet Cokes; a foul ball landed the next section over (fortunately, no one was hurt); and Gabriel Iglesias (aka Fluffy) appeared on the video screen to exhort the crowd to Make Some Noise. The stadium took a very long time to fill because of traffic; the last two seats in front of us were vacant until well into the third inning if not the fourth. In the top of the sixth another foul ball landed the next aisle over, a little higher this time. Mookie Betts capped off his game with another homer over the center-field wall in the bottom of the eighth. In the top of the ninth, Craig Kimbrel took the mound but couldn't make the last out in three attempts, so he was replaced after Chicago scored one more run. Finally, on the fourth attempt at "two strikes, two outs," the batter struck out and the game was over.
We stopped by the restroom then hurried to catch the return bus to Union Station. I found a seat near a group of 3 girls and a dude, chatting about Wordle the whole trip; Gary stood further back. We arrived at Union Station and caught the next Red Line train to the stop near the hotel; the mall entrance was closed so we walked around the corner. After ditching clothes and journaling, we went to bed about midnight while watching the game we had just attended replaying on TV.
I woke up about 6:30 to use the bathroom and went back to bed, waking up for the day about 9:45. We left about 10:30 for breakfast at a hole-in-the-wall bakery called Nazo's. A not-unattractive youngish black dude was having breakfast at a table outside on the sidewalk; as we ate, he fell asleep in his seat and was still snoozing as we left. I had an English muffin with bacon, egg, and cheese with a Snapple lemon tea; Gary had a muffin with sausage instead of bacon and a raspberry tea. From there we walked around the corner to Walgreens for supplies and souvenirs. A lady was having difficulty paying for her purchases so the cashier had to call for backup as the queue grew longer. On the way back to the hotel we cut through the mall in front of Macy's, which has a Metro station entrance on the lower level. As we exited the mall we stopped to take photos of the hotel marquee sign. We returned to the room to drop off our purchases and changed clothes. As we approached the elevator we were greeted by a cute cub and his buxom lady companion making their exit. Gary waited for the doors to close before the usual "Oh, *hell* no." I observed, "Neither one of them."
We returned to the Metro station via the mall and took the B (Red) line to Vermont/Sunset to catch the bus to the Griffith Observatory. The bus driver was on a break, eating her lunch standing by the fare box. When break was over she opened the doors and informed us the trip was fare-free. We arrived at the Observatory and got pictures with the Hollywood sign and took more pictures of downtown LA and the area around the Observatory from the terraces on the south side. My leg was acting up so we sat on the patio below the entrance level on the west. Then we explored the lower levels of the Observatory, including an exhibit of the solar system, before exiting upstairs and catching the bus back to Vermont/Sunset via Los Feliz. The bus was unable to negotiate a right turn on its route because of a multiple-vehicle wreck with a car blocking the intersection and a fire truck and police car arriving on scene, so we ended up detouring a block east for a couple blocks. As we approached our stop we saw and heard the ambulance headed for Kaiser Permanente hospital, across Vermont from the bus stop, from the accident scene. We descended into the station and caught the train back to the mall.
As we checked out the mall directory looking for some place to eat, the security guard was nice enough to point out that particular mall didn't have many dining options besides Starbucks and bar food, and pointed us to the mall at Target around the corner on Figueroa. We had a late lunch at California Pizza Kitchen: original chicken BBQ pizza and smashed pea soup for me and a chicken sandwich and tomato soup for Gary. From there we returned to the hotel to charge phones, change clothes, and catch the first few selections in the NHL draft (Seattle selected fourth, and their selection, Shane Wright, had been expected to be snapped up in the first pick so that was a pleasant surprise).
We left for Dodger Stadium about five, first taking the train to Union Station and then heading for the taxi stand on the west end of the station to catch the Dodgers Express. The first bus hadn't arrived so the queue wrapped around itself a couple times and made it difficult to find the end. Fortunately the first bus was followed by 6 or 7 more, so the line moved quickly and we boarded the third bus shortly afterwards. We ended up standing up front, behind a dude wearing an LA Pride jersey with uniform numbers in the colors of the Progress Pride Flag. The bus dropped us off behind center field and we walked around to the first base loge level entrance. Of course my suspenders set off the magnetometer but the security guard figured it out right away. We entered the stadium and immediately stopped by the team store so Gary could pick up a Brooklyn Dodgers hat to wear. I waited outside while Gary made the purchase and noticed the cute cubby dude behind him in line.
As we made our way around the concourse to our seats just the other side of home plate, we were stopped by a tall, older black man who asked about Gary's Batavia Muckdogs T-shirt. He told us his last name is Muckinger, and arranged for us to visit the historic exhibit on the club level upstairs, including the Vin Scully Press Box (we could see the sign but could not enter, obviously). Once we viewed the exhibit we found our seats and settled in. The team was hosting Filipino Heritage Night, so among the pregame festivities was a quintet called Filharmonic. The center singer (lead/tenor) was a simply huge, cute cub. The Filipino national anthem was sung by a tall young dude to a recorded orchestral accompaniment, followed by the Star-Spangled Banner sung to the organ accompaniment by a local young lady of Filipino heritage who is a singer-songwriter, and the first pitch thrown by a celebrity with outrageously long fingernails in high heels; somehow she managed to get the ball to the plate on a bounce.
The very first pitch thrown to the Dodgers was to Mookie Betts, who nailed it into the left field bleachers for a home run. This was followed by a two-run homer to the right-field bullpen in the second inning and a solo home run in the fourth, all for the Dodgers. The Cubs made their first score with a two-run homer in the fifth. Meanwhile, I got us Dodger Dogs and Diet Cokes; a foul ball landed the next section over (fortunately, no one was hurt); and Gabriel Iglesias (aka Fluffy) appeared on the video screen to exhort the crowd to Make Some Noise. The stadium took a very long time to fill because of traffic; the last two seats in front of us were vacant until well into the third inning if not the fourth. In the top of the sixth another foul ball landed the next aisle over, a little higher this time. Mookie Betts capped off his game with another homer over the center-field wall in the bottom of the eighth. In the top of the ninth, Craig Kimbrel took the mound but couldn't make the last out in three attempts, so he was replaced after Chicago scored one more run. Finally, on the fourth attempt at "two strikes, two outs," the batter struck out and the game was over.
We stopped by the restroom then hurried to catch the return bus to Union Station. I found a seat near a group of 3 girls and a dude, chatting about Wordle the whole trip; Gary stood further back. We arrived at Union Station and caught the next Red Line train to the stop near the hotel; the mall entrance was closed so we walked around the corner. After ditching clothes and journaling, we went to bed about midnight while watching the game we had just attended replaying on TV.