Defending Dodger Stadium

Monday's post on Eric Stone's critique of Dodger Stadium's prices, long lines and hot dogs—and his suggestion for tearing it down and building a new Ebbets Field with trolley car access—sparked more reaction than I expected. I already linked to Jon Weisman at Dodger Thoughts, whose observations boil down to these:

1) most of the development goals he sets out for the Dodgers can be achieved without a teardown, 2) re-creating Brooklyn and Ebbets Field would generate little enthusiasm except among Dodger fans 60 or older (by the time the project would be done) who can't get over their feelings of betrayal, 3) if he got his "awful" hot dog from an express line, it probably wasn't grilled, and 4) the idea that this would lead to cheaper hot dogs, or a cheaper fan experience in general, is almost impossibly naive.

I've pulled together some others after the jump:

Times sports staffer Houston Mitchell at his personal blog, Dodgers vs. Angels:

Yes, this will appeal to everyone born in the 1910s, but what about the rest of us? Basing anything in LA on what is or used to be in New York is a terrible, terrible idea.
The problem with Dodger Stadium is not the Stadium, it's the fact it takes you an hour to get in and out of the parking lot, unless you get there 2 hours before game time and leave in the 7th inning. And, frankly, the city of LA has made it very clear that any possible solution would cost too much. There's no easy solution to the problem.

And then Stone bashes Dodger dogs. Excuse me? Dodger dogs are sacred.

Email from Larry Kaplan:

Anybody who thinks it will be possible to do a major expansion of uses around Dodger Stadium is dreaming. Any expansion of uses means more traffic through Elysian Park and more urban impacts on one of the few large open spaces left in metropolitan LA. The well organized friends of Elysian Park groups will form an alliance with the historic preservationists (the real deal from 1962 trumps a faux Ebbets Field any day), the open space equity groups like Center for Law in the Public Interest, the traditional enviros like the Sierra Club, and the various neighborhood groups, and raise holy hell.
For a preview, keep an eye on what happens with Barlow Hospital next door. As you know, the hospital board is trying to attract a developer to buy the site from them, but with all the attention focused on LA�s lack of open space, it will be tough to pull off a project. However, there is one big factor hurting the open space proponents and preservationists---no dough. Unless the Dodgers want a prolonged battle over the future of the Stadium (which they may have calculated would be profitable enough to make worth the hassle), they should leave well enough alone.

Email from Josh Kleinbaum:

One problem with the idea of recreating Ebbets Field - someone else beat the Dodgers to it. The Mets' new stadium - with ground-breaking scheduled for this summer, expected to be ready for the 2009 season - is designed to be a modern-day Ebbets Field. Fred Wilpon, the Mets owner, grew up a die-hard Dodgers fan and has always dreamed of recreating the ballpark. The plans for the stadium look great (although some of my best childhood memories are from Shea, even I can admit that the place is a dump).
Sure, it won't have the neighborhood or the trolley, but it'll still be a pretty cool ballpark. Check it out.

Email from Edward Fuentes:

Why not simply work with the idea of landscape being temporary? Recreate Noir Los Angeles, circa the time the Dodgers arrived here, with buildings doubling as production houses and Dodger television studios. The site around a new �retro� stadium doubles as a film location lot that on game day can have adaptable retail and on off days be used for filming....
We can call it "I am not a ballfield."

Email from Tim Adams:

Many years have passed since I last darkened the stands at a professional baseball game, but transit to Dodger Stadium looks pretty easy to me:
1. From Union Station, hoof it ten minutes to the NW corner of Chavez & Broadway.

2. Ride the #2 west to Sunset and Innes.

The #2 schedule: http://www.metro.net/images/002-302.pdf It runs quite frequently.

Email from John Scheibe:

The McCourts have taken Walter O'Malley's motto "you don't pay to get in, you pay to get out of Dodger Stadium" to a new millennium level.