Being an LA fan in Phoenix


I've been an LA fan since the mid-'80s, even though I've lived in Phoenix since 1989. And when I say an LA fan, I don't necessarily mean the Dodgers, although I've had a Dodgers hat since I went to my first game, in Chavez Ravine, in 1987, on free hat day. I'll see if I can explain.

I have a fascination with the city of angels. I lived in the San Fernando Valley for a few years and before that Santa Barbara, and Hollywood. And while I was there I tried to soak it all up, and do something that Philip Marlowe was able to do, wrap my arms around LA.

If you've lived in LA, of course you know that you can't really do that, and I doubt that it was even possible back in the 1940s, when Raymond Chandler wrote about it. LA is a city with a long history, and even if you were to call it "the Pueblo" you'd just be scratching the surface. I started my history adventuring there, and will often mention that many people had no idea that LA was any older than the Sherman Oaks Galleria. I used to track the route of the Big Red Cars, which originally went down Sherman Way.

So, you can talk to me about the neighborhood in Chavez Ravine that was displaced for the stadium, but don't ask me anything about the Dodgers - the only name that I recall is Fernando Valenzuela, and not much about him. I never watched a game on TV, or listened on the radio, and even the game that I attended in 1987 is hazy, and my only memory of it is eating a Dodger dog, and getting a free hat.

I used to wear my Dodgers hat all of the time when I moved back to Phoenix, but I noticed that it irritated people the way that I'd never seen in LA. You could wear any logo at all, and fly any flag, and people in LA would hardly notice. I could have worn a chicken suit into the local 7-11 in Canoga Park, and I doubt that anyone would have lifted any eyebrow. But I prefer blue to yellow!
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