Imagining a Downtown Stadium

As close to Union Station as possible, so the freeway series can be renamed "the Metrolink series"

Does "five miles offshore at the bottom of the sea" count as Downtown?

Just East of the LA River in Lincoln Heights there are a bunch of warehouses and vacant lots along the Gold Line Rail. It's near the Old County Jail building. That area can use a new train station too.

Cornfield park.

as an echo park resident i dont want the stadium to move.

What about the area just NE of Union Station, where the jails are? A new Dodger Stadium on the banks of a restored Los Angeles River. Conveniently located next to a major transit hub.

how about bringing back the buses back to the dodger stadium and the shuttles from union station. Parking has been pretty gross. 40 minutes to get in the park coming from the fashion district?? Not so fun having season tickets this year.

Somewhere that allows a view of the Downtown skyline in the outfield, that has plenty of room for fireworks but still keeps most of the seats in the shade for daytime games.

You can solve two problems. Move the stadium right over the centrallized homeless facilities of skid row, utilize proposed light-rail and public transportation to get to the games, use the old site to build a master-planned community that includes moderate and affordable housing that can include homeless transitional programs and housing. Decentralize skid row!

Why? so you can complaint more?

You should check out the "LA NOW" Series produced by UCLA Dept. of Architecture and Urban Design and the Art Center. Ironically LA NOW vol. 3/4 (2003 & 2004), led by Thom Mayne principal at Morphosis dealt with this exact issue of what should you do with Elysian Park if Dodger Stadium was relocated. Proposed locations for a new Dodger Stadium included adjacent to Staples Center, left in place with Urban structures surrounding, the other located the stadium near the LA River at the cornfields.

Infrastructure (transit) and housing improvements were all considered. Its a bit over the top, but an interesting read.

Don't move the stadium at all.

Build an extension of the Red Line from Union Station to get to it. It's only about two miles. Give people discounts on Dodger tickets for using the Red Line to get there. Then perhaps some of the parking lots can be reclaimed for Elysian Park.

I think they should add a stop on the Gold Line at the entrance to Solano Canyon, then offer some sort of shuttle to the stadium... at least in the short term. It would make long term sense considering the Corn fields could be accessible from that stop.

A new Baseball Stadium in Los Angeles for the Dodgers (assuming they stay in L.A. upon eviction from Chavez Ravine) should go somewhere close to the Red Line (forget light rail lines like the Gold Line and forget buses) with the best freeway access possible.

How about on the west side of the L.A. River just south of Sixth Street. A serious redevelopment effort would be necessary involving more than just the stadium and some rezoning by the L.A. City bureaucracy would be required, but the Red Line would just require a short surface extension to the new Stadium from the current terminus at the Red Line facility on Santa Fe Ave. just south of First Street.

Freeway access? How about connecting to and from the East Los Angeles Interchange that connects to virtually every freeway that goes through Los Angeles.

The city has intentions of replacing the existing Whittier Blvd./Sixth Street Viaduct in the future anyway, so all the area streets could be redone as well and freeway access rearranged.

If not there, then as close to Staples Center in South Park as possible, near the Blue Line station on Flower and Pico.

Build it in South Park anywhere around the SBC Tower. There are blocks and blocks of surface lots and under-utilized low-density buildings/warehouses that should be razed. This would cluster the sports facilities in one are of the city while adding to the district's "entertainment" theme. Don't forget about the blue line!

Hmmm... interesting ideas. I don't want to see the ballpark moved away from downtown at all. My vote goes to the South Park area, as close to Staples as feasible. That area is developing into a major focal point for the entire city (though some westsiders still think the LA universe revolves around the Beverly Center area). Mass transit is there (Blue Line), and the Red Line subway could conceivably be extended there, LA Live will have a ton of support facilities and the skyline view over the outfield could be great. Setting aside issues of sun angles and so forth for a moment, that area has the best potential. Second choice would be near or in the Exposition Park area, although itis a bit too far south to be considered a downtown stadium. Third choice would be the Cornfield... though it is farther away from most of downtown.

Here's a radical idea - sort of like what Richard said - how about on the east side of downtown? I don't want to see a bunch of peopledisplaced and buildings torn down, but a stadium with mass transit connections directly to Union Station and the Gold Line extension, having compact, vertical parking and a close-in feel, would be great near Little Tokyo.

A comment on something someone else said...

As I understand it, the Dodgers own Dodger Stadium -- it's the incentive that brought the team here after Brooklyn.

So, assuming that morsel of knowledge is correct, there's no reason to fear the Dodgers will leave town because of a stadium move. They are in an excellent financial position in their present space, more than any other team in MLB with respect to facility revenue I suspect.

Thus, in order to make the move and have Chavez Ravine become part of Elysian Park, the City would have to buy the land from the Dodgers first.

And, since the City would likely want to own any newly constructed baseball stadium, I can't imagine this is something which is going to happen in the current economic climate -- especially when the City can't get a football stadium deal together to secure a NFL franchise.

It's fun to speculate and dream though given so many cities have recharged their urban core through updated sports venues.

Thus my second idea, working of the first, would be to put it on top of the Convention Center.

My third choice would be something near the NW corner of Alameda and Seventh with a Gold Line and Blue LIne Extension. There's a huge MTA bus yard there now and access to the 10/5 is not that far away...

I am going to say between Temple and the 110 freeway south of Alameda. Lots of single story ancient industrial on too small grid for up to date usage. Close to Union Station and the Gold Line Arts District Station. There is a huge DWP facility there, maybe it could be incorporated into the lower levels of parking. City wants to keep it industrial for the jobs, but a stadium would bring jobs, no?

The dodgers could redevelop the Chavez property to be a combo of residential and park. Paradise and lots of profits for the owners to make up for losing the parking income.

I liked the Cornfield idea. I think it is beyond hope now that a winner has been selected for the park design. Another idea would be across N Spring from the Cornfield in that aging industrial area.

Ben... true, it isn't too likely that a stadium movewill happen any time soon. However, if there continues to be problems with sewage flooding the Dodgers' home dugout and locker room area like happened in that ugly loss to Arizona on Monday evening, who knows... talk about a stinky situation!

err, I meant east of Alameda.

OH, I also meant the 101 freeway, (damn!)

So, Between Alameda and the river, between Temple and the 101. Looks like you could fit in two stadiums there. So there is room to negotiate.

Start building already.

A ballpark is not a guaranteed money maker, like a shopping mall or Condo / Hotel complex. What does the ballpark stadium do in the offseason when there are no baseball games ? Exactly, it becomes just a vacant lot. I'm sure other cities have had this problem too, and the reason why nobody is eager to build a stadium w/ our tax money. It is only useful for baseball... period.

What do they do with [baseball/football] stadiums on the offseason when there are no games?

Concerts, religious events, political rallies, giant tractor pulls,...anything an outdoor arena or stadium can manage. Pay the fee, hold the event. Dodger Stadium has strictly been a one sport (baseball) facility so they haven't had soccer games or football games. I wouldn't know if there have been any other sports events held there other than baseball games.

As far as new sports stadium construction has gone, L.A. is the exception, not the rule. A lot of new taxpayer subsidized or financed stadiums and arenas have gone up around the country in the last couple of decades. Maybe L.A. is sane and the rest of the country is insane. Maybe the NFL, MLB, and the NBA have too much political and economic clout.

With the exception of Staples Center and that new indoor arena at U.S.C., L.A.'s sports infrastructure is pretty old. The Coliseum and Rose Bowl were both built in the 1920's. After the Yankees and Nationals move into their new stadiums, Dodger Stadium will be the third oldest stadium used by a major league baseball team. The Sports Arena? Pauley Pavilion? The Forum? All forty years old or over.

Why was L.A.'s bid for the 2016 Olympics rejected? The same facilities for the 1984 Olympics were proposed to be used again in nine years.

The Dodgers have been in Chavez Ravine longer than they were at Ebbets Field. They have done a good job of maintaining their stadium, but the place is considered "obsolete" as far as baseball stadiums in the United States go. The Dodgers have three choices: (1) build a new stadium at Chavez Ravine, (2) build a new stadium elsewhere and leave Chavez Ravine, or (3) just continue on in the old stadium.

L.A. has attitude, if not much else.

Note: My earlier comment about "evicting" the Dodgers from Chavez Ravine was just a quip about how the City of L.A. seized the land from the previous property owners through eminent domain, ostensibly for the purpose of building public housing. I'm just having a hard time understanding how the City could just change its mind and give the 260+ acres to a professional baseball team in a swap for a thirty year old minor league baseball stadium in South Central L.A. that the City just tore down.

I'll correct an omission to the list of new sports facilities in the Los Angeles (not Orange County) area, before anybody else does. The Soccer Stadium and Tennis Facility built in the last couple of years by the Staples Center people down in Carson.

Nothing that would entice the NFL back into L.A.

Why not keep Dodger Stadium where it is and simply improve pedestrian access?

I say build a stairway.

Two Thursdays ago, my sons and I walked to Dodger Stadium from Chinatown. I think we were the only ones among 48,000 people in attendance to do so. In Chinatown, we walked over the pedestrian bridge at Yale Street and then hiked-up Stadium Way to Elysian Park Blvd. It took us about twenty-five minutes all told.

Had there been a stairway at Lilac Terrace to the stadium parking lot, it would have taken half the time.

Imagine a Dodgers stairway. They could even use it in publicity -- the team climbing up-and-down the stairs for exercise. Stair-climbing from downtown to Dodger Stadium could become "cool." A related idea -- the city could create a "Dodgers Way" from the Chinatown Gold Line Station, at Broadway and College, to the new stairway -- in-lay Dodgers logos in the pavers, on game nights use blue-lighting, make it special.

Building stairs is a $100,000 solution to a mega-million dollar parking problem.

I agree that improved pedestrian access to the present existing stadium site would be the most cost effective way to end Dodger Stadium's seeming isolation from Downtown. To those who scoff at the idea of walking into the stadium, let me assure you that plenty of people already enter the stadium by foot. Many people, both fans and stadium employees take the Sunset bus and get out at the Elysian Park Avenue stop. At least two generations of Angelenos have engaged in some parsimonious parking by leaving their cars in the surrounding streets and they jealously safeguard what they consider to be the best places to park before the game. Even the Dodgers themselves have enticed people to make the trudge up the hill by offering discounted parking in the parking lot on Stadium Way adjacent to the old Marine-Navy Recruit Depot.

However, improved pedestrian access from the east side of the stadium would be a real boon to the businesses in and around Chinatown and Olvera Street. The great, truly urban stadiums give fans the opportunity to go out and eat and drink before and after the game. I can only imagine what it would be like if Chinatown became our version of Wrigleyville or the Gas Lamp District.

I really like JP and Dennis Smith's suggestions for improving pedestrian access to the stadium. Enhancing the urban experience of the stadium would be a true boon to downtown. Excellent ideas.

Dodger Stadium isn't going anywhere unless they allow Frank McCourt to re-develop Chavez Ravine and I seriously doubt that's going to happen.

Chavez Ravine is a diamond in the rough. Rather then develop Wriglyville in Chinatown, I would think restaurants could be added to Chavez Ravine.

I totally agree on bringing back the buses and shuttles to Dodger stadium