on the 4th of July…Dodger Stadium
My freind Tim has a great back yard,
It’s a parking lot, a buffer of trees and a view of Dodger Stadium.
Tim called a friend and got us some nosebleed seats for the fourth.
We walked through Elysian Park to the entrance of the stadium.
It was a nice walk over there all cool with a little breeze; and it was dusk so all the surrounding mountains had a purple color.
I’ve learned the purple comes from the smog released that day.
We had a good time. Little of it had to do with the actual game. We did see a really good triple run though. Tim missed it because he was at the concession stand buying sodas. I had a tiny bottle of Jim Beam to help out the aspartame in my diet coke. A method I learned from Larry.
The Dodgers won 11-2.
A song was sung, then they opened the gates to the field.
Thousands of people descended on the field with blankets and towels. They were rushing to claim a few square feet of grass for the fireworks display.
It was the first communal display I’d seen in a really long time.
Especially, coming from Vicksburg, MS.
Sidebar:
You know, Vicksburg was where the Union soldiers overtook the town on the 4th. There was no communal celebration for that day ever since.
Sometimes there would be a small fireworks display out at the High School. A drive-in sort of celebration where people would line up and remain in their cars.
A few gratuitous rockets would go off. A red burst, a white burst, a blue burst, a couple of whistles and then whatever they had left all at once.
Then, people would go back home and shoot off bottle rockets and roman candles they bought at corner stands.
Poetdoc probably remembers a lot of bottle rockets shoved into mailboxes and anthills. The most these ever did was leave burn marks and make fireants even more hostile.
My brother and his friends, however, managed to set an overgrown lot on fire with sparklers and roman candles one time.
“It was daytime so the sparks were hard to see,” I believe was the final, agreed upon excuse.
No harm done.
It actually made for an exciting day for the fire dept. and neighborhood Moms.
Back to Dodger Stadium:
So there we were, Tim, his friend Sara, and myself taking it all in. It was a well put together display that lasted about 40 minutes.
All set to appropriate music.
John Cougar Mellencamp’s “pink houses”
Neil Diamond’s “America” an admitted guilty pleasure.
I know I’m not alone because I think Larry and Linda are proud owners of the 45 record!
The display was set off in a nearby parkiing lot and was loud.
They had to turn the music up to cover the sound of car alarms going off everywhere. I was quite amused by this.
A small child next to me covered his mouth with his hand in horror. He’d look at me then put his arm out for the woman sitting 2 people over. He was trying to get a far away as possible and figuring out that the safety of his mother’s or sister’s arms wasn’t helping so much. Poor little guy, he definitely wasn’t digging it. I think eventually they gave him some candy.
The display kept going on and on. Really good high quality stuff.
What really appealed to me was being able to see other town’s displays. We were facing east so I guess we could see Pasadena, Burbank, and East L.A.
They were at least 4 other displays going on at the same time.
All three of us dug it.
It was nice to be part of a unified event and to have a day off:
you know, from the messages we’re bombarded with everyday.
from filtered news that is more entertainment than news.
from the the fatigue of feeling rather powerless but tapped; talked at but unheard by our politicians.
Kinda reminds me of calling 1-800-Holiday.
Anyway, it was nice for once in a really long time.
The 4th actually seemed like the 4th again.
As we walked back to Tim’s there were all sorts of neighborhood fireworks displays going off. It filled the city with smoke and that burned smell of paper and gunpowder. A couple of police helicopters flew over with the spotlights.
They reminded us of where we were and the times of which we lived.
We kept walking.
The 3 of us ended up at a nearby lounge that had one of those neon signs that says ‘cocktails’ with an arrow pointing to the door. We settled in a booth and watched people interact.
We finished our evening with a discussion about dating in Los Angeles.
A perfect reality check.
It was now 1am, July 5th. Time to think about work.
We said goodbye, I recycled everyone’s little ariplane bottles and went to sleep.
What did you guys do on the fourth?
Thanks for checking in.
Stephen A. Thomas
July 15th, 2006 at 3:07 pm
Hilarious! Hell, the 4th was on Tuesday; I got quietly drunk and watched some movies. That’s almost every night, actually. They didn’t do fireworks at the mall this year; they did them over the reservoir somewhere. My walls didn’t shake! They did them Friday, though, which was stupid. My neighbors’ kids want to be your brother, though. They were out in force. Actually, some of the “kids” were in their 40s.
I wish they called me Tater Salad.