Chat & Selfie:  On Vinny, Jaime, Waze and how to avoid parking lines at Dodger Stadium

Sportswriter Molly Knight and the California section’s Jason Song recently hung out in the Gold Room near Chavez Ravine, day drinking and talking about city life, Waze and Knight’s book: “The Best Team Money Can Buy: The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Wild Struggle to Build a Baseball Powerhouse.” We later emailed the Whittier native questions and crunched the conversation into this:

After Zack Greinke, who has the best hair in L.A.?

No one. He is the top 10.

How would L.A. be different if the Dodgers had never colonized Chavez Ravine?

It’s hard to imagine what L.A. would be like if the Dodgers [had] stayed in Brooklyn. When the Giants and Dodgers moved west, it helped legitimize California as part of the rest of the country. There’s something about driving up to the Ravine for a ballgame and watching pink clouds roll in over the hills behind the bleachers as the sun sets. It’s my favorite view in L.A.

How to avoid stadium parking lines?

The Scott Avenue entrance is my jam. It used to be open, then it was closed forever. Now it’s open again, but nobody knows about it. I don’t even think Waze or Mapquest know about it because there’s never any line. Everyone takes the Elysian Park gate from Sunset. Until now, I guess.

You once worked as a bartender. Best cocktail at Dodger Stadium?

I don’t get to drink while I’m working, but when I go as a fan I hit up the craft beer stand on the loge level. They have the old Stella standby, and even some local beers like Angel City and Golden Road. My friends swear by the Micheladas, but beer with tomato juice in it weirds me out.

Best place to catch a Dodger game on TV?

Nothing beats the Shortstop, which might be the greatest bar in America. Where else can you watch baseball on a projector screen in a room that turns into a disco immediately after the last out is recorded? I’m also dying to try that French restaurant Taix, because a French restaurant advertising the Dodgers on their marquee seems totally bizarre and right up my alley.

How has Dodger Stadium changed post-[Frank]McCourt?

For starters, the bathrooms are no longer disgusting. My guy friends no longer have to pee in troughs — I can’t believe that was an actual thing! The concourses are spotless, and the parking lot is lit up. I love how they built out those areas behind the bleachers, and put in new bars and restaurants and areas where people can sit over the bullpens — it’s fantastic. The new scoreboards are awesome too. But they still seriously need to fix the food. AT&T Park in San Francisco destroys Dodger Stadium in that department.

Do Vin Scully and Jaime Jarrin unite the city?

Vin is nationally recognized as a legend and revered like no other broadcaster. Jaime would have the same profile if all of America spoke Spanish. He is a poet. Kids in L.A. grow up today knowing their grandmothers and great-grandmothers huddled around radios and listened to both of those men decades ago. Los Angeles is still a relatively new city compared to most major world metropolises, and these two men have helped provide a soundtrack to its infancy and adolescence for millions. That continuity is so comforting.

What does the crowd at Dodger stadium say about L.A.’s race relations?

We have a long way to go improve the way much of America looks at young men of color, and while L.A. is diverse, it’s not as if racists and bigots don’t sit in the stands among us. That being said, one of the greatest things about the Dodgers is the team has the most diverse group of fans of any team. I’ve been to so many ballparks where the demographic skews 98% white and it’s really weird.

Should the city build a ski resort-style tramway from Union Station to the stadium and should each car have a bar in it like that Ferris wheel in Las Vegas? And should Frank McCourt have to pay for it?

Yes. And absolutely.