The Driving Thread

Back in the '80s I remember playing football on a high school field with groundhog holes and another with cow poop.

 

That field wasn't always great because it is at a public park. Recreation Park is a block away from El Segundo High. First time I went there in 1971, it was a playoff game between El Segundo and St. Bernard, which isn't far away in Playa del Rey. El Segundo had George Brett and Scotty McGregor, plus plenty of other talented guys. Their all-world coach, John Stevenson, didn't start McGregor. St. Bernard's first two hitters went HR, 3B. In comes McGregor, who struck out 18 in a row to get through six innings. The original starter comes back for the seventh, and the first batter homers. Then he got them out. Ended up something like 5-2.

 

I fell in love with El Segundo today.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/oMgEUxrwnvZuAm3j6

Pretty sure I covered a playoff high school baseball game in El Segundo in '90 or '91 but can't remember which local team I was there for; would love to read the clip if it exists.

But I'd never driven through the city till today. Never realized just how close to El Segundo is to LAX and the ocean.

Immediately I felt like I was on Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach where the air blows in a little cooler and a little cleaner.

This put me in a good mood right away.



I drove to El Segundo to check out the new Los Angeles Times building, which sits in the shadow of the 105, which was built in 1993. I never drove the 105 till today.

Basically I wanted to attempt a tricky journalism maneuver called "The Chris Jones" where you show up out of the blue and go for the gusto trying to score a job.

Chris' story is that he showed up to Esquire at 250 W. 55th ... the security person said the EIC wasn't around ... but Chris said he'd wait in the lobby as long as it took.

The story continues that a janitor came up to Chris and told him that the EIC was around and to just be patient and that he'll get a shot.

I'm being free with the details but I believe Chris hung around and hung around and finally elbowed his way into the EIC's office and knocked his socks off and got the gig.

When I was in NYC for a few days in April 2016 I went to 250 W. 55th in search of that janitor ...



... but nobody at the desk had ever heard The Chris Jones story let alone some nobody janitor.

My plan today was to take some cool and funky photos of the Los Angeles Times sign and walk in to show any editor who might be impressed and hire me on the spot.

I parked in a lot beneath the 105 and walked to the island in the middle of the street and started taking photos of the signs.

I didn't really get a good shot, maybe a few decent ones, but the mojo wasn't there so I said fuck it and got back in the car and drove off.

The light turned red at Imperial and Douglas. I looked to the left rueing the day but hoping for one more chance .... and I got one sorta.



Now, is this a world class photo? Nope, not even close. But I loved being able to get the sun into the shot.

The light turned green and I made a left and that was the end of my chance to "Chris Jones" a gig at the Los Angeles Times. Oh well.

But I was in El Segundo and wanted to see if there was a field dedicated to George Brett.

Watched many Angels games on Channel 5 when they played the Royals. He got his 3,000th hit against the Angels.

And, obviously, the pine tar incident.

Here's something the Kansas City Star did on him:

George Brett was born in West Virginia but moved to El Segundo as a kid and graduated El Segundo High in '71, a few months before I was born.

Turns out El Segundo was purchased by Daniel Freeman, who was a big part of my existence as well, having built Daniel Freeman Hospital in Inglewood, which is where I was born.

Asked my phone for directions to George Brett Little League Field -- assuming there was one -- and lo and behold there is such a field.

It's a gorgeous field in a gorgeous recreation park within some of the most amazing hilly residential tracts I've ever driven through. I felt at home.

Before going to the field I drove around the streets for a few minutes.

Parked to watch planes take off in the distance ...



... and to appreciate old beautiful bombers like this Chrysler Newport Custom, I think from '68:



... and even capture a photo-bombing squirrel with a soft-baked chocolate chip cookie in its mouth:



It was time to head over to George Brett Field. Lots of photos in the link above. Here are a few I like:



When I was a boy in Long Beach I dreamed of pitching for the Dodgers. I played Little League but never pitched.





Asked a mailman where's a good place to eat, like a diner maybe, and he directed me to Main Street.

Fantastic Cafe was packed with students from El Segundo High, which is right down the street. It's their Peach Pit.

I ordered the No. 5 as a nod to the greatest ballplayer in the history of El Segundo ...

... although, they say, his big brother Ken was a much better player at El Segundo High and was the 4th overall pick in 1966, pitching 14 years in MLB.

There was nothing left of this ...



... so I hopped back on the 105 ... to the 405 ... to the 10 ... off at Robertson and that was that.

I love El Segundo. It's the most unassuming pretty little city I've ever been to.

Thankfully I didn't leave my wallet there.

 

Back in the day, Chevron built its SECOND refinery there and called it The Second, thus, El Segundo became the city's name.
Ken Brett was regarded as a better player than his brother George. Bobby was damn good, too. He eventually took his construction business to Spokane and is invests in minor league baseball and hockey. He owned the Spokane hockey team in the Western League, and the High Desert Mavericks in the Cal League until they folded/moved/disbanded by MLB.
On Main St. about 3 blocks south of El Segundo High is Big Mike's, my favorite sandwich shop until I moved.

 

Please don’t accept any offers to meet somebody in Temecula.

 

Three-digit interstate numbers are based off the parent route (in this case, the 5). Their direction doesn't matter.

 

The pre-105 surface street trick to LAX was always La Cienega to Pann's, eat a waffle, then right on La Tijera to Sepulveda.

Or La Cienega all the way south to Randy's Donuts, then right on Manchester to Sepulveda.

Reverse inbound.

 

Back in the day, my trick to LAX was to go north to Burbank Airport or south to John Wayne ….

 

Back before the earth cooled - when LAX was still a single-decker, before the '84 Olympics remodel - it was also the only place to catch transcontinental and/or international flights.

I am one thousand years old.

 

Every time @Songbird makes one of these posts, I keep picturing him wandering around LA while this song plays in the background.