Been to Brooklyn?

[EbtsFldGuy]

Almost a year ago I took my first visit to LA and to Dodger Stadium, in part to see the place where my Brooklyn Dodgers long ago went. I'm glad I did.

I now wonder whether any LA fans have come to Brookyn to see the place where the Dodgers began life as a franchise.

If any of you has been to the area where Ebbets Field once stood, I'd be interested in your reactions.

If any of you is considering doing so, I'd advise that you plan carefully (i.e. go in daytime, and with enough company to pose a deterrent to those with unwelcoming ideas), as the area is not always safe.

[DodgerBlue8188]

I've been to NYC the last 4 summers. Only reason why I haven't really checked out where the field stood is because I didn't think it was anything there to see.

Is it worth checking out? Is the area tourist friendly during the day? If it is worth checking out I'd like to go.


EDIT: Okay, i see the thing about going in the day because it's not very safe.

[EbtsFldGuy]

[QUOTE=DodgerBlue8188;1041723]
Is it worth checking out? Is the area tourist friendly during the day? If it is worth checking out I'd like to go.


Good question.

Seeing the area where 55 Sullivan Place once was obviously means more to those who were around when Ebbets Field was and remember what the park and area looked like pre-1958.

To others, I guess there is some historical value in seeing what it looks like now. But the area has little of interest. The only sign of EF is the marker on the Bedford Avenue apartment house that this is where EF was.

Other than that, the place looks like many other inner city housing projects. Nothing special - and certainly nothing to risk personal safety for.

[crzblue]

I've only been to New York once for a few days and no, I did not go see where E.F. was. I am planning on going next year to see Yankee Stadium (never seen it). I'd like to add going to where Ebbets Field used to be. Hopefully my friends will be open to a trip down memory lane there.

I will also return to Vero Beach next year which will be an emotional trip since that will be the Dodgers last trip there :-(.

[DodgerBlue8188]

I've only been to New York once for a few days and no, I did not go see where E.F. was. I am planning on going next year to see Yankee Stadium (never seen it). I'd like to add going to where Ebbets Field used to be. Hopefully my friends will be open to a trip down memory lane there.

I will also return to Vero Beach next year which will be an emotional trip since that will be the Dodgers last trip there :-(.

I was also thinking of going back down to VB in march. I was there in 2005. I just dont wanna have to drive down there. It's like 13 hour drive.

A question I forgot to ask. When you visit where EF used to be. Can you tell there was a baseball field there years ago?

[EbtsFldGuy]

I
A question I forgot to ask. When you visit where EF used to be. Can you tell there was a baseball field there years ago?

Another good question.

The only indications of that are three things, two in the immediate area and one about two blocks away:

1. The sign on the large housing complex that occupies the entire square block where EF stood (Bedford Avenue which was right field; Montgomery Street which was left field; McKeever Place, which was third base; and Sullivan Place, which ran along the first base side) that says "Ebbets Field Houses" ; and

2. The small plaque on the Bedford Avenue building which says something to the effect of this is the site where EF was.

3. On Flatbush Avenue, about two blocks away, there is an impressive tall mural on a building overlooking a subway station entrance which depicts EF artfully. I've long planned to take my camera there one day to shoot the mural. Perhaps I will some day, with enough company to assure safety.

When I first saw all of them, I was stirred a bit to remember the Dodgers' presence in the area, but also in part because I saw many physical indicators that are still there from pre-1958 (e.g. the upward slope of Bedford Avenue; the spot where the gas station and parking lot was across Bedford from the right field wall; some buildings still there after a half century).

On balance, though, there is not much to denote its historic value. Many writers have ventured there - including the late Don Drysdale, as he recounts in his 1987 book "Once a Dodger, Always a Bum". That book opens with his account of a return to the site of the Dodger offices on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights and also to Flatbush where EF was.

I guess the same is true with the sites of other abandoned parks. You would not want to go to some of them without good reason, I'd think, given the dangerous places they've become - e.g. the Polo Grounds site, and the area around Lehigh and 21st in North Philadelphia where Connie Mack Stadium stood until it burned down in 1976.

[ColtscorrAL]

I was seven when the Dodgers moved. I spent many a weekend in Ebbets Field with my mom and dad. As I type this post I'm looking at a framed picture I had taken with Jackie Robinson on the field on Camera Day at Ebbets Field as a six year old.

[Gary Dunaier]

I saw many physical indicators that are still there from pre-1958 (e.g. the upward slope of Bedford Avenue; the spot where the gas station and parking lot was across Bedford from the right field wall; some buildings still there after a half century).

The two large apartment buildings you could see beyond the right field wall - the one on Bedford Avenue, next to what was Young Motors - and the taller one on Stoddard Place - are still there. :)