Today is the 50th anniversary of the opening of Dodger Stadium. These images from the USC Digital Library show the stadium’s progress from concept to construction site to sports venue.
To learn more about the history and controversial origins of Dodger Stadium, see L.A. as Subject’s post from last April, “A History of L.A.’s Baseball Stadiums: Stars, Angels, the Battle for Chavez Ravine.”
1970 aerial view of Dodger Stadium, looking south toward downtown Los Angeles. The Dodgers celebrate the stadium’s 50th anniversary tomorrow.
On this day in 1958: Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley (center) visits the Rose Bowl with National League President Warren Giles (left) and Pasadena City Manager Don C. McMillan (right).
With the Dodgers scheduled to move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles for the 1958 season, but with Dodger Stadium still years away from completion, O’Malley considered using Pasadena’s Rose Bowl as the team’s temporary home field. O’Malley eventually opted for another football stadium, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where the Dodgers played from 1958 to 1961.
Pasadena’s public information officer recently blogged about the Dodgers’ aborted move to the Crown City.
Baseball’s World Series comes to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on this day in 1959 as the Los Angeles Dodgers host Game 3 against the Chicago White Sox.
It was the first World Series ever played on the West Coast, and the only to be played in the Coliseum. (The Dodgers moved to Dodger Stadium in 1962.) The Dodgers would go on to win the series in six games.
