With the beat of “California Love” still in the air, throngs of Dodgers faithful walked away from their team’s victory parade in a celebratory. albeit mellow, mood.
LAPD reported more than 225,000 blue-clad people packed Downtown and the route to the party at Dodger Stadium. Post-parade, fans toted their signs (“I love Kike” and “You put respect back in our name”), coolers, jackets and assorted blue gear, and followed the path of metal barricades meant to control exit paths around the area. Cars drove by tooting their horns or blasting music.
While there was no final word on arrests and incidents, police confirmed that one person was taken into custody near Figueroa Street and Olympic Boulevard for allegedly throwing a bottle toward law enforcement officers. The low level of incidents proved a stark, but happy, contrast to what happened downtown the night the Dodgers clinched their eighth World Series title, when a Metro bus was destroyed and fireworks were thrown at police.
Assistant Chief of the LAPD Blake Chow outlined a safety plan the day after the Dodgers win, including deploying high-visibility patrol units.
According to the city’s Emergency Operations Center, 23 people received medical assessments during the parade and stadium celebration, and four people were taken to hospitals for undisclosed reasons.
But for the most part, the post-parade mood was easygoing.
At Grand Park, people picked up the blue confetti at Grand Park and threw them up for photos. Others hung out to watch parade coverage on a big screen.
Police officers in Dodgers caps and firefighters sitting on top of their fire engines waved to passersby and obliged some by hoisting L.A. flags in the air, to cheers and photos, of course.
People lined up at the Historic Broadway Metro station fretted about the line to load their TAP cards but most spent the time taking photos. Screens flashed wait times for trains: 8 minutes for Azusa. The long lines at Metro stations seemed to prove most parade goers did heed advice to take public transportation. Final ridership numbers won’t be ready until Monday, Metro officials said.
At Dodger Stadium, long lines to buy merchandise didn’t deter Beatrize Ramirez from Upland.
“It was hardly worth the wait,” Elijah Hauffen said of seeing the double decker buses with Dodger players and their families roll slowly pass. “But at least we can say we were here.”
For a moment, Hauffen and his college friends couldn’t find the car. When they did, they found a whole lot of traffic, too. Intersections around the parade route were congested and gridlocked immediately after the celebration at Dodger Stadium let out.
Many fans followed Mayor Karen Bass’ recommendation to make a day of it and support local downtown businesses. Revelers crowded Grand Central Station and nearby bars and restaurants, washing the scene in Dodger blue.
Conversations from people walking around included mention of tacos and Philippe’s French dip sandwiches.
“It was awesome,” she said about the celebration, “we really all came out to celebrate.”
A fan of first baseman Freddie Freeman, Ramirez said she was excited to see him take the stage.
“He was amazing since Game 1 and back-to-back all the way,” she said. “It was well deserved for him and everyone.”
Rafael Gomez of Covina also liked hearing Freeman and outfielder Kike Hernandez.
“An amazing outcome,” Gomez said of the day. “I couldn’t have asked for a better turn out and then coming to the event.”
Gomez was in New York for Game 3 of the World Series, admitting to some jet lag but otherwise ready to celebrate.
Freddy Chulo from San Clemente said the diversity of Dodger fans, from those wearing Dodger “Pride” jerseys to those highlighting FIlipino heritage, was great to see. Dodger Nation came out and made their team proud.
“We waited four years for this,” Chulo said. “I think that it brought all of Los Angeles together as a whole.”
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