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By Keith Thursby
Photograph by Ray Graham / Los Angeles Times
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| Project manager Ted Little stands at the edge of the bowl being excavated in Chavez Ravine, Dec. 11, 1958,
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Turns out the Dodgers considered some Space Age concepts when
building Dodger Stadium. Anyone for a ride on the Dodger monorail up to
the ballpark? George Jetson would have been right at home.
Dick Walsh, a former Angels general manager who was director of
stadium operations for the Dodgers during the stadium’s construction,
has a revealing interview with Robert Schweppe on walteromalley.com
that includes details about what might have been.
How wild were some of the ideas? Several involved
transportation–along with the monorail the Dodgers considered a bridge
overpass and a stadium tram. And don’t forget the drive-in ticket
window.
Inside the ballpark, they considered placing advertising on the
outfield fences and infrared heating for seats on the field level.
According to Walsh, outfield ads were rejected because Walter O’Malley
decided, "We’re going to keep the stadium pure."
Putting some seats on rollers to accommodate football was another
idea. Walsh told Schweppe that Rams owner Dan Reeves "had talked to us
about having his football club play in the stadium. Big discussions
about that went on. Walter’s position was that ‘it was a baseball
stadium. I’m not going to do that.’ "
How about a series of Dodger monuments similar to the tributes in
Yankee Stadium? Location and visibility problems made that difficult,
Walsh said.
It’s fun to think of the possibilities, but one of Dodger Stadium’s
best assets has been its simplicity. I’m showing my age here, but I’ve
never been a fan of ballparks that bombard you with everything but the
ballgame. But I sure would have liked that monorail.
Here’s a link to the story. http://www.walteromalley.com/feat_walsh_index.php
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ladailymirror.com 
Photoshopped? It almost looks like an architect’s conceptual drawing!
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Thanks for the great photos!
That monorail would be very useful today.
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I think Dick Walsh’s comments on the O’Malley website are spot on about a monorail being too cost prohibitive for a one sport facility like Dodger Stadium (how many events a year is the Stadium actually used for?)
I think what prompted these monorail considerations by Mr. O’Malley was the lack of any access to Dodger Stadium other than by automobile or bus.
At least, O’Malley tried. Don’t know what to say about the current owner.
Given Frank McCourt’s big plans for Chavez Ravine (pre financial meltdown), it would have been nice if some similar consideration had be given for some sort of fixed guideway people mover (a euphemism for monorail). Maybe even something from the Chinatown Gold Line Station. Or is the new development strickly to entice more auto traffic into the Chavez Ravine parking lots and planned parking structures?
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