Over 11 years and 570 episodes, John Rabe and Team Off-Ramp scoured SoCal for the people, places, and ideas whose stories needed to be told, and the show became a love-letter to Los Angeles. Now, John is sharing selections from the Off-Ramp vault to help you explore this imperfect paradise.
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Imagine getting lost in Dodger Stadium before the cell phone age. It's 1989. Your friend, the one in the Kirk Gibson jersey, said he'd meet you in front of the bathrooms near the right field pavilion. But look around: everyone has a Kirk Gibson jersey. It's three innings before you and your friend reunite.
To go to a Dodger game — especially on Opening Day — is to be surrounded in a sea of blue. But even at the most packed games, some people stand out.
Robert Rocha is probably one of the hardest fans to miss. For Opening Day, he dyed his enormous mohawk blue and stencils a white "LA" logo in the middle of it. "I've been doing my hair in mohawk style, probably for like five years," he said. "The bigger the hair, the bigger the heart."
Rocha — also known as Bluehawk — runs a popular Instagram with a little under 4,000 followers. He said it takes about an hour to get his hair styled. "It used to take me a lot longer until I got the science down," he said. "It's chemistry, you know? There's heat, there's coolness."
Other fans stand out for totally different reasons. Angel Perez came all the way from San Diego to root for the Padres, the Dodgers opponents on Opening Day. He wore a brown Padres jersey — not unlike this one.
"It feels a little awkward. I haven't seen that many Padre fans — maybe less than ten," he said. He acknowledged he'd gotten a couple of glares but was careful to add that the atmosphere wasn't that hostile. "It feels great, supporting my team, coming out from San Diego for the game."
On almost any given game day, you can find Bobby Crosby in the Left Field Pavilion. Crosby is a lifelong Dodgers fan and has held season tickets since 1997. Crosby also runs a popular Youtube channel where he films himself catching home runs. "The key is — it's just muscle memory and practice. Knowing where your hand is supposed to be, vaguely hoping, while your eyes never leave the ball," he said.
Crosby's caught hundreds of home runs during batting practice — on Opening Day he caught one from third baseman Juan Uribe. But he's only caught one during a game — a home run from Pittsburgh Pirate center fielder and former MVP Andrew McCutchen. Crosby hopes to catch a home run from a Dodgers player, but hasn't yet.