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15.175 Giants Dog

katch4246

Cycle 15 – Item 175

28 (Fri) June 2024

Giants Dog

2.5

from Doggie Diner

at Oracle Park

-San Francisco, California, USA-

with the Family

Summer Holiday in USA (Day 3 of 11)

In the San Francisco Bay Area.  With the Family.  Their first time in Northern California.  The immediate objective is to escort DJ and three of his friends to compete in the finals of a global logic competition at Stanford University, while taking advantage of the opportunity to show the family my hometown/region, including San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Berkeley, and visit my best friend Hahn, who lives in Los Altos, maybe even drop by my childhood home in Saratoga.  The itinerary is packed, nearly every hour scheduled with activities.  Stay tuned.

First three nights at a hotel in downtown San Francisco.

LUNCH

Yank Sing (see also Yank Sing) is a Chinese restaurant.  Specializes in dimsum.  Founded 1958 – currently 2 locations, both on the outskirts of Chinatown.  Recognized by the Michelin Guide (2023) (see Best Chinese Restaurants in San Francisco) (same list as Harborview Restaurant & Bar, from Day 1).

Located on 49 Stevenson Street, about 645 m from the hotel.

For lunch on Day 2, the plan was not only to eat dimsum (which we have in Korea) but to do so at a place where the dishes are piled high and served directly from pushcarts (which we don’t have in Korea).  By the same logic as with Harborview: “rather than venturing deep into Chinatown, where the truly authentic joints would be, I wanted to play it safe at a place that was fancy, famous, mainstream – a place that would appeal to affluent white people (and tourists).” Yank Sing fit the bill perfectly.

Packed to capacity, all (presumably) affluent white people (and tourists).

The food was good, though otherwise unremarkable.

If nothing else, the family seemed amused by the opportunity to see the dishes before deciding whether to try them.

With tax and tip, the bill came out to $230.12, $150.12 more than the allocated budget for lunch.  Maybe the exorbitant dimsum prices in Korea aren’t so bad (see for example 14.271 Dimsum).

TOUR

After lunch, after shopping, the afternoon schedule called for a visit to SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) – according to the website: “one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the United States.”

But first, a quick nap back at the hotel.

Located on 151 3rd Street, about 160 m from the hotel.

I woke up around 1615 and checked my email to retrieve the e-tickets, only to realize that the museum closed at 5pm on Fridays (originally planned to visit yesterday, on Thursday, when it closed at 8pm, and I’d assumed the same operating hours every day).

We scrambled to get up and out the door, ran down the street, and entered the museum at 1635, just 25 minutes before closing.

Art of Noise – described as “a multi-sensory ode to how design has changed the way we’ve experienced music over the past 100 years” – the featured exhibit of the summer.
Concert posters and album covers, many from the colorful decades of the 1960s-1970s.
I spent the summer of 1989 in New York City, where the highlight of music shopping was buying LL Cool J’s new album Walking With a Panther (see top left) (Public Enemy’s 12″ single “Fight the Power,” from the soundtrack of the Spike Lee film (“joint”) Do the Right Thing, was a close second).

As I was trying to explain to the boys the significance of the boombox to my generation, they didn’t get it; accustomed to listening to music on their tiny iPhone speakers, the concept of volume is alien to them – “But why does music need to be loud?”  Not just about being loud, the boombox in some form was how all kids back then accessed music, some combination of cassette tape or radio or songs from the radio recorded onto cassette tape or mix tapes(if you had a dual tape player).

“Walkin’ down the street to the hardcore beat, while my JVC vibrates the concrete!” – from “Radio” by LL Cool J.

Speaking of Fight the Power, imagine how many D batteries must’ve been used to power boomboxes on the go – do they even sell D batteries any more?

Technics SL-1200MK – the most popular turntables used by DJs across the world, to this day – the same model that I use.

I was very disappointed by the dearth of holdings in the museum – not a single Picasso or Rothko, though I might’ve missed them rushing through the place in 25 minutes.

Oil on Canvas (1970) by Whanki Kim.

ENTERTAINMENT

The San Francisco Giants is my favorite MLB baseball team.  As an undergrad at Cal in the mid-1990s, I listened to their games on the radio or watched them on TV almost daily.   In 1996, while volunteering at Slant, an Asian-American student magazine, I interviewed Wendell Kim, the Giants’ 3rd base coach, at Candlestick Park (technically, “3Com Park” due to a name licensing deal) before a game with the San Diego Padres.  Arriving at the stadium and entering through the press entrance, I took a wrong turn in the hallways and ran into Bruce Bochy, then manager of the Padres, later manager of the Giants during their World Series victories in 2010, 2012, and 2014, who pointed me in the direction of the home clubhouse.  Later, I took a photo with 3rd baseman Matt Williams, my favorite player at the time.  Attended countless games at the stadium, usually arriving a couple hours in advance on weekend games to tailgate in the parking lot.  Through my law schools years at USC, I followed the team actively until the 2002 season, when they lost the World Series to the Anaheim Angels, which devastated me.  When I went back to Korea in 2003, I lost interest (back then, accessibility to games from Korea was difficult).

Never had a chance to see the Giants in their new downtown stadium, originally “Pacific Bell Park,” now “Oracle Park,” where they began playing in 2000, when I was in LA.

Located at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, about 1.4 km from the hotel.

By sheer luck, the Giants were in town this weekend.  Even better, playing their hated cross-state archrivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

God, how I detest the Dodgers (confession: when I was a kid growing up in the South Bay, I was a die-hard Dodger fan, during the days of Steve Garvey, Fernando Valenzuela, and Dusty Baker, who would later manage the Giants at the peak of my fandom, ending with the World Series loss in 2002).

The best part of living in LA during law school was going to watch the Giants when they played at Dodger Stadium.

The enormous Giants Dugout store – if we’d had more time, probably would’ve spent $1,000.

Even before the game, the energy in the city was palpable.  Without visitor parking, fans were on the streets, Orange and Black everywhere, mixed in with Dodger Blue, walking or bussing or Ubering, crowds surging in front of the stadium as game time approached.  Familiar chants of “LET’S GO GIANTS!  LET’S GO GIANTS!” followed by “BEAT LA!  BEAT LA!” interspersed with “FUCK THE DODGERS!  FUCK THE DODGERS!”  This was the beauty of a downtown ballpark, especially on a weekend night, especially against the fucking Dodgers.  Absolutely loved it.

Leading off for the Dodgers: Shohei Otani.

Tickets for game, in the upper deck, cost us $458.92.

I seem to recall upper deck tickets costing somewhere around $10, back in the day.

$19

So out of touch with MLB, hadn’t been aware of the National League adopting the designated hitter rule, which is an abomination.

I was vaguely aware of the pitch clock rule, which is fine, and the put-a-runner-on-second-to-start-extra-innings rule, which is dumb.

Doggie Diners can be found at multipole locations, serving the most traditional baseball stadium concessions, like hotdogs and beers.

Recalling the hype back when the new stadium had opened, one big attraction was the expanded food and drink options, beyond just hotdogs and beers.  Currently, Oracle Park offers, in addition to hotdogs and beers: garlic fries, chicken wraps, crab sandwiches, tacos, pizza, poke, “impossible” burgers, gyros, po’boys, lumpia, nachos, flavored popcorns, sundaes, and countless varieties of cocktails and wines.

Likely the first and last time to feature Coors Light on GMTD – did it to get the cup.

Started off with hotdogs and beers, fully intending at some point to explore other options, but getting out of the seat was a hassle and the game was good, so that was that.

The Giants Dog wasn’t very good, the hotdog itself rather bland, especially in comparison to the Polish Dog and All Beef Hot Dog.

Ballpark Nacho (2.0): didn’t taste very good, but filling, not a bad value for $6.29.

After the 7th inning stretch, when the Giants were up 3-2, I left my seat to get a look at the stadium from different angles.

The cable car that we took yesterday from Union Square to Fisherman’s Wharf is the Powell & Market line – this cable car, reportedly, once had a sign reading “No Dodger Fans Allowed.”
Levi’s Landing, behind right field, where fans can get SRO (Standing Room Only) tickets for around $10.
McCovey Cove, named for Hall-of-Famer Willie McCovey, where boats and canoes wait to retrieve a “splash hit” homerun – the stadium was built this way to take advantage of superstar Barry Bonds‘s penchant for hitting HRs to right field – he was the first to do it in May 2000, and went on to record 35 in total (104 splash hits by Giants to date) (second on the list is Brandon Belt with 10).

Late drama in the game.  As I was making my way back, top of the 9th inning, the Dodgers tied the game 3-3 on a misplayed drive to center, leading to a triple, followed by a sac fly to score the tying run.  Bottom of the 9th, with a man on 1st base, 2nd baseman Brett Wisely, who until that moment had only hit 3 career homeruns, hit a walk0ff homerun to win the game (if the ball hadn’t hit a column on Levi’s Landing, it might’ve been a splash hit).  I saw him hit the ball on the monitor and ran into the stands just in time to see the ball go over the fence.  Epic.

Might be the first time that I’ve seen a walkoff homerun in person.

Everyone loved the experience, especially IZ, who previously had known almost nothing about baseball and is now inspired to learn more about it.

With great fondness, I recall taking DJ to his first ballgame 8 years ago (see 7.128 Jwipo & Peanuts).

By good fortune, it was also Fireworks Night, made all the more special with the dramatic victory, against the fucking Dodgers.

Earlier in the game, they announced the death of Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda and observed a moment of silence.

Just 10 days earlier, Hall of Famer Willie Mays – arguably the best all-around baseball player of all time – had died.  To signify how important he is to Giants history, the entire block that hosts the stadium is named after him (Willie Mays Plaza); the street address is 24 (24 Willie Mays Plaza), his jersey number.  #24 was retired by the Giants (no future Giant can use it) (Barry Bonds, who happens to be Mays’s godson, tried to use it upon joining the team (he had worn #24 with Pittsburg Pirates, in honor of Mays), and got his godfather’s blessing to do so, but public outcry put an end to it; Bonds eventually wore #25, which has since been retired).  A bronze statue of Mays stands at the entrance to the ballpark, front and center.  (McCovey and Cepeda also have retired jersey numbers and statues.)

What bugs me about this photo is the Dodger fan in the frame.

What a perfect evening.  First time at Oracle Park.  Against the fucking Dodgers.  Saw Otani at bat.  Dramatic win, walkoff homerun.  Orlando Cepeda dies (not a good thing per se, but significant).  Fireworks.  If only the food had been better.

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See also RESTAURANTS IN USA)

(See also BOOZE)

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