It was difficult, nearly impossible, in fact.

It was nearly impossible to refrain from posting a scathing article about being lied to and mislead by Dodger President and CEO Stan Kasten and Sr. Vice President of Planning and Development Janet Marie Smith – lied to face to face, no less.

I was told in person about the great enhancements made at Dodger Stadium during this past off-season – over $100 million in enhancements; and I saw them. Heck, I was even shown most of these absolutely incredible enhancements personally by both Stan and Janet Marie themselves along with a small group of fellow writers on Friday, March 29. I even wrote a detailed article about most of the state-of-the-art improvements made to my 51-year-old stadium; that’s right, my 51-year-old stadium. I have been coming to Dodger Stadium since April 10, 1962 – the day that it opened.

The new video boards in the pavilions are unquestionably the most beautiful enhancements made at Dodger Stadium. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

But what wasn’t show to us on March 29, the same day that the Dodgers would play their very first game in their newly renovated ballpark against the faux L.A. baseball team a few hours later, was that the pavilions, including the Left Field Pavilion where I have been a season ticket holder for a decade and where I have been watching Dodger games from since the day that Dodger Stadium opened, had “huge new restrooms.”

And while I was told about the lovely petunias in the pavilions and most certainly about the absolutely unbelievable new video boards that stood proudly above the respective pavilion roofs, the part about the huge new restrooms in the pavilions was a boldfaced lie. They weren’t huge at all… well, at least not the men’s room. The ladies rooms (yes, I said rooms with an “s”) were definitely huge, but this new so-called huge men’s room had exactly four urinals and three stalls in it.

Are you kidding me? Four urinals for a pavilion that seats 2,000 people?
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

I couldn’t believe what I saw.

The old pavilion men’s rooms were easily four times larger than this literal water closet. It wasn’t uncommon for the old “trough” to accommodate a dozen (or more) men at the same time and there was rarely (if ever) a line waiting outside to use the facilities.

The infamous LFP trough – crude but extremely effective.

In my article about the stadium enhancements, I mentioned (tongue in cheek) that I would have preferred to have seen the money spent on the petunias in the pavilion used for additional urinals instead. Little did I know how true this statement was until the home opener against the hated Giants on Monday, April 1. During that game and more specifically in the later innings of that game when the “beer effect” kicked in, the line waiting to use the four pavilion urinals was, at times, 100 deep – or longer, and this is not an exaggeration. There wasn’t a security officer or guest services employee (usher) who wasn’t bombarded with complaints about this absolutely deplorable condition. I was even told that there were a few (obviously intoxicated) fans (and I use that word loosely) who actually relieved themselves in the sinks! If that doesn’t make you nauseous, nothing will, not to mention that the L.A. County Health Department might frown on it a bit.

This photo of the opening day line of people waiting to use the new LFP men’s room was taken during a lull. At times during the day it was more than 100 people long. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

To their credit, the pavilion employees took the verbal abuse about these inexcusable conditions exceptionally well and politely recommended that patrons should contact the Dodgers Hot Line to voice their complaints – and I can only imagine how many complaints were lodged.

Having spent about an hour with Janet Marie the Friday before, I sent her an email when I returned home from the opening day game (hey, she gave me her business card) and I respectfully told her about the deplorable conditions. Within minutes, Janet replied to my email (I neglected to mention that both Janet and Stan Kasten are extremely serious about this stuff) informing me that they are well aware of the conditions and are working on a solution.

Well, it didn’t happen overnight; in fact, it didn’t happen until the sixth game (and third sell-out) of the season, but at Sunday’s sold out game against the Pirates, Janet Marie and Stan’s solution was unveiled – they made the spacious ladies room adjoining the tiny men’s room (located near the Dodgers bullpen) also a men’s room and kept the other spacious ladies room (located on the centerfield side of the LFP) as a ladies room. And while the “new” men’s room does not have any urinals in it (yet, I suspect), the additional 12 stalls significantly and immediately relieved the long lines (pun intended).

Thank you Janet Marie and Stan; thank you for listening to us little people out in the pavilions – where your most loyal Dodger fans are located…

…just as they were on April 10, 1962.