826LA Good Times

There’s a sports monument right outside of 826LA. In fact, it’s right on Sunset Boulevard. Echo Park’s Walk of Fame honors local sports figures, and the Good Times journalists took a stroll down the Walk and then found out more about the people being honored.

Roy Campanella by Alanis

Roy Campanella (a.k.a. “Campy”) was a human who was the catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the ’40s and ’50s. He is on the Echo Park Walk of Fame because he was a good player and played in the Negro Leagues and the Mexican Leagues before playing in the Major Leagues with Jackie Robinson. He was also in the Major League Hall of Fame and won three MVPs. He only played for the Brooklyn Dodgers because he had an automobile accident before the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles. We walked to Sunset Blvd., and when I heard his name, I thought about the movie The Sandlot: Heading Home.

Echo Park Plaques by Josephine

We went outside. We had some paper and crayons, and we colored some plaques in front of 826LA. One of them was for a golfer (Ralph Guldahl), one was for a runner (Jesse Owens) and one was for a baseball player (Roy Campanella). I’d never heard of Ralph Guldahl before. He played golf. He lived in Los Angeles. He’s on the Echo Park Walk of Fame because he was really good at playing golf. He won in Santa Monica in 1931. He was born in Dallas, Texas.

The plaques are called Avenue of the Athletes. That should be the name of the street. L. Andrew Castle put the plaques on Avenue of the Athletes so people would come to the shops in Echo Park. He had a camera shop. Avenue of the Athletes is on Sunset between Elysian Park Blvd. and Alvarado St. The plaques were made in 1974. There are 32 plaques on Avenue of the Athletes.

Taking a cue from Huey Lewis and the News’s best-selling album from 1983, the 826LA Good Times‘ staff of Echo Park tackles the issue of Sports in its latest edition. Our dutiful writers each took time to remember memories they have of playing sports—both good and bad. Here’s what they came up with:

• I used to be in a baseball team and got hit by the ball three times. First I was hit during a game, then I was hit during practice, and then in another game. I also tripped in practice once, and a person almost stepped on me.
• I remember when I was at my cousin’s house, and he kicked a ball in my face. I had a black eye for a week, and I was bleeding. But I didn’t go to the doctor.
• I remember when I was in school, and teams were being picked. One team chose all the good players, while the other team got all the lousy people. I was one of the lousy people. The game went badly for the lousy people.
• I found out that my school’s kickball and handball courts were slightly changing. The scary thing is my school, Dahlia Heights Elementary, never really changes. The only improvement I’ve ever noticed was the tetherball/handball court was under renovation last year. It turns out that the court’s wall paint was fading, and the kickball fence was bending. The more everything is used, the more it changes.

Unusual Sports

Good Times journalists Nickie and Marsden both know the conventional sports: baseball, football, et al. But what really caught their interest was the unconventional. The two did some research to dig up unusual sports played around the world.

• Man vs. Horse: In this sport, probably three-fourths of the time the horse will win the race.
• Wife Carrying: Hopefully it’s a short race. Do the guys ever drop the girls?
• Bog Snorkeling: The name says it all. Do you think the water is thick or smooth?
• Toe Wrestling: Again, the name says it all. It must be hard though. Feet don’t exactly move like hands.
• Fist Ball: It’s exactly like volleyball, except you don’t hit the ball the same way. It’s probably a good game for violent types.

Huey Lewis

And for our readers who are old enough to remember Huey Lewis, here’s a synth-filled blast-from-the-past track from the Sports album: “Walking on a Thin Line.”

Walking On A Thin Line (24-Bit Digitally Remastered 99) – Huey Lewis And The News