Today was my first day on Landsdown Park since the big OSEG rebuild. I seem to think the last time was when Alex and I went to a '67s game -- and yep, it was 2011.) Since I had arrived nearby with some time to kill, I decided to take a walk around the site to see what's what.
The parking garage is unexpectedly narrow inside. It is all decked out with the same redlight/greenlight parking spot availability lights that are in the City Hall parking garage, except these are new enough to still be in service, resulting in a ceiling that is unexpectedly festive. Parking is more expensive than typical downtown is at $20 for the day. And the narrowness of the lanes caused a couple of other drivers -- in more than one instance -- to get in each other's ways, not to the point of collisions, but to the point where the drivers of the large pickup trucks were squealing their tires as they left the scenes.
Above ground everything seems to be exclusively paving stones ornately laid out with traffic lanes on them -- not exactly asphalt, but paradise paved nonetheless. The whole thing seemed to be laid out with the same crowd control tricks seen at Disney -- controlled sightlines, wide open walkways, and robust fittings designed to withstand the crushing use of a game day crowd.
It was a dreary day weather-wise but there is little on the site to combat such impressions.
If there's one thing you can do at Landsdown, it's eat. And presumably drink. I hear that the Teriaki Express isn't doing well -- and probably not surprising given that the typical non-game-day crowds probably don't pay the bills -- but there are a ton of bars and restaurants for your pre- or post-game drinking and snacking needs. Plus a fitness store, a movie complex, and a bank. But not much else.
It was interesting to visit after all the fuss. Frankly with the parking being what it is, I doubt even the super-deluxe movie theatre will get me out here recreationally. I might do a football game some time -- something I should probably do at least once -- but the volume of people also doing the football game means that public transit is mandatory, and the available transit for games is boosted to something approaching usefulness before being dropped to the standard level of mediocrity for regular days.
