Opening Day

Lane Field in the North Embarcadero served as the very first home of the San Diego Padres, originally a Pacific Coast League team. The 8,000-seat stadium was built in early 1936, when William Lane moved his Hollywood Stars south from LA’s Wrigley Field due to a losing record and a stadium rent hike. The Works Progress Administration, FDR’s New Deal agency, helped get Lane Field built in time for the season. This photo shows the last year the Padres played at Lane—1957. (Baseball fans sure looked different—when’s the last time you wore a suit to opening day? And note that only two women are visible in this photo.) That same year, the Pads moved to Westgate Park in Mission Valley. But from the Murph to the Q to Petco Park, the Padres have never left us. And Lane Field, which has been a parking lot for cruise ship passengers since the 1960s, is looking at a $115-million, 400-room hotel development project, with retail and restaurants, and a 2-acre public park. Whatever happens to that parcel of land, at least we still have the Pads. Don’t miss their home opener against the Dodgers on April 9.

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Lane Field 1957