LOS ANGELES — In a city reeling from the medical and economic devastation of coronavirus, forced to restrict its celebrated freewheeling lifestyle and even robbed of the sacred ritual of a summer at Chavez Ravine, the Los Angeles Dodgers' World Series victory felt like a vaccine — if only temporary — for 2020's many miseries.
Dodger fans took to the streets and provided Los Angeles with a hearty fireworks show as the team won its first World Series since 1988.
On Sunset Boulevard down the hill from Dodger Stadium, drivers formed an impromptu parade, honking and cheering. Huge crowds also converged on Whittier Boulevard, expressing their joy in what has been such a tough year. Hundreds crowded street in Pacoima, with cars doing doughnuts in intersections.
Caesar Maldonado, 44, has lived in Echo Park since 1982.
He watched the cars doing burnouts, the people climbing streetlights and remembered when he was 12 and the Dodgers last won the World Series. That year he and his friends went to downtown Los Angeles to celebrate. It was far rowdier.
"There was no COVID," he said. "There were far more people out. It was a whole lot of fun."
He couldn't contain his excitement about the win, holding up his phone to show his friend what was happening on FaceTime as people crowded into the street screaming, "Let's go Dodgers."
"I can't believe they won," he said.
Just 4 years old when the Dodgers last won a championship, Fernando Hernandez Jr. stood outside his mother's home in Boyle Heights in a delirium of happiness, clutching a half-empty bottle of Champagne.
"Pandemic champions, baby!" he shouted over the honks of cars rushing past on Soto Street. Queen's "We Are the Champions" belted from a loudspeaker.
Hernandez, an office services coordinator for a law firm, marveled at the Dodgers' ability to gut out the season, despite a pandemic that threw the league into disarray.
"There's no asterisk to this championship at all, bro," he said. "That was straight gutsy baseball."
Officials urged Dodger fans to avoid crowds and practice social distancing when celebrating. L.A. County health authorities have blamed gatherings related to the Lakers' and Dodgers' championship season for spreading COVID-19 and preventing the county from reopening more quickly.
"Gatherings in large crowds to watch games indoors, people aren't wearing their face coverings, people are yelling a lot — that's just not sensible," Los Angeles County Health Director Barbara Ferrer has said.
Los Angeles police are also hoping to avoid a repeat of the problems that occurred in downtown after the Lakers victory. The celebrations turned rowdy, and more than 70 people were arrested. Police had closed off the main entrance to Dodger Stadium as well as Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore urged people Tuesday to celebrate a Dodgers win at home.
"They are safer at home. This COVID-19 virus is real," he said. "There will be no tolerance for violence. There is no room in Los Angeles for people to commit vandalism.
