but first, the in-house breakfast at our hotel...
which was pretty decent - the bacon was on the thin side, but again, I don't expect gourmet quality here. I liked that the sausage was a patty rather than a link. I'm pretty basic when it comes to breakfast. It has to be hot and there has to be eggs and some sort of meat. I skipped out on bagels, fruit, cereal an dsuch. Instead, we waited until this contraption was free...
Let's take a closer look:
Well hello there...yes, malted waffle batter.
We had to wait a bit before the crowd dissipated. That waffle machine sure was popular. Once it was empty, we made a break for it, pouring the batter onto the mini waffle maker...
which made these fun to eat bite sized waffles. The malted batter gave it a different flavor than regular pancakes. The texture seemed more airy as well, which we liked.
While waiting for Bert and TC at a local drugstore, I saw this Doritos truck. Remember the taco flavor from the 70's? It made a resurgence not too long ago, complete with retro packaging.
Vintage sign on S. Gaffy St., near our hotel:
It was still pretty early but before leaving, we were advised to see the Sports Walk to the Waterfront (the official name) by our friend Eloisa. She specifically said to look for a certain plaque commemorating the first Filipino American to play in the Major Baseball League in the 1950's. This Sports Walk, located on the sidewalks next to the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
This is San Pedro's version of their walk of fame, featuring sports stars. The triangular markers include names and a pictograph for their sport. Here were just a few that caught our eye:
Girl power!
George Brett, former retired third baseman for the Kansas City Royals:
More plaques on the other side of the street
Even former President Gerald Ford was honored here!
More plaques, it was getting warm already...
Louie Zamperini, a former WWII veteran/POW and Olympic long distance runner; he was the subject of the film, "Unbroken" (2014) and, even after his death, was honored as Grand Marshall for the 2015 Tournament of Roses Parade;
For you long time San Diegans, remember this former Padre? His home run in 1984 againts the Cubs allowed the Padres to go to the World Series. He was a great baseball player in the 80's, but sadly, was a full on womanizer.
We finally found the plaque Eloisa was telling us about. I remember reading about Bobby Balcena through her research page on Filipino American athletes (linked at the end). Bobby, a local from San Pedro was the first baseball player of Filipino descent to appear in a major league game, with the Cincinnati Redlegs team in 1956. He played for the minor leagues from 1952-1964 and was a Triple A player for the Seattle Rainiers in the early 1950's.
Unfortunately his plaque was partially blocked by the lamppost's shadow...
It was cool to see that a Filipino American baseball player was honored in this Sports Walk of fame.
Across the street, old timey photos of past methods of transport...
San Pedro Sportswalk
www.sportswalkwaterfront.com
Here is the full Inductees Roster:
www.sportswalkwaterfront.com/inductees
Plus a cool page on Filipino Americans in sports by my friend who is a retired librarian. She is the one whom we had lunch with the other day at Nomad Asian Bistro(Bobby Balcena is one of the athletes featured):
FilAmSports
Here is a sports fan's blog post on Bobby Balcena:
"Sportswalk - Bobby Balcena" 6th Street Blog, December 2005
and a feature in the "Filipinos in Carson and the South Bay" book (Arcadia Press):
"Bobby Balcena"
and lastly, Bobby Balcena's obituary:
"San Pedro's Bobby Balcena dead at 64..." LA Times, January 10, 1990
There was an interesting mural nearby I wanted to see before we left...
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