EXECUTIVE BRIEFCASE
PETCO PARK AND OMNI HOTEL SAN DIEGO
Petco Park, Seventh Ave. and K St., downtown San Diego; www.padres.com; game-related group events, (619) 795-5010; non-game-related events, (619) 795-5000; Omni San Diego, 675 L St., San Diego, (619) 231-6664.
San Diego’s new baseball stadium may have a dog of a name, but otherwise looks like a winner. Adjacent to the Gaslamp Quarter and across the street from the Convention Center, Petco has a stellar location, classic touches reminiscent of Chicago’s Wrigley Field and a historic building in the leftfield corner. It’s also connected to the elegant new Omni Hotel via pedestrian bridge. The park incorporates the 1909 Western Metal Supply building into its design, with a restaurant, bar and party suites within. Bleacher seating and standing room are available on rooftop. There, patrons can watch the game from small balconies that look like old-time fire escapes. The stadium has 42,455 fixed seats in “neighborhoods” with views of the bay, Coronado Bay bridge or downtown skyline. The Padres Premier Club behind home plate is the Petco equivalent of the Diamond Club at Angel Stadium. Season ticket-holders say the $24 all-you-can-eat buffet is a bargain; other concessions are plentiful but typical stadium fare. The park’s not perfect. For example, the view to right field is partially obstructed from prime seats behind home plate. Despite its 30-foot-by-53-foot LED video board, game signage curiously is lacking: inning-by-inning stats aren’t displayed throughout the game and updates on other games in progress scroll through a hard-to-read board behind right field. Angel Stadium signage is better. Park at the Park,not to be confused with onsite parking, which is nonexistent,is a 2.7-acre grassy area behind centerfield with a playground and sandbox for tykes and a Randy Jones Barbecue. If you go, go early to get a parking space at downtown lots, or do as locals do and take the trolley from Mission Valley or Old Town, or stay over at the Omni, just an escalator ride away, and partake in the post-game action downtown. At the Omni, a dozen rooms on the 16th to 21st floors overlook the ballpark, though not with close-up action. The Omni’s McCormick & Schmick’s is the pre- and post-game place to be. The hotel has 511 guest rooms and is topped by condos on its upper floors. It has cool, sleek, modern lines but enough wood and warmth for an inviting atmosphere.
,Sandi Cain
RATING: FOUR BRIEFCASES
(out of four)
