Presents Janet Marie Smith, Executive Vice President of Planning & Development for the Dodgers

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome, Welcome. It's women welove, and we are here with Janet
Marie Smith E VP Planning and Developmentof our LA Dodgers. We are such
huge Dodger fans, and Janet,you're like the woman behind it all the
feeling that we get when we walkin the stadium. Well, that stadium
has a personality that's so big andlarge. I don't think any of us
can do anything but give a littleextra love to it. It's been great

(00:24):
to be in charge of that.Well, we are reading your bio and
some of the things that you've doneprior to being with us here in LA
at the Dodgers, and my gosh, I work with one of the biggest
baseball fans. I know, Ryanand he's he's a Cubs, a guy
from Chicago back but he votes forthe Dodgers. I do listen. I
just love the game of baseball,and Janet, in my opinion, and

(00:47):
I mean this, I love WrigleyField. You are responsible for one of,
if not the most unique ballpark inall of Major League Baseball, and
that would be Camden Yards. OriolePark at Camden Yards. Well, that
was a really fun project to workon and it's crazy to think that it
was a whole generation ago that thatopened and that there's a there's an entire

(01:08):
community of fans out there that don'tremember that multi purpose era and how awkward
that was for baseball. So gladthat's over with. Where did you get
your interest in baseball venues? Didyou grow up going to games with your
parents or did this develop for you? Why didn't actually see my first I

(01:29):
grew up in Mississippi. I didn'tsee my first Major League Well, I
kick that back. I saw theAstros playing the Astrodome when I was about
twelve. The Astrodome wasn't don't evenknow if that counts. Yeah, the
Astrodome itself wasn't very pretty. Didthat hit you and go like this?
I remember it. I remember itas a wow, and I did.

(01:49):
It was twelve, That's probably nottrue. I was younger than that.
I probably, I don't know,eight or nine maybe, And no,
I distinctly remember it being a wowand it was the energy and just Bachelordome
was built as the you know,the eighth Wonder of the world, and
it felt that way at the time. You know, It's new and sparkly
and had big scoreboards. And itwas just a fantastic atmosphere. Though I

(02:13):
think, you know, domes cameat domes and round parks both were quickly
disaccredited within baseball circles. For me, it was a real novelty. And
I think what I've ended up lovingabout baseball is I'm really a student of
cities, almost more than I ama student of any sports. Is that

(02:36):
baseball parks, almost more than anyother sport, just become kind of the
the center, a piece of theemotional centerpiece of a city. And I
think some of it is that baseballdoesn't have set field dimensions, and so
every park is different, and everypark is so unique to its city,
and that's so interesting to me.And so what do you see for the

(02:58):
future of the Ravine. Let's justyou know, let's go I know,
we're talking trim, maybe some otherdevelopment outside. How do you see Dodgers
Stadium in the future. What Ithink is amazing about Dodger Stadium is that
at you know, sixty sixty whatevermany years old, um it has it

(03:24):
has proven to be such a landmarkon the sports scene. I mean,
there's no other place like it.It sits in the middle of an urban
center, and yet it's surrounded onyou know, a full three hundred degrees
by beautiful allusion park, and soyou really feel all of that greenery in

(03:45):
the mountains. And so the majestyof that trickly in when you're watching the
game, and yet you leave andyou realize your at high level with the
downtown skyline, and it's just astones throw away from Chinatown. So it's
to me as so many baseball parkshave moved into urban settings, like Camden

(04:09):
Yards into Baltimore, or PNC Parkinto Pittsburgh, Petco into downtown San Diego,
you know, Oracle Park in SanFrancisco. You know that it's it's
a it's become a formula and onethat's so welcome to spitties. But it
means that Dodger Stadium sort of sitsalone in the litany of architectural edithuses for

(04:30):
baseball, and as it's carved intothe hillside and and and sits adjacent this
most magnificent urban park, and thecolor scheme and the the sixties vibe you
get is sort of back again.You know. It's so it's it's timeless

(04:51):
quality is amazing, and I thinkit's it's also bucking almost every trend.
With a capacity of fifty six thousand, and with most baseball parks, including
Yankee Stadium, just getting smaller andsmaller and smaller, and the fact that
Dodger fans fill it up so manytimes a year is just a phenomenal statement

(05:14):
about baseball and Los Angeles. Yeah, well, we love our Dodgers,
we love our stadium, We lovethe experience, and there's nothing like it.
Even if you know, my nephewlives block from the stadium and I
love just being over at his placeand just hearing the games. You know,
it's fantastic, isn't it? Itreally really is. Often we have

(05:35):
community meetings to get input from thosewho live around us. And while while
there's always a list of things thatyou know, are problems, the trash,
people parking and you know, blockinga driveway, we get it doesn't
make it right, but we wetry to impart on our fans how important

(05:56):
our neighbors are. But the goodthing we hear back is how many of
them say exactly what fun it isto be able to see the drone shows
on our Friday night And um,you know, hear the national anthems sort
of streaming out lightly. It's justus. It's such a wonderful bit of

(06:17):
Americana. I think what makes youso good at your job, Janet?
And I mean that from like aI don't know, it's the process fascinates
me because you go to a gameand you just kind of take for granted
the fact that someone created these conveniences, you know, But that's you.
You're you're designing the way that thisworks. And so how do you know

(06:38):
so well what we want as fans? Well, I think the first thing
is to be a fan yourself,and I that's my best research comes from
just taking that badge off and goingand sitting out in the bleachers and paying
attention. Um. But I thinkthe real answer to your question comes from
the mandate given to us by ownershipand our CEO Stadcasting. You know,

(07:01):
it doesn't matter how smart, creativeor clever any of us are without that
mandate to make the venue first classfor players and for our fans, None
of none of this investment of somethree hundred and fifty million dollars over the
ten years that Googenheim Partners and theirpartners around the club would have happened,

(07:25):
and I've been impressed at the consistencyof that in the time that since Mark
Walters and his team acquire the club, that the venue being first class has
been paramount. And so as we'veredone Dodger Stadium, we've tried to leave
in place all of its iconic featuresthat made it so memorable when it opened

(07:48):
in nineteen sixty two, but toimprove the way that fans enjoy the game
by adding restrooms, concourses, foodand beverage options. The retail stores are
new led boards, the Centerville plazawith the various bars and kids areas that

(08:11):
are out there, the sculptures ofSandy Kofax and Jackie Robinson, you know,
the murals throughout the park that celebrateDodger great It's all meant to be
a composition that tells the story ofDodger Baseball and Dodger Baseball in Los Angeles
in particular, because certainly we're excitedabout sharing what we know about our Brooklyn

(08:33):
Pass too, but what it's meantto Los Angeles and to be paralleling the
growth of LA it's just as afantastic story. Whether you're looking at through
the lens of a baseball fan orthrough the lens of the culture of a
city. And Jen, I'm lookingat your beautiful publicity shot and you're sitting
on some pretty sweet looking special bleacherseats. They look like they might be

(08:58):
from one of the old stadiums,And I'm wondering what kind of mementos from
each stadium that you have been involvedwith have you kept just for Janet.
Well, I'm not very good atthat stuff. I probably have a few
paint chips, but the photo I'mif you're looking at the photo, I

(09:20):
think you might be Those are theoriginal wooden chairs from Dodger Stadium, and
when we found twenty six of themin a warehouse in New Jersey, we
bought them back and we had thempainted the original colors, which we color
matched to paint chips in Peter O'Malley'soffice, and I think they were all

(09:43):
shipped in a cluster, and Ithink the photograph you're talking about was they
looked so fantastic together before we separatedthem that I couldn't resist popping down into
myself. Yeah. So Janet asas an architect and urban planner, and
you know, I mean just beingan all around amazing professional at what you
do you hear a story like theA's are moving from Oakland to Vegas,

(10:05):
They're going to need a new stadium. I know we have you here in
LA for the Dodgers, but atheart do you kind of go oh,
I'd love to get my hands onthat. Well. I've never been a
ballpark that I didn't love, soI have relished the opportunity to be a
part of building new ones. I'veloved the chance to renovate and resurrect the

(10:26):
old ones. Both both Fenway Parkand Dodgers Stadium just rank as high on
my list of achievements and things I'mproud of and emotionally attached to is anything
that was ground up. And I'veloved the minor league in spring training scale
too. There's something just wonderful aboutworking at a smaller scale. One of

(10:48):
the projects that Standcast and had medo for the Dodgers was the renovation of
our facility in the Dominican Republic andworking on Compass with Palmis, which was
just a joy to be able tosee how players at that level react to
things and how you can help teachthrough architecture and sort of think about our

(11:15):
baseball team was really keen on thinkingabout it creating a campus like environment so
that our players there could learn notjust baseball techniques but time management. Where
do you go for the cafeteria orwhere do you go for the lounge?
Where's your dorm? How do youIt was almost almost like a college campus,
but it was all for baseball.That's so cool. Oh wow,

(11:37):
Well, we're so blessed that wehave you here in town with the Dodgers,
and congrats on your Mississippi Sports Hallof Fame induction. Oh thank you.
That's pretty that's pretty fun too.I never thought i'd be in the
same class as Archie Manning for anything. For that, that's kind of fun.

(12:00):
But I've well, I have tosay that the whole notion of the
Dodgers and what being able to sortof mind that, the attic and the
scrap book that is that team,it's just phenomenal. You walk down uh
any any hallway on a game dayand it's just filled with baseball royalty,

(12:20):
and it's just amazing that it's afranchise that not only is as storied as
it is and as there's so muchsort of visual connection to it, but
that former players feel like they're oncea Dodger, always a Dodger. You
know, there's still with the club, and whether it's you know, and

(12:41):
the and the press box, whetherit's in uniform or whether they're there for
the adult camp which we're hosting thisweek, you know they're they they're still
They're a Dodger for life. Andthat's that's an amazing culture to be a
part of. Yeah, for sure, this maybe we're gonna let you go
into. I know you're busy,but this might be a dumb question.
Do you ever get stopped by fans? Because to me, you're a celebrity.

(13:03):
You create like all of this,I would want a picture with you.
Well, fans stopped me and withideas, and that's my favorite thing.
You know, I've I can easily. I'm not visible enough to be
stopped for celebrity sightings, but maybewell enough now that people are like,
hey, wait a minute, Ihave an idea. And our best ideas

(13:26):
often come from fans, just whetherit's something that fans have articulated or whether
it's something that we've observed them doing. And one of the reasons we've got
so many kids areas at Dodger Stadiumas we realized that in the absence of
having dedicated kids areas, people werestill bringing their kids, but they were
sort of hanging off of handrails andswinging, you know, across concrete ballers

(13:48):
and like, wait a minute,we can do better than that. And
so it's just wonderful to be ableto respond to what you see fans doing
anyway. I mean, they soundlike such simple things, but um,
just putting shade at Dodger Stadium wassuch a key thing for all of these
plazas that we've created, and whetherthat shade comes from trees or whether it

(14:11):
comes from umbrellas, or whether itcomes from the shade structures that were a
part of what Standcasting likes to callour new front door at center Field.
Just observing that fans would come earlierif there was a place to hang out
and do things, so we triedto create that a place to hang out
and do things because our gates opened, you know, a full two hours

(14:35):
before the game, and there's alot going on, and the Dodgers do
a fantastic job of entertainment, sowe just wanted to give our fans a
place to enjoy that love it.We've loved our time with you. Jan
we don't want to let you go. Come to Dodger Stadium and see if
all right. Jennifery Smith, EVPPlanning in Development LA Dodgers. You are

(14:56):
a woman we love. Thank youso much. Do that