A Dodger Dog bite

Good morning, it’s Thursday, June 18.

A giant fire that broke out at a Boyle Heights cold storage warehouse yesterday afternoon forced nearby residents to shelter in place for several hours, with officials urging them to stay inside and warning of “hazardous materials nearby.” The L.A. Times reports that there were concerns about an ammonia leak after the fire reached an ammonia line. Dark smoke from the fire was visible across a wide swath of the city, though the fire was brought under control in the early evening. The Boyle Heights incident comes just weeks after thousands of Orange County residents were evacuated during a chemical tank crisis at a Garden Grove aerospace company.

Fiery exchanges between fans are hardly unusual at Dodger Stadium. But a viral video that’s making the rounds this month involves a feud that began not with people, but with a dog bite between two of the Dodgers’ most famous canine fans. 

If you went to a Dodger game in the last decade, there’s a good chance that you saw The Great Bambino on the stadium’s video board. A Shar Pei with a service dog certification, the dog was a mainstay at the park, famous for wearing blue sunglasses, a flat-brim Dodgers cap, and sometimes even a jersey.

“He was the most famous Dodger dog of all time,” said owner Mark Morocco.

Dodger, a German Shepherd mix, is a little less famous, but still well known, especially after he came up with a home run ball hit by Dodgers infielder Michael Busch in 2023.

L.A. Material’s Pablo Goldstein has the scoop on how a dog bite between these two canine super fans a few years back led to the angry confrontation making the rounds this month. 

“It’s not a Dodgers game without a little fight,” said one fan who witnessed the owner’s confrontation. “Oh my God, even at Pups in the Park. The culture is too deep.”

For the next month, L.A. will be graced with the presence of some of the best soccer athletes from around the globe. But all year round, Angelenos are graced by the presence of some of the best cuisines from around the globe. There are restaurants across L.A. that represent nearly all of the countries that are competing. And so we here at L.A. Material are hosting our own championship… of restaurants!

If you would like to nominate a restaurant to compete, upgrade and join the L.A. Material Forum — if you haven’t already — to submit the restaurants you think deserve a spot, and help shape the final bracket before voting opens to the public.