Angel Stadium of Anaheim is the home of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the major league baseball team formerly known by several different names including the California Angels. The stadium hosts all Anaheim Angels MLB home games and seats 45,050. Angel Stadium is located off the 57 freeway, just 13 miles from Costa Mesa.
Angel Stadium of Anaheim had been the home of the Angels since their move from Los Angeles following the 1965 season. The stadium opened April 9, 1966, as the California Angels hosted the San Francisco Giants in an exhibition game. The stadium underwent construction in 1979-80 for additional seating to accommodate the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL. Upon completion in 1981, the stadium seated 65,158 (later 64,593) for baseball. The Rams left Anaheim for St. Louis, MO in 1995. The stadium underwent another renovation to return it to a baseball-only facility in 1996.
Unique features of Angel Stadium of Anaheim include terraced bullpens in the outfield, extra-wide concourses, family-oriented seating sections, state-of-the-art club-level and dugout-level suites, the Pepsi Perfect Game Pavilion (a youth-oriented interactive game area) and landscaped courtyards (with statues in remembrance of Gene Autry and Michelle Carew). Past the outfield, visitors are treated to a spectacular view of the San Gabriel and Santa Ana Mountains, along with "California Spectacular" in which geysers erupt and a stream cascades down a mountainside covered with real trees, artificial rocks behind the left-center field fence.
Angel Stadium of Anaheim includes three full-service restaurants: The KnotHole Club (a sports bar located at the club level); The Diamond Club (an upscale restaurant with outdoor seating on the field level behind home plate); and the Homeplate Club (an indoor restaurant on the club level overlooking the main entrance).
Several major motion pictures were shot here. The final sequence of The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988) features a robotic Reggie Jackson trying to shoot Queen Elizabeth II. The Disney remake of Angels in the Outfield (1994) features the ballpark’s exterior. The stadium served as a stand-in for Candlestick Park for filming of The Fan (1996) and Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch also shot scenes in the ballpark.
