AROUND HOME : Stadium Tours

KIDS SITTING in the stands watching a baseball or football game often wonder what it would be like to sit in the dugout or the press box. Such locations are not accessible to the public during games, of course, but children (and grown-ups) can have the chance to imagine being Wally Joyner or John Robinson by taking a behind-the-scenes tour on non-game days.

Anaheim Stadium (2000 S. State College Blvd., Anaheim), home of the California Angels and Los Angeles Rams, offers daily public tours between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on non-event days. The one-hour tour includes the football and baseball press boxes, Angels’ dugout, Rams’ locker room, visitors’ bullpen and a glimpse of the private luxury boxes. Individuals and small groups are welcome to take the public tours. Reservations for special group tours must be made at least a month in advance.

Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, the home field of the San Diego Padres and the San Diego Chargers, does not offer regularly scheduled tours, but private groups can arrange for a backstage visit. Tours cover the dugout, locker room, press box and sky boxes, and they also offer children a chance to set foot on the playing field.

Visitors to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, 3939 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, have an opportunity to view 1932 and 1984 Olympic plaques and the statues at the peristyle end of the stadium. (However, the Raiders’ locker room, press box and other areas are not accessible.) The Coliseum is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on non-event days.

And visitors are welcome to sit in the empty bleachers of Pasadena’s Rose Bowl and contemplate the New Year’s Days gone by between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. There is no charge.