Drop by for a bagel after the game

Bagels may not seem to belong in the Los Angeles all-star lineupof baseball, Dodger Dogs, and Chavez Ravine. But for many fans, theBrooklyn Bagel Bakery is a longtime part of their game-dayritual.

The big, anonymous building on an equally anonymous stretch ofBeverly Boulevard west of downtown was on my surface-street returnfrom Dodger Stadium. I would drop in for a dozen, walking past awall of Dodgers photos from Brooklyn days and into the factorylikespace that dwarfed a spartan counter. There the bagel bins await.You won’t find a smorgasbord of shmears, soy infusions, blondwoods, or any of the accoutrements that boutique bagel joints havedeemed essential. Here it’s the quintessential essentials: aboiled― not steamed―bagel with a defined crust; onionbagels with shreds of real onions and freckled with poppyseeds.

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Brooklyn Bagel has been around 52 years and is owned by RichardFriedman, son of its founder. Friedman is to the bagel born. Hisdad spent his entire career in the business, and his grandfatherwas a founder of New York’s bagel bakers union. Such a pedigree. Sothese have become the bagel of choice for top local delis, an uppercrust including Art’s, Langer’s, and Nate ‘n Al’s. And for goodreason. Unlike the Dodgers, Brooklyn Bagel never went Hollywood.Brooklyn Bagel Bakery (7 a.m.-11 p.m. daily; 2217 W. Beverly Blvd.,Los Angeles; 213/ 413-4114.) ―Matthew Jaffe

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