Los Angeles will once again become Dodger town during the 2025 World Series except at a cafe in LA’s Fairfax District: Blue Jay fans will pack Attitude Cafe and show off the Toronto spirit.
For Canadian nationals who now call LA home, the Toronto Blue Jays are a national treasure.
“Every Canadian, I think, is rooting for the Blue Jays,” Gianni DeFazio, a Montreal native who owns Attitude Cafe, said. “It became the national team. It doesn’t only belong to Toronto.”
The cafe bought the biggest TV it can get its hands on Thursday for the watch party it’s hosting for the first World Series game between the Dodgers and the Blue Jays. The owners said they expected a full house.
“For us, it’s a win-win – the Blue Jays on one side, the Dodgers on the other,” DeFazio said.
The World Series will be an exciting development for Canadians amid the tense relationship between the U.S. and the northern neighbor lately. After Pres. Trump called Canada the 51st U.S. state, some Canadians have boycotted U.S. goods and canceled travel plans in September, according to Statistics Canada.
“The politics of today with Canadians kind of being put on a defensive – I think it’s made people feel even more proud and excited to root for their country, said David Ivkovic, chair of the group Canadians Abroad.
Ivkovic, who has been a happy Angeleno for the last 15 years, the Blue Jays soaring to the World Series gave him and other Canadians an additional sense of pride.
“Especially now with the Blue Jays – it’s kind of bigger than the Dodgers. It’s exciting that it’s the Dodgers only because they’re so good. It’s kind of like Canada, the U.S. and the Dodgers are playing,” he said.
Ivkovic predicted, given the weaker Canadian dollar, die-hard Blue Jay fans will travel to watch Game 3 and 4 (or more) in Los Angeles.
As for DeFazio, the cafe owner, he may be an outcast at the watch party as the three-decade-long Angeleno will be rooting for the Dodgers.