I figured I'd start a thread as a repository for that type of information. It should give a little depth to the younger fans.
I'll start... Not the most illustrious of beginnings for the LA Dodgers, but I still find it fascinating from a Los Angeles and Dodgers historical perspective as well as a statement about Latinos in LA.
The co-opting of Chavez Ravine for Dodger stadium...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DarwRhMrjOg[/youtube]
Here's a quote from the PBS Movie CHAVEZ RAVINE...
Located in a valley a few miles from downtown Los Angeles, Chavez Ravine was home to generations of Mexican Americans. Named for Julian Chavez, one of the first Los Angeles County Supervisors in the 1800s, Chavez Ravine was a self-sufficient and tight-knit community, a rare example of small town life within a large urban metropolis. For decades, its residents ran their own schools and churches and grew their own food on the land. Chavez Ravine’s three main neighborhoods—Palo Verde, La Loma and Bishop—were known as a “poor man’s Shangri La.”
The death knell for Chavez Ravine began ringing in 1949, the same year that Don Normark captured his collection of photographs of the community. The Federal Housing Act of 1949 granted money to cities from the federal government to build public housing projects. Los Angeles Mayor Fletcher Bowron voted and approved a housing project containing 10,000 new units—thousands of which would be located in Chavez Ravine.
Viewed by neighborhood outsiders as a “vacant shantytown” and an “eyesore,” Chavez Ravine’s 300-plus acres were earmarked by the Los Angeles City Housing Authority as a prime location for re-development. In July 1950, all residents of Chavez Ravine received letters from the city telling them that they would have to sell their homes in order to make the land available for the proposed Elysian Park Heights. The residents were told that they would have first choice for these new homes, which included two dozen 13-story buildings and more than 160 two-story bunkers, in addition to newly rebuilt playgrounds and schools. Some residents resisted the orders to move and were soon labeled “squatters,” while others felt they had no choice and relocated. Most received insubstantial or no compensation for their homes and property.
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chavezravine/film.html
I love LA and it's Noir history, and this is one of the better stories... And it's also the story of our Beloved Dodgers rebirth in LA...
, Drysdale
, Howard
, Mantle
, Maris
, Berra
